September 9, 2004

Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 04:45:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Charlie.

Today is Thursday and i´m spending the day walking around the city... went to the Brandenburg gate this morning, then the Reichstag.. The line was too long though so i didnt go inside. Maybe early tomorrow morning like the tourbook says -- always go early in the morning to avoid crowds! Also saw some of the other government buildings from the outside -- the Chancellory is nice. The Reichstag still has some black spots on the outside, which i assume is either from the big fire in 1933(?) or just pollution.

Next was a stop at Checkpoint Charlie, which is where i am now. Went to the "Museum at Checkpoint Charlie" -- highly recommended. I also rented their audio guide which is very informative. They have literally thousands of memoribilia, stories of successful and "unlucky" crossings of the wall, including a big graffiti-covered chunk of the wall itself.

Now i´m at this cafe drinking a fanta and wondering what to eat for lunch - thats the first meal i´ll be paying for after leaving San Jose.

til tomorrow,

auf widersehen,
me.

Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 11:51:06 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Ich bin ein....... San Jose-er?

hallo,

i lied. this is my 2nd email today.

after sending the first email, i went to a cafe in Kurfurstendamm (aka Ku´damm). this is the "Champs Elysses" of Berlin. Thats my opinion only. Any Berlin tourbook will tell you that "Unter din Linden" is "THE" main street ... i disagree. Ku'damm is much better... They have a cafe here -- "Cafe Caras" -- excellent chocolate mousse cake! Kimberly, this one's for you!!! anyway, i had that as the main course for lunch, along with a chicken and cheese and cheese and cheese and cheese sandwhich as an appetizer. The cheese, the other cheese, the other cheese, and the other cheese were ok, the chicken was good, the chocolate mousse cake was fantastic! naturally, that's where i had my dinner too, but i'm skipping ahead of myself.

Back to Ku'damm this afternoon -- the main attraction here (according to the tourbook, not me) is a cathedral that was partially destroyed during the second world war. they haven't rebuilt it since then, and its kept half-destroyed as a memorial... the ceiling of this was great -- there are a lot of mosaics on the ceiling, all very bright and colorful, some with gold lining... quite nice. no photography allowed inside (the norm of the day).

next was back to the opposite end of town -- the Pergamon Museum on the banks of the Spree river. This was interesting; they had several ancient Greek sculptures that i never got to see in Greece. Some of these are straight out of the Acropolis complex in Athens, others from different Spartan cities. An english audio tour is a must here too, since all the signs are in german.

(Ranting begin)

which reminds me.... i need a translator! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! all i can say is "guten tag", "danke" and "sprechenzie englisch?" (to which the answer is almost always a rather rude and loud "NO!").... i've also caught myself saying "grazie" a couple of times... i am NOT in Rome!!! :( i really need a translator! and what's with that really strong accent anyway? why can't they speak NORMALLY like most people?

(Ranting end)

after the Pergamon museum, it was a looooooooooong walk with the setting sun in my eyes up "Unter den Linden" all the way up through the Brandenburg Gate again, around the Reichstag, next to the Chancellory, up the bridge on Spree river, and to the "Lehrter Stadt" S-bahn station, stopping along the way for a belgian chocolate icecream at a Haagen Dazs and also a brief stop through the DT Guggenheim museum. The museum was 1 room of not-so-nice painted art and photographs. No pictures allowed inside. nothing more needs to be mentioned of this place.

Well, my feet were getting tired from all the walking today (walked almost everywhere this morning too), and i wanted to treat myself to a nice dinner. i only knew one place in all of berlin for a "nice" dinner, so took the S-bahn to the zoo station, then the U-bahn down to Kurfurstendamm again. Cafe Caras for dinner (this time only a vege cheese and cheese and cheese etc sandwhich as an appetizer, but same main course), and now i´m at this dunkin donuts shop typing this email while waiting for it to get completely dark. maybe 1/2 hour more... not eating any donuts though - i think 2 chocolate mousse and 1 belgian chocolate icecream from hagendazs is enough for 1 day. aaaah, i feel "GOOOOOOD" now.

oh, one more thing, for anyone who's not been here yet, that thing called the "City Pass" which supposedly entitles visitors to 48 or 72 hours of unlimited metro rides AND discounted museum tickets.... well, it doesn't. of the three museums i've been to today (Checkpoint Charlie, Pergamon, Guggenheim), only the Guggenheim museum actually gave me a discount -- from 3 euros to 2 euros. All others charged full price up to 9 euros. yesterday i had withdrawn 80 euros from an ATM at berlin airport. today afternoon i needed to withdraw 80 more. never 100 -- i learned that lesson last time! if you say withdraw 100 euros, you get a single €100 bill and nobody accepts that for a payment of €2!!! I miss the free museums in Washington DC though..

tonight its more walking for seeing the city lights, and tomorrow its off to Reichstag (interior) in the early morning and Potsdam rest of the day, maybe the Tiergarten if there's time and my feet feel up to it.

Besides that, I'm pretty much done with all of Berlin! So on Saturday I'm thinking of going to a concentration camp -- they have a 6-hour r/t guided bus tour.

today -- for the first time in my life, i also saw a drug transaction taking place! i was sitting in an outdoor cafe, and right in front of me this guy with a bottle in his hand starts lingering around... then comes another guy, talks to him a little bit, shakes his hand (i assume passing some money), and takes a piece of paper and some "stuff" which he puts inside the paper, rolls it up, lights it, and walks off...... all this right in front of my eyes!

wilkommen a berlin, ishaan.

Brandenburg Gate: