Berlin notes / links

Berlin links / old trip report

http://www.berlin.de/english/
http://www.berlin.de/english/visitors/index.html
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...index_en.shtml
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ke1.shtml?en=1

http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/3...001/berlin.htm (and other
cities)
Pay attention to Berlin articles: In these old cities, the "big things"
are still 'big things'. But Berlin has changed a lot in the past 5-10
years. The main areas of East Berlin might as well be ' a whole new city'
compared to that article. Hotels I had stayed in have been leveled - on
the other hand there are now new things to see, so a lot to consider that
might not be listed in a 5-10 yr old story.


======
Here’s an email that I had sent a friend after a Berlin trip:

Some local photos/guides if you want to check them out /save to your PC:
http://www.visitberlin.de/english/si...rdigkeiten.php
and
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...de-Berlin.html

Here’s a link to 360 degree panoramas of just about anything in town:

http://www.panorama-cities.net/berlin/berlin.html (need high-speed)

Click on Enlarge – then Full Screen if you like. Also while panning
left/right if a circle appears, you can click in the circle and it will
then open THAT panorama.

(URL’s noted are links for photos/info on the topic. Right-click on it -
open in new window)

Friday:

.... From Paris we flew into Tegel Airport and I grab a cab to the
Intercontinental Hotel. Traffic is a mess but the cab driver knows his
way around town and we parallel all the stuck traffic by taking back roads
through town and get to the hotel fairly quickly. Although the normal cab
fare is about 30 Euros- today it was 14 Euros. I had emailed the hotel
previously asking for an early check-in (expecting to be there about
09:00), so they have a room waiting for me and I check in at about 11:45.
Hmmm – a driver that got me there quickly – for less than I expected and a
hotel that expected me / has a very nice room waiting for me and a
pleasant porter to carry my bag. Oh yeah – I am no longer in France:
welcome to Germany!

I was really beat: napped a few hours then walked a few blocks to the
Europa Center for wienerschnitzel:

http://www.europa-center-berlin.de/?lang=en#

I hadn’t eaten yet today – because I wanted to eat he

http://www.bavarium-berlin.de/index....f5 ddc76c47b3

I was there years ago and the food was very good. Everything else on the
menu was 6, 7, 8 euros but the schnitzel cost me ~ 20 euros: it was
excellent! Much more than I could eat and it did bother me to NOT eat it
all but it was as big as the dinner plate it was served on. I then walked
down to KaDeWe (big fancy dept store) and browsed in there for a few
hours. (Link below) Lots of neat stuff but a lot of it wouldn’t work for
me back in the states (wrong voltage or DVD = wrong format etc ). Nothing
there is cheap, but the sixth floor was even more impressive than I
remembered – spotless- and any food you could possibly imagine: fish,
meat, entire cases of just salamis, another case of different cheeses,
etc – how about calf brains? – they’ve got ‘em: right over there next to
all the other body parts. Le Notre (the same bakery that’s at the Paris
Hotel/casino in Vegas) has a good area on this floor – one section is
bread/pastries and its other area has sit-down lunches – sandwiches/soups
etc. Every section have a "counter section" to order "eat it here and now"
food.

http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php And then pick the floor #
along the top. (in top left can choose German/English)

I was enjoying just browsing but I was getting really tired so I walked
back to the hotel to get some sleep / get acclimated to the time shift.

Saturday:

My friends would be arriving tonight and staying in East Berlin, so I
figured I’d spend the day there. I took the bus over to Unter den Linden
in the early AM and headed to the Brandenburg Gate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unter_den_Linden (Lots of links/photos)

While walking up the street I see that the Unter Den Linden Hotel is now
demolished. Last year I thought that they were refurbishing, but now it,
and all the buildings to the Friedrichstraße corner are gone – just dirt
there surrounded by a fence. (Looks like Vegas!) While walking toward the
Gate, I was thinking: “I’d really like a coffee, too bad there's only a
Starbucks nearby". JUST as I'm thinking that (no kidding), I walk by a new
Dunkin' Donuts! Three doors down from Starbucks there’s now a Dunkin’
Donuts - Perfect ! I grabbed a coffee to go and walked around a bit. They
are still building the US Embassy in the corner near the Gate. I walked
thru the Brandenburg Gate, took a left and around the block to the Jewish
Memorial (the wavy granite blocks) and 30 minutes later I'm on the back
of the Embassy when it starts raining - as I'm walking by - another
Dunkin' Donuts ! Got in from the rain - grabbed another coffee and then
walked down to Friedrichstrasse to see what’s new, now that they’ve
finally finished construction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstrasse

I spent a few hours there and then headed to the Hotel Adlon.
(This is the hotel that Michael Jackson held his son out the window for
the reporters years ago.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlon_Hotel

I’d never stayed there, (too much $$) but was scouting it for
breakfast/lunch and they do open early … if it's nice, we could sit
outside – that’s a plan. I still have some time before they arrive so I
headed down to the Spree river. There was a flea market along the river
road and I followed it along: everything from 30 year old LP records for
sale to homemade crafts, paintings etc. I took my time and walked up the
street along the river to their hotel and called up to the room at 17:00
and woke my friend up - he was not happy. Apparently they got in about
15:30 and he left a message at my hotel for me to meet them at 18:30. He
then went to bed since none of them had slept on the plane: they had been
up for ~20 hours. Mine was the fourth phone call he'd gotten since he
tried to get some sleep. I apologized and told him that I hadn’t been at
my hotel all day. I took a walk and met up with the others who had gone
out for a snack. At 18:30 we all met in the lobby and went to dinner
across from their hotel - next to another Dunkin' Donuts! A sociable
dinner and we discussed our plan for the next few days and the verdict is:
I'm the tour guide! In the morning they want to go to a certain church for
Sunday mass and I had checked the schedule online and we decided that 8AM
service is best - then breakfast - then sightseeing. I'm not sure of the
bus schedule so I told them, if I'm not here by 07:30 start walking -
either follow the river OR go left 6 blocks - turn left and it's at the
end of the street ( this Church is behind the Opera House) I took the bus
back to my hotel not knowing exactly where it would drop me off, but I saw
its route on map to know which one to take and bus #200 stopped DIRECTLY
in front of my hotel. Perfect.

Sunday:

The busses don't run too often in the early morning on a Sunday so when I
got to the bus stop across the street at about 07:00 , I see that I just
missed one and the next bus will arrive at my stop at 07:23. (Sorry can’t
read my scribbling too well,) But … on the way there, on EbertStr near
LeipzeigerStr on WilhelmStr – old section of wall is still there. By the
time I got to Unter Den Linden (near the Gate), it was 07:33. I start
walking toward their hotel and after 5-10 minutes I'm thinking - I should
have seen them by now (I told them to start walking at 07:30): so I
suspect that they must have gone the other way - following the river to
the square. I turned around and headed down that way and after about 20
minutes they showed up. Turns out that they had waited at the hotel until
07:45 for me. We went into the old church and afterward we walked down to
the Radisson SAS.

http://www.berlin.radissonsas.com/

http://www.btm.de/cgi-bin/sehenswert...prache=english

I showed them the aquarium in the center of the hotel and then we ate in a
small cafe near the hotel - not the Adlon, nor the OperaHaus cafe. Just
wandering while snacking.

http://www.arcspace.com/travel/radis...on_berlin.html

(I had wanted to take them to the Opernpalais Café but when we walked by
it didn’t look to be open. I later found out that it WAS.) By then the fog
was lifting and the sun looked like it was gonna come out for the first
time since we’d gotten there , so we headed over to the TV tower.

http://www.berlinerfernsehturm.de/engl/05home_e.html

It's a tower that looks like the Vegas Stratosphere - with a revolving
restaurant near the top. I hadn’t been up there before, since whenever I’ve
been in town it’s been overcast or I didn’t have the time. If you like
desserts – skip the main course. As we were going around, we’d go by the
food servers’ station and saw the best looking desserts – but we had
already ordered “regular food”. What we had was good: the prices were
reasonable, and the view was great. On the level below the rotating
section there is a non-moving windowed level with all the landmarks marked
along the appropriate window with a write up on it: very useful. When done
there, we then spent the rest of the day walking back/stopping along the
way. I told my friends that at the rate they were going " it's gonna take
about 8 weeks to see the city". They chuckled and said “this is the first
time you’ve gone on vacation with us, huh? You’re not used to this, but
this is typical pace for us.” Luckily I know what else I want to see and
have allowed enough time on my own to do it.

We walked around the Gendarmenmarkt area a bit and then took a boat ride
on the river.

http://www.berlin-tourist-informatio...irk-mitte.html

and then along Unter den Linden back to their hotel ( Hotel Jolly Vivaldi)

http://www.berlin-tourist-informatio...prache=english


Monday

Today I’m playing tour guide for West Berlin. They met me at my hotel

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ic/.../BERHA/welcome

and we headed down toward the Europa Center. On the way the girls decide
that they’d rather visit the zoo to see the pandas (and maybe to just have
some time to themselves), so we agree that they’ll call us when they’re
done and we can meet along the way. The 5 of us then walked to the Kaiser
Wilhelm Memorial Church. It’s an old church that was bombed during WWII
and left as a reminder of the results of war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_...emorial_Church

From there we walked down to KaDeWe to see the 6th floor – and all that
food! They were amazed with the assortment of available items and after a
few hours, we wanted to eat there but when it came time to “order a
sandwich”, we couldn’t find a counter where you could get a customized
sandwich – like ham AND cheese with mustard or lettuce and tomato. At the
ham counter they had ham and in the cheese section they had a wide array
of cheeses, but we couldn’t mix and match. They only had pre-made
sandwiches and they had been out for a while. We COULD have bought
baguettes and a knife and some mustard and some lettuce … and MADE a
sandwich but it was quickly getting very frustrating so rather than do
that and make a scene, we got irritated and just left. Also by then it was
getting warm in the store – all week I found that the AC isn’t that
great – anywhere. If you get there EARLY the temp is fine but once it gets
crowded – it warms up quickly. The girls then called and we met up with
them and headed for the Kudamm to have lunch outside. We stopped at the
first sidewalk cafe we saw as some of us were really hungry. We sat and
sat and watched our waitress go by but got no service. (Tipping vs.
no-tipping is a topic for another day) Then the waitress took our drink
orders and then disappeared. We found our own menus. The folks at the
table next to us had drinks and were upset – waiting for their check. The
waitress ignored them too until they got up to leave. She then presented
them with a check – and waited in their face for them to pay. Meanwhile
she is 6 feet from us but not even pretending to care about taking our
order. Someone else delivered the drinks. We kept asking for her
attention: she’d look at us and then look away. One of the group made a
comment that it’s like a Seinfeld episode with “the soup Nazi”. I gave him
a look and he realized what he had just said – and where we are! Ok – we’ve
had it – we’re outta here too. We get up to leave and she THEN comes to
our table. We paid for our drinks and left. Onto the Hard Rock! Yeah it’s
not what any of us had in mind but I know there we can get food and drinks
and it’s only around the corner. Took a left onto Mienekestrasse – down
the street and got a GREAT waiter from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We had a
fun time there and although it wasn’t German food, it was good. After that
we headed down the street to “The Story of Berlin”.

http://www.story-of-berlin.de/downlo..._of_berlin.pdf

Got there about 16:00 and had only about an hour to allow for the visit as
the group needed to be back in East Berlin to meet up with their tour
group for orientation dinner at 18:30. We had to skip the bunker tour as
not enough time. I offered to take them to dinner later at the restaurant
on top of the Reichstag, (to avoid the lines to see it) but they’ll be
getting in too late.

http://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/ht_de/...lin/berlin.php

I hopped on the bus with them and got off in Potsdamer Platz to wander
around. Played tourist a bit then got a coffee at a sidewalk café, walked
around and people-watched a bit.

Tuesday

Fellow travelers have now started their escorted tour so this is my day to
head to the Pergamon Museum. Normally I’m not one for museums but this one
has stuff from all over the world and from what I’ve read it’s really
something to see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum

I spent about 3.5 hours there and wasn’t disappointed. By the time I
finished, it was getting really warm and stuffy in the Museum (about 1pm).
Browsed the other museums and then I headed across the street to the
Opernpalais for a snack.

http://www.opernpalais.de/subs/fr_haupt.htm

As I start walking there, the sun came out and the wind died down a bit –
a PERFECT day! This is EXACTLY what I wanted to do – just sit outside and
enjoy it. ( One thing that I do find funny there… if you go in and turn
LEFT to the restaurant ( rather than right into the pastry section) ...
along the staircase .. on the right there are photos of famous visitors
that have been there … entertainers, politicians such as Henry Kissinger
and others. Now look on the left side of the stairs: they have photos of
the winners of past gay festivals – all in drag … some men wearing nothing
but G-strings. I just find it strange to have Henry Kissinger opposite
the drag queens.) I walked through the pastry section and checked out the
display case. There are so many pastry types there it’s tough – but I opt
for coffee and an “Apfeltarte“. It is a flaky pastry shaped like a
boat/bathtub with freshly sliced apples and raisins inside. I grabbed a
table outside – told the waitress my order – sat back and enjoyed it.

http://www.opernpalais.de/gfxnew/terrasse1.jpg and

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/2d4c1a/

For the first time since I’d been there, the weather was perfect - so I
got another coffee / people-watched and just read the paper for a while.
I then walked up to Freidrichstrasse and went thru the stores: #205,
#206, Galleries Lafayette etc. Those shops are in the lower level of the
new building “with all the glass” at the corner of Freidrich and Jager
Strasses. Lots of neat stuff, but I didn’t want to carry it home. I got to
their hotel about 16:15 and they showed up at 16:30 from their tour to
Potsdam. They dropped off their stuff and we headed to dinner and drinks
and then a neighborhood walk. We said goodbye as they will leave Berlin
tomorrow to continue their bus tour. I headed back to my hotel: it took
about an hour but a lovely walk thru the Tiergarten to the Victory column
/ Bellevue Palace and to my hotel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stra%C3%9Fe_des_17._Juni

Wednesday:

I have a free day. They have an escorted charter and then leaving town and
I’ve done/seen everything that I wanted to see so this day I’ll spend
wandering in West Berlin. In my head I had memories of bits and pieces
that seem out of whack, so I’m gonna take a walk and see if I can make
them all fit together to know the area better. First thing – I headed for
the train station that I used when I first came here in 1995. I walked
thru the train station and a lot of shops in there to grab a coffee, train
schedules etc. One strange thing is that THIS same building (along the
sides) contains “the Erotik Museum” and other sex shops - seems strange to
have it so public: convenient, but I would think the public would want it
not so obvious. Anyway, through the train station, out to the other side
and THAT’S the view I remember – a full-size giraffe sign on a building
pointing me to the Zoo. So I walked over that way and there’s a walkway
behind the zoo – along the river. A nice day for the walk and a lot of
strollers are there as well as folks just lying along the river enjoying
the sun (it’s mostly been raining for the past few weeks). From here
through the shrubs/trees you can see the elephants, llamas and a few
others as you stroll along. I take the path around and I’m now on the
other side on my hotel. I turn right and right and there’s my hotel – got
it. Next: over toward the big dept store – KaDeWe to link all those
streets in my head. Up and down a few of them and by now it’s time for
some lunch so I stopped at a Schlemmermeyer for a bratwurst and some
blaukraut. When I ask for blaukraut, she asks me “red cabbage?” I wondered
why and I just checked and blaukraut is what they call it in SOUTHERN
Germany (where I last ordered it). In northern Germany it’s called rotkohl
! Whatever they call it, although she seemed surprised that it’s all I
want on a plate, she knew what I wanted and weighs the empty plate then
scoops some on there and reweighs the plate to charge me for it by the
weight. EXCELLENT! If I lived near here I would have no need to ever buy
any groceries: if really hungry - schnitzel across the street in the
Europa Center and if not that hungry - here I’d get bratwurst and red
cabbage with a Coke. Finished the meal and walked up and down the side
streets in the area looking for local drugstores. Eventually I came across
a DM and it had exactly what I wanted – suntan lotion. In Europe the
sunscreens have more protection than here in the US ( although the FDA did
just approve most of the stuff that Europe already uses, it’s gonna still
be a few years before you can buy it in the states). I bought a high SPF
50+, an SPF 20, an SPF 10 and an après-sun lotion that replenishes the
skins’ vitamins after sunburn. ( I'm always burning!) While near the
Europa Center I saw the “Apollo city sauna” across the street and I was
thinking – “a massage would be great: I wonder if they have it there.” I
crossed the street to check it out and as I neared the door I saw a brass
plate displaying that they are a member of the International Gay
Association and other things written on the plaque in other languages –
all containing the word ‘Gay’. No associations listed that did not specify
‘Gay’ in the title, so I elected to skip the massage. Good of them to note
that outside. I slowly worked my back toward the hotel – and packed my
bag to leave in the morning.

Berlin article from June 2008:
http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/2008_06/


"- Bobb -" wrote in message
. ..
Here’s an email that I had sent a friend after a Berlin trip:

Some local photos/guides if you want to check them out /save to your PC:
http://www.visitberlin.de/english/si...rdigkeiten.php
and
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...de-Berlin.html

Here’s a link to 360 degree panoramas of just about anything in town:

http://www.panorama-cities.net/berlin/berlin.html (need high-speed)

Click on Enlarge – then Full Screen if you like. Also while panning
left/right if a circle appears, you can click in the circle and it will
then open THAT panorama.

(URL’s noted are links for photos/info on the topic. Right-click on it -
open in new window)

Friday:

... From Paris we flew into Tegel Airport and I grab a cab to the
Intercontinental Hotel. Traffic is a mess but the cab driver knows his
way around town and we parallel all the stuck traffic by taking back
roads through town and get to the hotel fairly quickly. Although the
normal cab fare is about 30 Euros- today it was 14 Euros. I had emailed
the hotel previously asking for an early check-in (expecting to be there
about 09:00), so they have a room waiting for me and I check in at about
11:45. Hmmm – a driver that got me there quickly – for less than I
expected and a hotel that expected me / has a very nice room waiting for
me and a pleasant porter to carry my bag. Oh yeah – I am no longer in
France: welcome to Germany!

I was really beat: napped a few hours then walked a few blocks to the
Europa Center for wienerschnitzel:

http://www.europa-center-berlin.de/?lang=en#

I hadn’t eaten yet today – because I wanted to eat he

http://www.bavarium-berlin.de/index....f5 ddc76c47b3

I was there years ago and the food was very good. Everything else on the
menu was 6, 7, 8 euros but the schnitzel cost me ~ 20 euros: it was
excellent! Much more than I could eat and it did bother me to NOT eat it
all but it was as big as the dinner plate it was served on. I then
walked down to KaDeWe (big fancy dept store) and browsed in there for a
few hours. (Link below) Lots of neat stuff but a lot of it wouldn’t
work for me back in the states (wrong voltage or DVD = wrong format
etc ). Nothing there is cheap, but the sixth floor was even more
impressive than I remembered – spotless- and any food you could possibly
imagine: fish, meat, entire cases of just salamis, another case of
different cheeses, etc – how about calf brains? – they’ve got ‘em:
right over there next to all the other body parts. Le Notre (the same
bakery that’s at the Paris Hotel/casino in Vegas) has a good area on
this floor – one section is bread/pastries and its other area has
sit-down lunches – sandwiches/soups etc. Every section have a "counter
section" to order "eat it here and now" food.

http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php And then pick the floor #
along the top. (in top left can choose German/English)

I was enjoying just browsing but I was getting really tired so I walked
back to the hotel to get some sleep / get acclimated to the time shift.

Saturday:

My friends would be arriving tonight and staying in East Berlin, so I
figured I’d spend the day there. I took the bus over to Unter den Linden
in the early AM and headed to the Brandenburg Gate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unter_den_Linden (Lots of links/photos)

While walking up the street I see that the Unter Den Linden Hotel is now
demolished. Last year I thought that they were refurbishing, but now it,
and all the buildings to the Friedrichstraße corner are gone – just dirt
there surrounded by a fence. (Looks like Vegas!) While walking toward
the Gate, I was thinking: “I’d really like a coffee, too bad there's
only a Starbucks nearby". JUST as I'm thinking that (no kidding), I walk
by a new Dunkin' Donuts! Three doors down from Starbucks there’s now a
Dunkin’ Donuts - Perfect ! I grabbed a coffee to go and walked around a
bit. They are still building the US Embassy in the corner near the Gate.
I walked thru the Brandenburg Gate, took a left and around the block to
the Jewish Memorial (the wavy granite blocks) and 30 minutes later I'm
on the back of the Embassy when it starts raining - as I'm walking by -
another Dunkin' Donuts ! Got in from the rain - grabbed another coffee
and then walked down to Friedrichstrasse to see what’s new, now that
they’ve finally finished construction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstrasse

I spent a few hours there and then headed to the Hotel Adlon.
(This is the hotel that Michael Jackson held his son out the window for
the reporters years ago.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlon_Hotel

I’d never stayed there, (too much $$) but was scouting it for
breakfast/lunch and they do open early … if it's nice, we could sit
outside – that’s a plan. I still have some time before they arrive so I
headed down to the Spree river. There was a flea market along the river
road and I followed it along: everything from 30 year old LP records for
sale to homemade crafts, paintings etc. I took my time and walked up the
street along the river to their hotel and called up to the room at 17:00
and woke my friend up - he was not happy. Apparently they got in about
15:30 and he left a message at my hotel for me to meet them at 18:30. He
then went to bed since none of them had slept on the plane: they had
been up for ~20 hours. Mine was the fourth phone call he'd gotten since
he tried to get some sleep. I apologized and told him that I hadn’t been
at my hotel all day. I took a walk and met up with the others who had
gone out for a snack. At 18:30 we all met in the lobby and went to
dinner across from their hotel - next to another Dunkin' Donuts! A
sociable dinner and we discussed our plan for the next few days and the
verdict is: I'm the tour guide! In the morning they want to go to a
certain church for Sunday mass and I had checked the schedule online and
we decided that 8AM service is best - then breakfast - then sightseeing.
I'm not sure of the bus schedule so I told them, if I'm not here by
07:30 start walking - either follow the river OR go left 6 blocks - turn
left and it's at the end of the street ( this Church is behind the Opera
House) I took the bus back to my hotel not knowing exactly where it
would drop me off, but I saw its route on map to know which one to take
and bus #200 stopped DIRECTLY in front of my hotel. Perfect.

Sunday:

The busses don't run too often in the early morning on a Sunday so when
I got to the bus stop across the street at about 07:00 , I see that I
just missed one and the next bus will arrive at my stop at 07:23. (Sorry
can’t read my scribbling too well,) But … on the way there, on EbertStr
near LeipzeigerStr on WilhelmStr – old section of wall is still there.
By the time I got to Unter Den Linden (near the Gate), it was 07:33. I
start walking toward their hotel and after 5-10 minutes I'm thinking - I
should have seen them by now (I told them to start walking at 07:30): so
I suspect that they must have gone the other way - following the river
to the square. I turned around and headed down that way and after about
20 minutes they showed up. Turns out that they had waited at the hotel
until 07:45 for me. We went into the old church and afterward we walked
down to the Radisson SAS.

http://www.berlin.radissonsas.com/

http://www.btm.de/cgi-bin/sehenswert...prache=english

I showed them the aquarium in the center of the hotel and then we ate in
a small cafe near the hotel - not the Adlon, nor the OperaHaus cafe.
Just wandering while snacking.

http://www.arcspace.com/travel/radis...on_berlin.html

(I had wanted to take them to the Opernpalais Café but when we walked by
it didn’t look to be open. I later found out that it WAS.) By then the
fog was lifting and the sun looked like it was gonna come out for the
first time since we’d gotten there , so we headed over to the TV tower.

http://www.berlinerfernsehturm.de/engl/05home_e.html

It's a tower that looks like the Vegas Stratosphere - with a revolving
restaurant near the top. I hadn’t been up there before, since whenever I’ve
been in town it’s been overcast or I didn’t have the time. If you like
desserts – skip the main course. As we were going around, we’d go by the
food servers’ station and saw the best looking desserts – but we had
already ordered “regular food”. What we had was good: the prices were
reasonable, and the view was great. On the level below the rotating
section there is a non-moving windowed level with all the landmarks
marked along the appropriate window with a write up on it: very useful.
When done there, we then spent the rest of the day walking back/stopping
along the way. I told my friends that at the rate they were going "
it's gonna take about 8 weeks to see the city". They chuckled and said
“this is the first time you’ve gone on vacation with us, huh? You’re not
used to this, but this is typical pace for us.” Luckily I know what
else I want to see and have allowed enough time on my own to do it.

We walked around the Gendarmenmarkt area a bit and then took a boat ride
on the river.

http://www.berlin-tourist-informatio...irk-mitte.html

and then along Unter den Linden back to their hotel ( Hotel Jolly
Vivaldi)

http://www.berlin-tourist-informatio...prache=english


Monday

Today I’m playing tour guide for West Berlin. They met me at my hotel

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ic/.../BERHA/welcome

and we headed down toward the Europa Center. On the way the girls decide
that they’d rather visit the zoo to see the pandas (and maybe to just
have some time to themselves), so we agree that they’ll call us when
they’re done and we can meet along the way. The 5 of us then walked to
the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. It’s an old church that was bombed
during WWII and left as a reminder of the results of war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_...emorial_Church

From there we walked down to KaDeWe to see the 6th floor – and all that
food! They were amazed with the assortment of available items and after
a few hours, we wanted to eat there but when it came time to “order a
sandwich”, we couldn’t find a counter where you could get a customized
sandwich – like ham AND cheese with mustard or lettuce and tomato. At
the ham counter they had ham and in the cheese section they had a wide
array of cheeses, but we couldn’t mix and match. They only had pre-made
sandwiches and they had been out for a while. We COULD have bought
baguettes and a knife and some mustard and some lettuce … and MADE a
sandwich but it was quickly getting very frustrating so rather than do
that and make a scene, we got irritated and just left. Also by then it
was getting warm in the store – all week I found that the AC isn’t that
great – anywhere. If you get there EARLY the temp is fine but once it
gets crowded – it warms up quickly. The girls then called and we met up
with them and headed for the Kudamm to have lunch outside. We stopped at
the first sidewalk cafe we saw as some of us were really hungry. We sat
and sat and watched our waitress go by but got no service. (Tipping vs.
no-tipping is a topic for another day) Then the waitress took our drink
orders and then disappeared. We found our own menus. The folks at the
table next to us had drinks and were upset – waiting for their check.
The waitress ignored them too until they got up to leave. She then
presented them with a check – and waited in their face for them to pay.
Meanwhile she is 6 feet from us but not even pretending to care about
taking our order. Someone else delivered the drinks. We kept asking for
her attention: she’d look at us and then look away. One of the group
made a comment that it’s like a Seinfeld episode with “the soup Nazi”. I
gave him a look and he realized what he had just said – and where we
are! Ok – we’ve had it – we’re outta here too. We get up to leave and
she THEN comes to our table. We paid for our drinks and left. Onto the
Hard Rock! Yeah it’s not what any of us had in mind but I know there we
can get food and drinks and it’s only around the corner. Took a left
onto Mienekestrasse – down the street and got a GREAT waiter from Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico. We had a fun time there and although it wasn’t German
food, it was good. After that we headed down the street to “The Story of
Berlin”.

http://www.story-of-berlin.de/downlo..._of_berlin.pdf

Got there about 16:00 and had only about an hour to allow for the visit
as the group needed to be back in East Berlin to meet up with their tour
group for orientation dinner at 18:30. We had to skip the bunker tour as
not enough time. I offered to take them to dinner later at the
restaurant on top of the Reichstag, (to avoid the lines to see it) but
they’ll be getting in too late.

http://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/ht_de/...lin/berlin.php

I hopped on the bus with them and got off in Potsdamer Platz to wander
around. Played tourist a bit then got a coffee at a sidewalk café,
walked around and people-watched a bit.

Tuesday

Fellow travelers have now started their escorted tour so this is my day
to head to the Pergamon Museum. Normally I’m not one for museums but
this one has stuff from all over the world and from what I’ve read it’s
really something to see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum

I spent about 3.5 hours there and wasn’t disappointed. By the time I
finished, it was getting really warm and stuffy in the Museum (about
1pm). Browsed the other museums and then I headed across the street to
the Opernpalais for a snack.

http://www.opernpalais.de/subs/fr_haupt.htm

As I start walking there, the sun came out and the wind died down a
bit – a PERFECT day! This is EXACTLY what I wanted to do – just sit
outside and enjoy it. ( One thing that I do find funny there… if you go
in and turn LEFT to the restaurant ( rather than right into the pastry
section) ... along the staircase .. on the right there are photos of
famous visitors that have been there … entertainers, politicians such as
Henry Kissinger and others. Now look on the left side of the stairs:
they have photos of the winners of past gay festivals – all in drag …
some men wearing nothing but G-strings. I just find it strange to have
Henry Kissinger opposite the drag queens.) I walked through the pastry
section and checked out the display case. There are so many pastry types
there it’s tough – but I opt for coffee and an “Apfeltarte“. It is a
flaky pastry shaped like a boat/bathtub with freshly sliced apples and
raisins inside. I grabbed a table outside – told the waitress my
order – sat back and enjoyed it.

http://www.opernpalais.de/gfxnew/terrasse1.jpg and

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/2d4c1a/

For the first time since I’d been there, the weather was perfect - so I
got another coffee / people-watched and just read the paper for a while.
I then walked up to Freidrichstrasse and went thru the stores: #205,
#206, Galleries Lafayette etc. Those shops are in the lower level of the
new building “with all the glass” at the corner of Freidrich and Jager
Strasses. Lots of neat stuff, but I didn’t want to carry it home. I got
to their hotel about 16:15 and they showed up at 16:30 from their tour
to Potsdam. They dropped off their stuff and we headed to dinner and
drinks and then a neighborhood walk. We said goodbye as they will leave
Berlin tomorrow to continue their bus tour. I headed back to my hotel:
it took about an hour but a lovely walk thru the Tiergarten to the
Victory column / Bellevue Palace and to my hotel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stra%C3%9Fe_des_17._Juni

Wednesday:

I have a free day. They have an escorted charter and then leaving town
and I’ve done/seen everything that I wanted to see so this day I’ll
spend wandering in West Berlin. In my head I had memories of bits and
pieces that seem out of whack, so I’m gonna take a walk and see if I can
make them all fit together to know the area better. First thing – I
headed for the train station that I used when I first came here in 1995.
I walked thru the train station and a lot of shops in there to grab a
coffee, train schedules etc. One strange thing is that THIS same
building (along the sides) contains “the Erotik Museum” and other sex
shops - seems strange to have it so public: convenient, but I would
think the public would want it not so obvious. Anyway, through the train
station, out to the other side and THAT’S the view I remember – a
full-size giraffe sign on a building pointing me to the Zoo. So I
walked over that way and there’s a walkway behind the zoo – along the
river. A nice day for the walk and a lot of strollers are there as well
as folks just lying along the river enjoying the sun (it’s mostly been
raining for the past few weeks). From here through the shrubs/trees you
can see the elephants, llamas and a few others as you stroll along. I
take the path around and I’m now on the other side on my hotel. I turn
right and right and there’s my hotel – got it. Next: over toward the
big dept store – KaDeWe to link all those streets in my head. Up and
down a few of them and by now it’s time for some lunch so I stopped at a
Schlemmermeyer for a bratwurst and some blaukraut. When I ask for
blaukraut, she asks me “red cabbage?” I wondered why and I just checked
and blaukraut is what they call it in SOUTHERN Germany (where I last
ordered it). In northern Germany it’s called rotkohl ! Whatever they
call it, although she seemed surprised that it’s all I want on a plate,
she knew what I wanted and weighs the empty plate then scoops some on
there and reweighs the plate to charge me for it by the weight.
EXCELLENT! If I lived near here I would have no need to ever buy any
groceries: if really hungry - schnitzel across the street in the Europa
Center and if not that hungry - here I’d get bratwurst and red cabbage
with a Coke. Finished the meal and walked up and down the side streets
in the area looking for local drugstores. Eventually I came across a DM
and it had exactly what I wanted – suntan lotion. In Europe the
sunscreens have more protection than here in the US ( although the FDA
did just approve most of the stuff that Europe already uses, it’s gonna
still be a few years before you can buy it in the states). I bought a
high SPF 50+, an SPF 20, an SPF 10 and an après-sun lotion that
replenishes the skins’ vitamins after sunburn. ( I'm always burning!)
While near the Europa Center I saw the “Apollo city sauna” across the
street and I was thinking – “a massage would be great: I wonder if they
have it there.” I crossed the street to check it out and as I neared
the door I saw a brass plate displaying that they are a member of the
International Gay Association and other things written on the plaque in
other languages – all containing the word ‘Gay’. No associations listed
that did not specify ‘Gay’ in the title, so I elected to skip the
massage. Good of them to note that outside. I slowly worked my back
toward the hotel – and packed my bag to leave in the morning.

so you are advertising for stuff that is not related to today then ?
Try find a history group

"- Bobb -" a écrit dans le message de
. ..
Berlin links / old trip report

http://www.berlin.de/english/
http://www.berlin.de/english/visitors/index.html
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...index_en.shtml
http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.d...ke1.shtml?en=1

http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/3...001/berlin.htm (and other
cities)
Pay attention to Berlin articles: In these old cities, the "big things"
are still 'big things'. But Berlin has changed a lot in the past 5-10
years. The main areas of East Berlin might as well be ' a whole new city'
compared to that article. Hotels I had stayed in have been leveled - on
the other hand there are now new things to see, so a lot to consider that
might not be listed in a 5-10 yr old story.


======
Here’s an email that I had sent a friend after a Berlin trip:

Some local photos/guides if you want to check them out /save to your PC:
http://www.visitberlin.de/english/si...rdigkeiten.php
and
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...de-Berlin.html

Here’s a link to 360 degree panoramas of just about anything in town:

http://www.panorama-cities.net/berlin/berlin.html (need high-speed)

Click on Enlarge – then Full Screen if you like. Also while panning
left/right if a circle appears, you can click in the circle and it will
then open THAT panorama.

(URL’s noted are links for photos/info on the topic. Right-click on it -
open in new window)

Friday:

... From Paris we flew into Tegel Airport and I grab a cab to the
Intercontinental Hotel. Traffic is a mess but the cab driver knows his
way around town and we parallel all the stuck traffic by taking back roads
through town and get to the hotel fairly quickly. Although the normal cab
fare is about 30 Euros- today it was 14 Euros. I had emailed the hotel
previously asking for an early check-in (expecting to be there about
09:00), so they have a room waiting for me and I check in at about 11:45.
Hmmm – a driver that got me there quickly – for less than I expected and a
hotel that expected me / has a very nice room waiting for me and a
pleasant porter to carry my bag. Oh yeah – I am no longer in France:
welcome to Germany!

I was really beat: napped a few hours then walked a few blocks to the
Europa Center for wienerschnitzel:

http://www.europa-center-berlin.de/?lang=en#

I hadn’t eaten yet today – because I wanted to eat he

http://www.bavarium-berlin.de/index....f5 ddc76c47b3

I was there years ago and the food was very good. Everything else on the
menu was 6, 7, 8 euros but the schnitzel cost me ~ 20 euros: it was
excellent! Much more than I could eat and it did bother me to NOT eat it
all but it was as big as the dinner plate it was served on. I then walked
down to KaDeWe (big fancy dept store) and browsed in there for a few
hours. (Link below) Lots of neat stuff but a lot of it wouldn’t work for
me back in the states (wrong voltage or DVD = wrong format etc ). Nothing
there is cheap, but the sixth floor was even more impressive than I
remembered – spotless- and any food you could possibly imagine: fish,
meat, entire cases of just salamis, another case of different cheeses,
etc – how about calf brains? – they’ve got ‘em: right over there next to
all the other body parts. Le Notre (the same bakery that’s at the Paris
Hotel/casino in Vegas) has a good area on this floor – one section is
bread/pastries and its other area has sit-down lunches – sandwiches/soups
etc. Every section have a "counter section" to order "eat it here and now"
food.

http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php And then pick the floor #
along the top. (in top left can choose German/English)

I was enjoying just browsing but I was getting really tired so I walked
back to the hotel to get some sleep / get acclimated to the time shift.

Saturday:

My friends would be arriving tonight and staying in East Berlin, so I
figured I’d spend the day there. I took the bus over to Unter den Linden
in the early AM and headed to the Brandenburg Gate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unter_den_Linden (Lots of links/photos)

While walking up the street I see that the Unter Den Linden Hotel is now
demolished. Last year I thought that they were refurbishing, but now it,
and all the buildings to the Friedrichstraße corner are gone – just dirt
there surrounded by a fence. (Looks like Vegas!) While walking toward the
Gate, I was thinking: “I’d really like a coffee, too bad there's only a
Starbucks nearby". JUST as I'm thinking that (no kidding), I walk by a new
Dunkin' Donuts! Three doors down from Starbucks there’s now a Dunkin’
Donuts - Perfect ! I grabbed a coffee to go and walked around a bit. They
are still building the US Embassy in the corner near the Gate. I walked
thru the Brandenburg Gate, took a left and around the block to the Jewish
Memorial (the wavy granite blocks) and 30 minutes later I'm on the back
of the Embassy when it starts raining - as I'm walking by - another
Dunkin' Donuts ! Got in from the rain - grabbed another coffee and then
walked down to Friedrichstrasse to see what’s new, now that they’ve
finally finished construction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstrasse

