Week #41 in Germany (Our Berlin Adventure, Part 2)

(Continued from part 1) It was nearly 3am when we got to our hostel, so I pretty much just set the alarm for an hour later than what I had originally planned and went to sleep. Even though we were about 4 hours later, I didn't want to start too late the next morning, since it was our only day to see Berlin. In the morning, I wanted to get up to take a shower, then check-in, then go explore. However, I had to wait about 30 minutes to take a shower, because someone else had already gotten to it. Even though we had a private bedroom, we had to share the bathroom. So, by the time I got ready we were about one hour behind schedule. Then, we went to reception so we could check-in. The people there were not in a hurry. They finished there 10 minute conversation before helping us. Then, they decided to give us a little tour. By the time we got to the U-Bahn we were about 1.5 hours behind schedule. We finally got to our starting point (the Berlin Wall Memorial), and it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It was interesting, but I was in a bad mood from lack of sleep and so many delays. So, it may have been absolutely fascinating, but at that point I really needed fireworks. Then, we walked to the Reichstag (Congress). After that, we went to the Brandenburg Gate. I had to get a picture there, since that's where President Reagan gave his memorable "Tear down this wall" speech. After that, we walked down the street Unter den Linden until Alexanderplatz. We saw Museum island, the Rotes Rathaus, the TV tower, Marienkirche, and a lot of other important buildings. There was also a lot of construction though, which kind of ruined some of it. Then we went to lunch at Brauhaus Lemke. They had an all-you-can-eat buffet for under €7, so by the time we left we were over 2 hours behind schedule.

After lunch, we headed over to Potsdamerplatz. I had to see the Film Museum because I love film and I especially love German film. We didn't spend a lot of time there since we were so far behind schedule, but it was still nice. We then headed over to Checkpoint Charlie, so I could get a picture of the well-known sign. I was annoyed by the fake soldiers. They wanted €2 for a picture with them wearing wrinkled uniforms and holding dirty American flags. I kind of wanted to pay the €2 just to smack them. After that, we headed to the Olympic Stadium. That was where American athlete Jesse Owens won 4 Gold medals during the 1936 Summer Olympics, something of which I'm very proud. I really wanted a picture there, but everything was locked up. So, we headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. 


We had an amazing dinner at an African restaurant called Massai. Anyone who visits Berlin MUST visit Massai for dinner. And be sure to get a banana beer. It tastes like bananas, a.k.a. deliciousness! After dinner, it started raining, so we headed for the U-Bahn. Unfortunately, the U-Bahn closed at 10pm for construction, and it was about 10:15. So, we walked to the next station, because we had read about a cool bar in that area. But we checked the train times first. Basically, we had an hour to find the bar, have a drink, and get back to the station. We looked for about 15 minutes, couldn't find it, and decided to head back to the hostel. When we went to the station, we realized that station was also closed for construction. So, we had to take a bus to the next station. The bus came on time, we went in the right direction, we made it to the right station, and we finally ended up at the hostel. It looked like our luck was changing for the better. (Part 3)