I am a jelly donut!

Our insanely short Berlin trip was fantastic! A few of my impressions:

The Weather:

Ironically, we had to go to GERMANY to get more than just slivers of sun, but it delivered! We had 2 full days of it, and it even got up to 4c. Thats a big deal.

The Travel:

I'm sorry I doubted the Swedes and their incredible efficiency in the face of impending snow-doom. Not a single delay the entire trip: bus was on time, plane was on time, it even landed early on the way home. And we took RyanAir, so that IS a big deal. (Too bad they can't get it together here today!)

But in Berlin, one thing that strikes me as odd: why the honor system subways? Like Venice's vaporettos and Milan's buses, there seems to be no visible mechanism to ensure people have paid to ride the Berlin subway. But it was a super easy system, and the airport was a quick, cheap train ride to/from the center of town. Hauptbahnhof and the surrounding area was a really beautiful first introduction to the city.

The Food:

Wow, I cannot see myself ever living in Berlin without seeing myself about 40 pounds heavier. I forgot how much I missed bagels (not seen too often here in Stockholm), and the cakes were phenomenal! I had requisite schnitzel-riffic breaded pork filet and enough potatoes fried various ways to cause a heart attack. It was lovely. Stu was in heaven. And the beer was good and cheap.

The Coffee:

Huge disappointment! In 2 days, I had 5 cups of coffee, and the only slightly drinkable cup was a cappuccino from an Italian restaurant with so much milk, you couldn't taste whether the coffee was as weak or burnt as every other cup I'd had. Seriously, Berliners, what's up with the crap coffee?

The Language:

Wow, did I feel out of the loop?!? The other places we've traveled, I've at least felt somewhat comfortable with the basics, but not German. Close to Swedish, but not close enough. It was like white noise. However, I was *immensely* impressed with Stu's fantastic ability to get us around, order and communicate, and explain things to me. I know he hasn't needed to use German for over 10 years, but he fell right back into it. Now watch, his Swedish is totally going to suffer!

The History, the Architecture, & Cultural Activities:

You cannot escape WWII in Berlin. The city has more than 750 years of history, but the most visible historical fact comes in the form of scars from the decade after 1935 and the Cold War era. But juxtaposed with the graffiti'd chunks of former wall there are a ton of shiny new buildings and tons to do.

We spent a lot of time outside (soaking up sun) so we didn't get in to many museums, though Berlin has so many. Next time, definitely the Neues! We saw the outdoor Topography of Terror exhibit, wandered through "Museum Island," saw the Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor. Stu was in utter awe at the ability to walk THROUGH the gate...you couldn't DO that when he lived in Germany. We saw a closed KaDeWe shopping mall (on Sunday, everything is closed) and the fascinating remains of the Kaiser Wilhelm kirche, and much more. But there seems so much more to see!

The show:

We got to see Spoon on the last night of their tour while in Berlin, and it was fantastic! They sold it out in advance, so it was packed, but the club was small enough for us to be right up on top of the band (so yeah, my ears were ringing for a few hours after.) The last time we saw them, the White Rabbits also opened, and they have gotten very, very good. I'm going to buy their album this week.

So with Berlin, my only major disappointment (besides the rotten coffee situation) was that I didn't get to try any spetzle. Guess we have to go back! We are going to the Netherlands and Latvia in April, and thinking Paris for May. But we don't have March travel plans, so maybe sooner rather than later?

Here's a few pictures of Berlin: