Berlin!

So Kate and I are now in Dresden hanging out at her apartment. We slept in late and are feasting on Nutella and toast.

Friday night Kate and her English friend Robbie picked me up from the airport….after their GPS lead them to a field and not Berlin Tegel Airport…luckily my flight had been delayed and we all arrived about the same time. Then we checked into the Backpacker Hostel and walked down Oranienstrasse to find a place to eat. All of the U-bahns (underground subways) are closed because of a drivers strike! This means either walking or taxis around the city.


Kate and Robbie checking into the hostel.

Berliner Beer.

The next day we walked along the famous Unter Den Linden towards the Brandenburg Gate and got some “traditional German coffee”.

The Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of division during the Cold War, was where Ronald Reagan said the famous words “Mr. Gorbachev—tear down this wall”. Two years later, in 1989, the wall was torn down. The gate also stands near the new American Embassy, which is under construction, and the Hotel Adlon which is where Michael Jackson held his child over the railing.

Kate and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

We thought this couple was being a little overdramatic with their goodbyes. He has a suitcase and she is holding a bouquet of roses. They were hugging and kissing like this the entire time we were there. This is kind of strange because there aren't any airports or train stations in the vicinity.

I met some cute soldiers and the winner of the 2008 Berlin Bear contest! (The soldier on the left is a real person and the one on the right is not, I finally figured this out after a good 10 minutes of staring at them.)

We then walked to the Siegessaule, the Column of Victory, which stands at the heart of the Tiergarten. We climbed to the top of the Column’s spiral staircase (NOT easy) and got a great view of the surrounding city including the Brandenburg Gate and beyond that the TV Tower on Alexanderplatz which the Soviets were said to use to spy on the West. I also learned that the Siegessaula has become a symbol of Berlin’s gay community and the park surrounding it is a popular cruising spot for gay men.

Victory Column and gay men cruising?

We cut through a park, passed the Berlin Zoo (home of the once adorable baby polar bear, Knut...he is now just a regular polar bear.) and came out onto Kurfurstendam, the shop lined street of West Berlin, to see the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtness Kirche. This church was bombed in World War II and was never rebuilt to remain a reminder of the war. We also checked out the famous high end department store KaDeWe, another symbol of the West’s prosperity and superiority over the East during the Cold War. Kate and I went to the 6^th floor which is entirely dedicated to luxury food and bought some chocolate.

Then Kate suggested we walk to the Sony Center which was “right around the corner” at Potsdamer Platz…we walked for over an hour and finally saw it. We stopped for a coffee and then took a cab back to Robbie’s car and drove the 2 hours back to Dresden.