... to a stand still
22kms. 31 degrees. 3 changes of socks. 3 excellent meals. 4 Berlins.
Breakfast, first pair of socks: at a hipster hotel in Friedrichshain, the heart of what was East Berlin. Best bathrooms ever. Loving German design.
Dutifully walked the East side gallery of street murals on the longest stretch of what was the Berlin wall.
Long walk down the very grand Karl Marx Allee or boulevard. Very surprised at its grandness and the elegance of the buildings.
Lots of conversations on the propaganda power of architecture and urban planning. Lots of pondering on how this city and country manages to live with its history.
Cucumber and Lime ice block. Made in Berlin. Got us from Alexander Platz back to the hotel for first change of socks.
Late afternoon snack, 2nd pair of socks: at a very cool eatery in an old boat house by a canal in Kreuzberg. A feta, apple, rosemary and honey flatbread(specialty of Alsace region) plus 4 drinks. Possibly the most delicious thing ever to eat and drink, possibly after walking so far.
This seems the real Berlin: gritty, a bit grimy and grungy, multi-cultural, noisy, busy.
Back home for a rest, a shower, another change of socks.
Late dinner in Scheuneviertel, at a hip Saigon street food eatery. Vietnamese, German and English all spoken. I had a bao called " Little bao wow" .
Possibly my favourite part of Berlin. A mixture of the stately and the lively: lots of galleries, eateries. The new and the old. The elegant with a little avant-garde.
Back home to bed. There is a hilarious story about the way home but will need to keep for when we are actually home.
We did pass through this extraordinary platz though:
The site of book burning under the 3rd Reich. Beauty and ugliness. Very Berlin.
Breakfast, first pair of socks: at a hipster hotel in Friedrichshain, the heart of what was East Berlin. Best bathrooms ever. Loving German design.
Dutifully walked the East side gallery of street murals on the longest stretch of what was the Berlin wall.
Long walk down the very grand Karl Marx Allee or boulevard. Very surprised at its grandness and the elegance of the buildings.
Lots of conversations on the propaganda power of architecture and urban planning. Lots of pondering on how this city and country manages to live with its history.
Cucumber and Lime ice block. Made in Berlin. Got us from Alexander Platz back to the hotel for first change of socks.
Late afternoon snack, 2nd pair of socks: at a very cool eatery in an old boat house by a canal in Kreuzberg. A feta, apple, rosemary and honey flatbread(specialty of Alsace region) plus 4 drinks. Possibly the most delicious thing ever to eat and drink, possibly after walking so far.
This seems the real Berlin: gritty, a bit grimy and grungy, multi-cultural, noisy, busy.
Back home for a rest, a shower, another change of socks.
Late dinner in Scheuneviertel, at a hip Saigon street food eatery. Vietnamese, German and English all spoken. I had a bao called " Little bao wow" .
Possibly my favourite part of Berlin. A mixture of the stately and the lively: lots of galleries, eateries. The new and the old. The elegant with a little avant-garde.
Back home to bed. There is a hilarious story about the way home but will need to keep for when we are actually home.
We did pass through this extraordinary platz though:
The site of book burning under the 3rd Reich. Beauty and ugliness. Very Berlin.
This is the Berlin I remember.
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