My four-and-a-half-hour train ride to Berlin rolled into the city with an erstwhile split personality around 9:30 PM. Berlin has a much cooler vibe than Munich. I dunno, Munich wasn't as soulless as Frankfurt, but it didn't seem to have much of a personality. Maybe I'm thinking that because my hotel was almost a half-hour outside of the city centre.
Today, Thursday, I got up at 8 AM. The hotel is two blocks away from the train station, which simplifies things. Here's the train station:
It's interesting. There are five floors, with the entrance/exit on the third floor and trains on the first floor and, I think, on the top floor. Shops are on the other floors. Lots of open space so you can see what's on the level above and below -- if the escalators and glassy elevators don't block you're view.
I took a train to Checkpoint Charlie, which was the gateway between East and West Berlin back in the day when the Berlin Wall was up.
As you can see, it's pretty touristy:
Here's the view from the other side:
And here's a view of the sign going from East to West:
I then went to check out the Fernsehturm (Television Tower):
It's on the East side of the city. It was built by the commies to show their technological might.
A couple blocks away was a street (or Straße) named after Karl Marx. This looked like an old building from the East Germany days:
Next, I headed back to the main train station, a.k.a. Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and bought a Hertha BSC jersey and scarf. I'm going to see them play this Saturday. I bought both items more because of my infatuation of Berlin than the actual football team, though the jersey was reasonable at €30 (with no sponsor littering the front), and I need a new scarf because my Manchester United one is reaching it's expiration date.
I also picked up a salad wrap at the train station and ate lunch back in my hotel room.
Around 1:30 PM I headed back to East Berlin to the DDR Museum:
It showed everyday life in East Germany.
Then it was back on the train to check out the Stasi Museum:
The museum is in the main headquarters of the old Stasi, but about 19 nearby buildings were under their control -- they're now doctor offices, flats, and the like.
I read really good book about the Stasi several years ago, but walking through the three floors of that museum really drove home how much they terrorized citizens.
Leaving the Stasi Museum, I glanced at my iPod and noticed is was 5:30 PM. For dinner I hopped on the train to a burger place that my travel guide highly recommended, Schiller Burger. Good call, Frommer's! They cooked it medium-rare. I got their bacon BBQ offering and Belgian fries, and washed it down with Afri cola.
I think Schiller Burger is in the Friedrichshain neighborhood. Interesting collection of city blocks. It was residential with almost every first floor a store front . . . some boutiques, mostly bistros/cafes/restaurants, and convenience stores. The 'hood has a nice vibe. Reminds me of South Street before all the corporate retail chains swarmed in.
Anyway, Wednesday night I didn't sleep too well. All day Thursday I felt really weird if I wasn't moving. I though it was because I didn't much of anything on Wednesday with the travelling -- had a lot of pent-up energy from just sitting around. But as Thursday afternoon progressed, hay fever hit me hard. When I got back to the hotel Thursday night I went to the train station and got some allergy medication. It was only €3, so they didn't take me for a ride like that pharmacy in Vienna (Wien). I took a tablet a little while ago. I'm feeling much better now. It's supposed to last 24 hours. We'll see. . . .
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