We got into Berlin yesterday and so today, we thought we’d go shopping as we needed a few things and went to ask the concierge of our hotel where is the best place to go shopping. We had slept in this morning and missed the breakfast brunch. The concierge gave us a map of Berlin how to get to Germany’s largest mall, and believe me, it was large – three storeys and it had some shops that we have back home and some not. Their food court was pretty diverse. We see ‘curry bratwurst’ a lot but didn’t try any. This mall borders on where the Berlin Wall was. Our hotel is located on what used to be East Berlin – so some interesting history there.
While at this mall, we decided to have our first coffee of the day – cappuccinos for two! It turned out that we couldn’t find exactly what we were looking for, so exited the mall and where we exited we got ourselves lost and the map didn’t help much – the map was confusing as it didn’t actually show every street name – so that was fun – we became aimless wanderers in an area with signs warning us of pick-pockets which made me a bit paranoid. In our lostness, we came across the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. We didn’t go downstairs into the Memorial, and in hindsight, we should have. I did take photos of the exterior though where they had all these concrete blocks which I thought would have names engraved on them, but didn’t. If we had gone in, we would likely have found out why the blank concrete blocks.
Trying to find our way back to the hotel, we then came across the Brandenburg Gate where a protest was apparently happening so we didn’t get that close to it – but took this picture from afar. This structure’s construction started in 1788 and was completed in 1791. At the Brandenburg Gate, there is also a quiet room for people to use to pray or reflect – didn’t see it though.
Much of our afternoon, which is a Friday afternoon, was spent finding our way back to our hotel. It should be noted that patios/outdoor tables and chairs for eating, drinking and coffee-ing is very big here. Our city at home needs more of this. The Deutsche way of life seems more relaxed somehow and they are big on socializing. I wonder if they are not more relaxed because they take trains everywhere they go. The trains are so efficient that it takes no time at all to get to where you are going. Driving vehicles would take a lot longer. In our hotel, you don’t see a lot of private passenger vehicle traffic here and so you don’t get overwhelmed by vehicle exhaust. The transportation here is predominantly electric trains, scooters and bicycles. The electric scooters and electric bicycles are available to rent here via app and so many amenities are within a 20-25 minute walk at most.
Across the street from our hotel is Friedrichstrasse Bahn (train station) where there is a little grocery store, and eats, a drug store and so many restaurants up and down the streets beside it – all of them with outdoor seating.
Once we got back to our hotel – we ate at a place up the street called the ‘Block House’ – the food was amazing. I had a pasta dish – taking full advantage of how different the wheat product is here (having been told that Germany is GMO free) – wondering what on earth makes it different. The pasta looked homemade and it was lovely. My body has not reacted to wheat product while being here and it really makes me wonder what is different.
It was while sitting here that we realized it is not against the law here to walk around with open beers like it is back home. It was odd to see as this would be illegal back home.
Tomorrow is our Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Tour …
Risé Brette
The Weary Traveller 