Berlin
Hi there -
As we mentioned earlier, we took a bit of a detour because of the ticket prices, and visited my friends in Berlin. We got to stay a night at Olga's place (who is my very good friend from back in St.Petersburg), and a couple more at Kolya's place (who I met during my stay in Paris.) Both our hosts made sure that we slept comfortably, and did not lose any weight due to malnutrition.
On the first day, armed with the book Olga gave us, we covered most of the Unter den Linden, which is an important street/avenue/prospect in Berlin. That's where the Brandenburg Gate is located and a bunch of other important buildings and monuments. We started walking from the Brandergurg Gate, and finished around the Alexanderplatz, which doesn't seem like a lot, but we did wonder around a lot. We stopped by the Reichstag, of course, but we could not get in because of the new security measures. Apparently you need to book in advance. The day ended with some vodka and pel'meni over at Kolya's place.
Next day was a Saturday, so Kolya and Marina (his wife) were free to take us around. We went out for brunch to meet Olga and family, and then to a park near their house. I think it was called Schlosspark Charlottenburg. Reminded me of Paris's Versailles. As professional travelers, Julie and I had our waterproof jackets with us, but Kolya and Marina did not, so we had to hide out from the rain under the trees for a bit. Kolya rediscovered his long-lost passion for photography (on his iPhone.) We finished the day with a friendly game of pool (Julie and I crashed Kolya and Marina 3 times in a row.) They shorlty payed us back by crashing us in darts. So it all worked out.
On Sunday Julie and I were left to our own devices, so we set out to see some more of Berlin. This time we concentrated on its post-war history, aka FRG vs.GDR. We visited the East Side Gallery, which is the remaining piece of the Berlin Wall, now painted by different artists. From there we set out to see the Checkpoint Charlie, walking through a funky neighborhood on the way. It had the most peculiar street art (see pictures.) At the checkpoint we met up with Olga, who took us to one of her favorite cafes (she works nearby), and showed us 2 nearly identical cathedrals facing each other - one is German, the other is French.
After Olga left, we walked a bit more to see the Potsdamer Platz. On the way we saw a couch that we gave away for free before setting off on this trip being sold for 3.5K Euro. I guess we should've shipped it to Germany instead. Potsdamer Platz was quite fascinating example of modern architecture. In general, I must say, I love modern German architecture. In a lot of places we've visited new buildings don't fit in with the old buildings. But in Berlin it all works out. I had the same feeling about Dresden as well, which we visited on Monday on our way to Prague, but that's the next post that Julie wanted to write...
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| 2011.08.25 Berlin |
The Kas
P.S. as we're writing this we've drank beer for 3 days in Prague, and tomorrow we are setting out to see Olomouc.