I spent a few hours there and then headed to the Hotel Adlon.
(This is the hotel that Michael Jackson held his son out the window for
the reporters years ago.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlon_Hotel

I’d never stayed there, (too much $$) but was scouting it for
breakfast/lunch and they do open early … if it's nice, we could sit
outside – that’s a plan. I still have some time before they arrive so I
headed down to the Spree river. There was a flea market along the river
road and I followed it along: everything from 30 year old LP records for
sale to homemade crafts, paintings etc. I took my time and walked up the
street along the river to their hotel and called up to the room at 17:00
and woke my friend up - he was not happy. Apparently they got in about
15:30 and he left a message at my hotel for me to meet them at 18:30. He
then went to bed since none of them had slept on the plane: they had been
up for ~20 hours. Mine was the fourth phone call he'd gotten since he
tried to get some sleep. I apologized and told him that I hadn’t been at
my hotel all day. I took a walk and met up with the others who had gone
out for a snack. At 18:30 we all met in the lobby and went to dinner
across from their hotel - next to another Dunkin' Donuts! A sociable
dinner and we discussed our plan for the next few days and the verdict is:
I'm the tour guide! In the morning they want to go to a certain church for
Sunday mass and I had checked the schedule online and we decided that 8AM
service is best - then breakfast - then sightseeing. I'm not sure of the
bus schedule so I told them, if I'm not here by 07:30 start walking -
either follow the river OR go left 6 blocks - turn left and it's at the
end of the street ( this Church is behind the Opera House) I took the bus
back to my hotel not knowing exactly where it would drop me off, but I saw
its route on map to know which one to take and bus #200 stopped DIRECTLY
in front of my hotel. Perfect.

Sunday:

The busses don't run too often in the early morning on a Sunday so when I
got to the bus stop across the street at about 07:00 , I see that I just
missed one and the next bus will arrive at my stop at 07:23. (Sorry can’t
read my scribbling too well,) But … on the way there, on EbertStr near
LeipzeigerStr on WilhelmStr – old section of wall is still there. By the
time I got to Unter Den Linden (near the Gate), it was 07:33. I start
walking toward their hotel and after 5-10 minutes I'm thinking - I should
have seen them by now (I told them to start walking at 07:30): so I
suspect that they must have gone the other way - following the river to
the square. I turned around and headed down that way and after about 20
minutes they showed up. Turns out that they had waited at the hotel until
07:45 for me. We went into the old church and afterward we walked down to
the Radisson SAS.

http://www.berlin.radissonsas.com/

http://www.btm.de/cgi-bin/sehenswert...prache=english

I showed them the aquarium in the center of the hotel and then we ate in a
small cafe near the hotel - not the Adlon, nor the OperaHaus cafe. Just
wandering while snacking.

http://www.arcspace.com/travel/radis...on_berlin.html

(I had wanted to take them to the Opernpalais Café but when we walked by
it didn’t look to be open. I later found out that it WAS.) By then the fog
was lifting and the sun looked like it was gonna come out for the first
time since we’d gotten there , so we headed over to the TV tower.

http://www.berlinerfernsehturm.de/engl/05home_e.html

It's a tower that looks like the Vegas Stratosphere - with a revolving
restaurant near the top. I hadn’t been up there before, since whenever I’ve
been in town it’s been overcast or I didn’t have the time. If you like
desserts – skip the main course. As we were going around, we’d go by the
food servers’ station and saw the best looking desserts – but we had
already ordered “regular food”. What we had was good: the prices were
reasonable, and the view was great. On the level below the rotating
section there is a non-moving windowed level with all the landmarks marked
along the appropriate window with a write up on it: very useful. When done
there, we then spent the rest of the day walking back/stopping along the
way. I told my friends that at the rate they were going " it's gonna take
about 8 weeks to see the city". They chuckled and said “this is the first
time you’ve gone on vacation with us, huh? You’re not used to this, but
this is typical pace for us.” Luckily I know what else I want to see and
have allowed enough time on my own to do it.

We walked around the Gendarmenmarkt area a bit and then took a boat ride
on the river.

http://www.berlin-tourist-informatio...irk-mitte.html

and then along Unter den Linden back to their hotel ( Hotel Jolly Vivaldi)

http://www.berlin-tourist-informatio...prache=english


Monday

Today I’m playing tour guide for West Berlin. They met me at my hotel

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ic/.../BERHA/welcome

and we headed down toward the Europa Center. On the way the girls decide
that they’d rather visit the zoo to see the pandas (and maybe to just have
some time to themselves), so we agree that they’ll call us when they’re
done and we can meet along the way. The 5 of us then walked to the Kaiser
Wilhelm Memorial Church. It’s an old church that was bombed during WWII
and left as a reminder of the results of war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_...emorial_Church

From there we walked down to KaDeWe to see the 6th floor – and all that
food! They were amazed with the assortment of available items and after a
few hours, we wanted to eat there but when it came time to “order a
sandwich”, we couldn’t find a counter where you could get a customized
sandwich – like ham AND cheese with mustard or lettuce and tomato. At the
ham counter they had ham and in the cheese section they had a wide array
of cheeses, but we couldn’t mix and match. They only had pre-made
sandwiches and they had been out for a while. We COULD have bought
baguettes and a knife and some mustard and some lettuce … and MADE a
sandwich but it was quickly getting very frustrating so rather than do
that and make a scene, we got irritated and just left. Also by then it was
getting warm in the store – all week I found that the AC isn’t that
great – anywhere. If you get there EARLY the temp is fine but once it gets
crowded – it warms up quickly. The girls then called and we met up with
them and headed for the Kudamm to have lunch outside. We stopped at the
first sidewalk cafe we saw as some of us were really hungry. We sat and
sat and watched our waitress go by but got no service. (Tipping vs.
no-tipping is a topic for another day) Then the waitress took our drink
orders and then disappeared. We found our own menus. The folks at the
table next to us had drinks and were upset – waiting for their check. The
waitress ignored them too until they got up to leave. She then presented
them with a check – and waited in their face for them to pay. Meanwhile
she is 6 feet from us but not even pretending to care about taking our
order. Someone else delivered the drinks. We kept asking for her
attention: she’d look at us and then look away. One of the group made a
comment that it’s like a Seinfeld episode with “the soup Nazi”. I gave him
a look and he realized what he had just said – and where we are! Ok – we’ve
had it – we’re outta here too. We get up to leave and she THEN comes to
our table. We paid for our drinks and left. Onto the Hard Rock! Yeah it’s
not what any of us had in mind but I know there we can get food and drinks
and it’s only around the corner. Took a left onto Mienekestrasse – down
the street and got a GREAT waiter from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We had a
fun time there and although it wasn’t German food, it was good. After that
we headed down the street to “The Story of Berlin”.

