The Berlin Series:

• Berlin Day 1: Travel & Copenhagen
• Berlin Day 2: Brandenburg Gate-Reichstag-Checkpoint Charlie
• Berlin Day 3: Food Tour, East Side Gallery, and the Hasselhoff “Museum”
• Berlin Day 4: Museum Island, River Cruise, and the Ice Bar
• Berlin Day 5: Trip to Barsinghausen
• Berlin Day 6: Tempelhof Airport and Adjusted Travel Plans
• Berlin Day 7: Bonus Day in Berlin and Travel Home

Berlin Day 3 (March 13, 2023)

March 13 was Monday which meant that stores were open. Markets are mostly closed on Sundays. We felt like we should have some supplies for the Airbnb where we were staying, so Amy and I went out to forage before the kids woke up. We had a little success, but not much. The places that were close (at least the ones we managed to identify) were not very big. It was a damp, cool morning, but even so, taking a stroll in a new place is always interesting. I felt like there was a sort of uniformity to the buildings in the area where we were staying: lots of 5-6 story buildings packed together in grids. The businesses were varied, but if there was variation in the architecture, it didn’t jump out at me.

We had a food tour scheduled for lunchtime. The ones we did in Lisbon and Porto last year were really fun ways to get someone local to tell you about the city and, obviously, the food. I think I prefer dinner to lunch, but the dinner options had been booked by the time we scheduled ours. We rousted the kids, fed them some of the yogurt we’d managed to scavenge, and made our way to the Mitte area of Berlin. The meeting place was on the Friedrichs Bridge. We were to look for the woman with an orange umbrella. Nobody with that description was on the bridge. A guy with a fantastic mustache asked if we were there for the tour. He was another guest scheduled to be with the group, and we were all happy to be in the right place. Mel and his wife were from Detroit and had extended their trip to Europe another day to visit Berlin. A couple from Salt Lake City was also on the bridge and were part of our group. After not too long, the lady with the umbrella showed up and apologized for being late. Our guide was Donya? She was a student from Syria who had been doing this for about three months.

Another couple, Bernie and Crystal, were the last to arrive. Their taxi driver had gotten lost. An exchange made it clear that Mel recognized Bernie but I was far enough away from them that I couldn’t tell how or why. Later on, Bernie mentioned something about becoming “involved in professional athletics” when he was younger. That was enough for me to just ask him directly what sort of athletics. Turns out Bernie was Bernie Williams, all-star Yankee center-fielder who, among other things, holds the Major League Baseball post-season record for RBIs. As it happens, Bernie is also a professionally trained jazz guitarist. A musician friend described him as “the real deal,” and not just “good for a former athlete.” Crystal runs an outfit called Gator Cases which makes guitar cases, cases for other types of instruments, and various music accessories.  So, despite hanging out with a baseball legend, our conversation focused a lot more on music and band. It was fun watching Cole drinking beers and talking music school and composition with these folks.

I didn’t note the name of the first restaurant we went to, but we had döner kebabs, and if I’m reading the geotagging on my pictures correctly, the place was called Mustafa Demir’s Gemuse Kebap. And it was fantastic. Aside from the goulash at Amy’s friend’s house, it was the best thing I ate all week. Our guide told us that these döner kebabs were created by Turkish immigrants who adapted traditional kebabs to German sensibilities by putting them into a pita that could be eaten more efficiently. If I have a complaint about the tour, it was that not much thought was given to water or other drinks to accompany the sandwich. (One of my few complaints about Europe in general is that water doesn’t generally accompany meals in restaurants unless you pay for the fancy bottled stuff.)

On our way to the next stop, our guide took us through Haus Schwarzenberg, an alley bursting with street art and murals. This was Harper’s favorite spot on the trip. Per the Atlas Obscura entry on the site, “Since street art is mercurial and chaotic by its very nature, the art on display in the alley next to Haus Schwarzenberg changes on an almost weekly basis, with new pieces being painted on, papered over, added to, and repurposed in the constantly evolving collage that washes over this little urban oasis. Famous street artists like El Bocho, Miss Van, Stinkfish, Otto Schade, and more have been known to add to the churn. The alley also features a famous painting of Anne Frank by Jimmy C that remains intact and untouched.”

Next up was currywurst at Curry 61. Don’t get me wrong, this is my kind of food. But, at the end of the day, it was more or less hotdogs in spicy ketchup. There wasn’t much space inside the restaurant, and we kind of crowded around a stand up table already occupied two or three patrons. One woman kept shaking her head as if annoyed by us, but it’s possible she just had a tic. We washed down the currywurst with a berliner from Samy’s Berliner Donuts. It was good, but by this time we were getting pretty full and thirsty. So, the next stop was notable not so much for the food as the wine. I believe the place was Weihanstephaner and the food was something like fancy mac & cheese. Judging by the amount of food left behind, that was probably the least favorite stop for the group.

