Strugglin' in Berlin

I guess all the wandering and drifting through Bohemia and late night gallivanting took a toll on my feet. The right foot the be exact. After reaching Berlin by bus and collapsing on my hostel bed, my friend (who was not out until the ungodly hours of morning) wanted to explore Berlin. Normally I would have passed on that adventure and napped until it was time to see the stars & moon again, but since we had less time in Berlin than the other cities I sucked it up and stumbled out of the hostel. Unfortunately the stumbling this time wasn't due to indulgent matters, but to a foot injury I procured from strutting around the previous old cities. At first, cobblestones seemed so quaint and wholesome. Not the case anymore. Thankfully I managed to limp into an orthopedic pharmacy right near the hostel and impulsively purchased the first insoles I could get the German speaking salesman to give me. At the time, these insoles saved my tourist life. Although it still hurt to walk around, it wasn't the struggle it had been before. 

After fulfilling an intense sushi craving that had been building up for days, we set out to find the remains of the Berlin Wall. Thankfully, our hostel was quite near the remnants of the structure so there wasn't too much of a struggle.  I have to admit, seeing the wall on Friday was a bit underwhelming. Maybe this was because we were incredibly under-prepared (and under-dressed) for the weather in Berlin. Friday was cold, wet and windy. So after walking the first half of the Berlin Wall, we ditched out and I went for my nap!


The Berlin hostel we stayed in was definitely my favorite of all the accommodations. It was the one I chose so of course it was incredibly modern and was fully equipped with a bar and very friendly staff. There was also LOTS of travelers there. It was quite different from the first two, low-key smaller places. 


After napping we started getting ready for a rowdy night out in Berlin. This time my friend decided to join us out on the town. So Laura, Mina, Militza and I began our night at the Kleopatra hookah bar and then changed venue to an underground club. The club was recommended to us by the guy at reception in the hostel. So we took the metro into what appeared to be the ghetto, wandered around with a map for a few minutes until we found what looked like the projects. We were a little hesitant at first, but after seeing a bunch of people getting out of taxi's already partaking in late night antics, we thought we should check it out. Good choice, girls. We entered a sweet underground club that was dimly lit and pumping bass around 2am and blinked back into daylight around 6:30. 

So happy she almost cried.

Around that time we realized that Dunkin Donuts should be opening soon. Laura is a Dunkin enthusiast so we made a quick pit stop at the shop before heading back to the hostel. Unfortunately, it was closed then but it didn't stop us from taking a quick nap and heading to DD first thing, around noon.

Neptune Statue in Alexander Platz

Our friend Jesse decided to stop in Berlin for Saturday night on his way to Amsterdam. So we met up and walked around the city, exploring Alexander Platz, The Berlin Aquarium and the other end of the Berlin Wall. 

Pretending we got into the zoo...

We tried to go to the Berlin Zoo, since my guidebook referred to it as the most important zoo in Europe with the highest number of endangered species, but we got their a little too late and had to settle for the aquarium. The fire ant exhibit was cool but didn't seem to be adequately containing the creatures. Laura isn't fond of insects so she opted out of that room. Probably a good choice. 


My favorite part of the aquarium was probably the turtles. Over the break was a good friend's birthday back in Burlington, so I purchased his gift in Berlin. It is a turtle puppet. Since the weather was so chilly I decided to walk around with the puppet on my hand. There wasn't really an excuse for this inside the aquarium except for theatrics of course.

Happy Birthday Thomson!

The other side of the Berlin Wall was where the memorial was and also the East Side gallery. Even though we were there at night and it wasn't exactly easy to see all the graffiti and dedications, it was totally worth it. It's really unbelievable to think about how recently the wall went down and all the turmoil that took place exactly where our steps traced. 

Berlin Wall Memorial

 

 Not only was I strugglin' with my foot, but also with my camera (as usual) so it wasn't easy to get a picture that didn't use the automatic flash. But I tried. After this it was time to warm up to some German food and a liter of tasty German beer. We found a place in Alexander Platz that served up our needs and then some, and was probably my favorite meal of Spring Break overall . I absolutely loved Berlin. Going from the cultured and cobble stoned(ugh) old cities of Eastern Europe to a modern city in historical despair was an intriguing route. Needless to say I was thankful to limp along flattened concrete in between delightful trips on the public transportation systems.


So that concludes my blog posts for Spring Break. I have been seeing the chiropractor in Dublin for the fallen arch in my foot, and am getting orthotic insoles tomorrow. My birthday is on Monday, 4th April and I'm off to Barcelona on Thursday to commence the 21st birthday celebrations. Til then the time has come to buckle down and get some actual school work done before I drown in Dublin literature and essays.