http://www.story-of-berlin.de/downlo..._of_berlin.pdf

Got there about 16:00 and had only about an hour to allow for the visit as
the group needed to be back in East Berlin to meet up with their tour
group for orientation dinner at 18:30. We had to skip the bunker tour as
not enough time. I offered to take them to dinner later at the restaurant
on top of the Reichstag, (to avoid the lines to see it) but they’ll be
getting in too late.

http://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/ht_de/...lin/berlin.php

I hopped on the bus with them and got off in Potsdamer Platz to wander
around. Played tourist a bit then got a coffee at a sidewalk café, walked
around and people-watched a bit.

Tuesday

Fellow travelers have now started their escorted tour so this is my day to
head to the Pergamon Museum. Normally I’m not one for museums but this one
has stuff from all over the world and from what I’ve read it’s really
something to see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum

I spent about 3.5 hours there and wasn’t disappointed. By the time I
finished, it was getting really warm and stuffy in the Museum (about 1pm).
Browsed the other museums and then I headed across the street to the
Opernpalais for a snack.

http://www.opernpalais.de/subs/fr_haupt.htm

As I start walking there, the sun came out and the wind died down a bit –
a PERFECT day! This is EXACTLY what I wanted to do – just sit outside and
enjoy it. ( One thing that I do find funny there… if you go in and turn
LEFT to the restaurant ( rather than right into the pastry section) ...
along the staircase .. on the right there are photos of famous visitors
that have been there … entertainers, politicians such as Henry Kissinger
and others. Now look on the left side of the stairs: they have photos of
the winners of past gay festivals – all in drag … some men wearing nothing
but G-strings. I just find it strange to have Henry Kissinger opposite
the drag queens.) I walked through the pastry section and checked out the
display case. There are so many pastry types there it’s tough – but I opt
for coffee and an “Apfeltarte“. It is a flaky pastry shaped like a
boat/bathtub with freshly sliced apples and raisins inside. I grabbed a
table outside – told the waitress my order – sat back and enjoyed it.

http://www.opernpalais.de/gfxnew/terrasse1.jpg and

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/2d4c1a/

For the first time since I’d been there, the weather was perfect - so I
got another coffee / people-watched and just read the paper for a while. I
then walked up to Freidrichstrasse and went thru the stores: #205, #206,
Galleries Lafayette etc. Those shops are in the lower level of the new
building “with all the glass” at the corner of Freidrich and Jager
Strasses. Lots of neat stuff, but I didn’t want to carry it home. I got to
their hotel about 16:15 and they showed up at 16:30 from their tour to
Potsdam. They dropped off their stuff and we headed to dinner and drinks
and then a neighborhood walk. We said goodbye as they will leave Berlin
tomorrow to continue their bus tour. I headed back to my hotel: it took
about an hour but a lovely walk thru the Tiergarten to the Victory column
/ Bellevue Palace and to my hotel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stra%C3%9Fe_des_17._Juni

Wednesday:

I have a free day. They have an escorted charter and then leaving town and
I’ve done/seen everything that I wanted to see so this day I’ll spend
wandering in West Berlin. In my head I had memories of bits and pieces
that seem out of whack, so I’m gonna take a walk and see if I can make
them all fit together to know the area better. First thing – I headed for
the train station that I used when I first came here in 1995. I walked
thru the train station and a lot of shops in there to grab a coffee, train
schedules etc. One strange thing is that THIS same building (along the
sides) contains “the Erotik Museum” and other sex shops - seems strange to
have it so public: convenient, but I would think the public would want it
not so obvious. Anyway, through the train station, out to the other side
and THAT’S the view I remember – a full-size giraffe sign on a building
pointing me to the Zoo. So I walked over that way and there’s a walkway
behind the zoo – along the river. A nice day for the walk and a lot of
strollers are there as well as folks just lying along the river enjoying
the sun (it’s mostly been raining for the past few weeks). From here
through the shrubs/trees you can see the elephants, llamas and a few
others as you stroll along. I take the path around and I’m now on the
other side on my hotel. I turn right and right and there’s my hotel – got
it. Next: over toward the big dept store – KaDeWe to link all those
streets in my head. Up and down a few of them and by now it’s time for
some lunch so I stopped at a Schlemmermeyer for a bratwurst and some
blaukraut. When I ask for blaukraut, she asks me “red cabbage?” I wondered
why and I just checked and blaukraut is what they call it in SOUTHERN
Germany (where I last ordered it). In northern Germany it’s called rotkohl
! Whatever they call it, although she seemed surprised that it’s all I
want on a plate, she knew what I wanted and weighs the empty plate then
scoops some on there and reweighs the plate to charge me for it by the
weight. EXCELLENT! If I lived near here I would have no need to ever buy
any groceries: if really hungry - schnitzel across the street in the
Europa Center and if not that hungry - here I’d get bratwurst and red
cabbage with a Coke. Finished the meal and walked up and down the side
streets in the area looking for local drugstores. Eventually I came across
a DM and it had exactly what I wanted – suntan lotion. In Europe the
sunscreens have more protection than here in the US ( although the FDA did
just approve most of the stuff that Europe already uses, it’s gonna still
be a few years before you can buy it in the states). I bought a high SPF
50+, an SPF 20, an SPF 10 and an après-sun lotion that replenishes the
skins’ vitamins after sunburn. ( I'm always burning!) While near the
Europa Center I saw the “Apollo city sauna” across the street and I was
thinking – “a massage would be great: I wonder if they have it there.” I
crossed the street to check it out and as I neared the door I saw a brass
plate displaying that they are a member of the International Gay
Association and other things written on the plaque in other languages –
all containing the word ‘Gay’. No associations listed that did not specify
‘Gay’ in the title, so I elected to skip the massage. Good of them to note
that outside. I slowly worked my back toward the hotel – and packed my
bag to leave in the morning.

thanks!