The good news is that we all had pretty full stomachs for the beer tasting that came next at Das Lemke. Amy signed us up for the upgraded drinks package which, in retrospect, wasn’t really necessary for Harper. It came with flights of beer: a bohemian pilsner, the original (a Vienna style lager), a weizen, a pale ale, an IPA, and a berliner weisse. I’m not snobby about my beer by any means, but I don’t much care for wheat beers. Being a dutiful child who eats his vegetables first, I cleared out the berlinerweisse and the weizen so I could focus on the other beers. Cole cleared his away pretty readily, and we both helped out a bit with Amy and Harper’s. But, it was early afternoon, and we had stuff to do; so we were not members of the clean plate club – or clean pilsner club, I guess. It was here that the kids spent a good amount of time talking to Bernie and Crystal which, as I mentioned, made for fun listening.

We mentioned that our next stop after the food tour was the East Side Gallery. Bernie and Crystal wanted to see that spot and were not yet familiar with the public transport system. They asked if they could follow us. “I mean … sure. But, please join us!” So they did. The Gallery is a series of murals on the longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall. “In the spring of 1990, after the opening of the Berlin Wall, this section was painted by 118 artists from 21 countries. The artists commented on the political changes of 1989/90 in a good hundred paintings on the side of the Wall that was formerly facing East Berlin. Due to urban development measures, it is no longer completely preserved, and instead of the originals from then, only the replicas from 2009 exist today.” One of the most famous is “My God, Help Me to Survive this Deadly Love” which depicts former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev kissing Erich Honecker, an East German leader. The whole site is pretty remarkable, capturing the spirit of 1990 when the Wall came down.

Toward the end of our tour of the murals, we parted ways with Bernie & Crystal, and took it easy, looking out over the River Spree. We caught the tail end of some singers performing on the river walk and the sunset. Just beyond the East Side Gallery was the Wall Museum which provides some good history of the rise and fall of the wall. I think I liked it especially for its video of a live Pink Floyd performance of “the Wall” on July 21, 1990 at Potzdamer Platz.

Dinner was at a Burgermeister, and it was fantastic. A terrific burger with beers sold out of a shack under an elevated railway bridge. My kind of place! We ate outside, standing up at a table. It’s no secret that I like lowbrow places, and this fit the bill. Properly fed, we headed for the last stop of the evening: the David Hasselhoff Museum. Trouble was, about twenty minutes into our subway journey to the destination, I realized I’d left my backpack under the table at the Burgermeister. So, we headed back but without a ton of hope. The place had been pretty busy, and there was no reason for a person not to walk off with it. There was nothing in the pack that  I couldn’t live without, but we’d miss the umbrellas and a hat I had in there. The biggest loss probably would have been my traveler’s notebook where I keep my notes for these trips along with keepsakes like tickets and a little bit of money. When we got back, there was nothing under the table. I asked a guy at the window of the shack, but his English wasn’t very good (and my German is non-existent.) But his face brightened when I made the gesture for putting on a backpack. Sure enough, someone had turned it in! No harm, no foul. In fact, all of our moods were brightened by the unexpected victory.

Retracing our steps, we made our way back toward the Hasselhoff Museum. Calling it a “museum” is overstating things in a big way. It’s half of a hallway in the basement of the Circus Hostel – not to be confused, like we did, with the Circus Hotel across the street. The Atlas Obscura entry on the site explains, “What started as a perhaps tongue-in-cheek shrine to the former Baywatch and Knight Rider star has evolved into a full-blown one man museum celebrating the legend, his music and acting career, and of course his longstanding love affair with the once-divided city.” Even if it’s small, it’s mighty. It has a mural of the Hoff and some memorabilia. Hostel management has asked that the street outside be named David-Hasselhoff-Strasse.  Probably my favorite display was a magazine with a bold cover asking “Did David Hasselhoff end the Cold War? Facts You Need To Know: HE DID.”

Properly educated, we called it a night and headed home.

Next time: Museum Island, a River Cruise, and the Ice Bar.

The Berlin Series:

• Berlin Day 1: Travel & Copenhagen
• Berlin Day 2: Brandenburg Gate-Reichstag-Checkpoint Charlie
• Berlin Day 3: Food Tour, East Side Gallery, and the Hasselhoff “Museum”
• Berlin Day 4: Museum Island, River Cruise, and the Ice Bar
• Berlin Day 5: Trip to Barsinghausen
• Berlin Day 6: Tempelhof Airport and Adjusted Travel Plans
• Berlin Day 7: Bonus Day in Berlin and Travel Home

Berlin Day 2 (March 12, 2023)

Amy set her alarm for 5:30 a.m. and we were set for an early start on Sunday morning (March 12 if you’re keeping score). Harper is usually our weakest link at such moments, but she’d slept in her clothes, hadn’t even opened her bag, and got out of bed reasonably easily. Having stayed at the Copenhagen airport Clarion, we were literally right next door. That was super convenient. No trams, no taxis, nothing. Just walk next door and into the terminal. (There was some construction underway or else we wouldn’t have even needed to go outside.) One of the perks of what we call our “fancy pants travel credit card” is lounge access in a lot of airports. The Carlsberg Aviator Lounge in Copenhagen is a good one. (I’d give it a backseat to the lounge in Lisbon, but that one is hard to beat.) Cole took full advantage of the 7:30 a.m. self-serve beer station. I didn’t entirely avoid it myself. Time is just a construct, particularly when you’re dealing with airports and time zones.

An incidental moment I enjoyed at the lounge was what I took to be a grandfather interacting with his grandchildren. Nothing special, I don’t suppose. Just a guy who seemed to be having a great time eating and goofing around with his little grandkids on a trip.

The flight to Berlin from Copenhagen was short and easy. Maybe an hour. A driver picked us up at the airport and, en route, pointed out the Tempelhof Airport. He’d seen a video about it. We were excited because that was on our list of places to go later in the week. We rested for a bit when we got to the Airbnb at Schliemannstraße 17 in Berlin. I’d gone my entire life not knowing what that “ß” meant. Turns out it’s an “eszett” more or less a double “s.” Handy to know, since they’re all over the place in Berlin! The Airbnb was a nice two bedroom set up on the fourth floor. Aside from the broken elevator, the only drawback was a single bathroom. We had no cause to complain since it was clear up front that’s what the place had available. But, it did present a bottleneck at various times during the vacation.

We settled on a Portuguese cafe on the block, Bekarei, as a good place for lunch. The sandwiches were good and, bonus points, they had Super Bock available. (In fact, I’d ordered a Sagres since that’s what they had on display. They only had Super Bock available, would that be “ok?” Of course! When we’d been in Portugal last year, we had settled into being a Super Bock family.)

Our first “official” Berlin stop was the Brandenburg Gate. We had purchased the Berlin city card which included basically unlimited public transit for the week. Now we had to figure out how to use it. Google has made this sort of thing so much easier than it probably was in the past. Tell it where you want to go, and you’ll get appropriate combinations of tram, U-bahn, S-bahn, and what have you. The public transport is light years better than anything I’ve seen in the States. We were tourists going to touristy places, so that no doubt helps, but there was transport going everywhere we wanted to go. There wasn’t much waiting around. And everyone was using it. In the U.S., bus routes involve a lot of waiting, and it’s mostly just people who have no other options.

It was no problem at all to figure out the tram and the train that would get us to, if memory serves, our stop was the Unter de Linden station which was right next to the Brandenburg Gate. The Gate, like Berlin, has a complicated history. From connotations of peace to a triumphal symbol of conquest and victory to the site where East faced off against West during the Cold War to a place where an American family can now casually go for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a cool looking structure, but often I don’t know what to do when I get to such places. Snap a few pictures, think about the people who had been there before you, and move on, I guess.

Nearby was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which is an impressive installment. It is a large area covered with a grid of concrete slabs on sloping ground. I don’t know how to describe it, but it definitely got me into my head and in a reflective mood as I made my way among the taller slabs that envelope you among the undulating ground levels. As I made my way in no particular direction, I’d see my family members and other people at the site. Those encounters took me briefly out of the reflection before I was dropped right back in. The Reichstag is visible in the skyline above. One thing that impressed me in several parts of Berlin were plaques and whatnot that declared in no uncertain terms that Germany and the Nazis had been beaten and surrendered unconditionally and that they had committed atrocities such as murdering Jews and other groups. My sense was this is an effort to limit – as much as is ever possible – “Lost Cause” and “Stabbed in the Back” narratives from taking root. Failure to deal with “Lost Cause” narratives continues to plague the United States as Southern Whites were allowed to continue believing that their ancestors were engaged in something more defensible than Treason in Defense of Slavery; meanwhile, the “Stabbed in the Back” narrative obviously contributed to fascists taking power in Germany after World War I, pretending that they would have won the war if only Jews and other disfavored groups hadn’t been insufficiently patriotic.

Next, Amy had made us reservations for a walk up the Reichstag Dome. The historical enormity of this structure is also hard to articulate. Arson at the site in the 1930s allowed the Nazis to take total control of the State. The War further destroyed the site. The Cold War made its reconstruction, let alone use as a German center of government, improbable. The Wall coming down, German reunification, re-location of government in Berlin, reconstruction of the Reichstag, and construction of the dome are a fairly profound symbol of rebirth. According to the Wikipedia page, “The futuristic and transparent design of the Reichstag dome is intended to symbolize Berlin’s attempt to move away from a past of Nazism and instead towards a future with a heavier emphasis on a united, democratic Germany.Specifically, it symbolizes that the people are above the government, as was not the case during Nazism.”

There was a lot to admire about the dome, but I was really taken by the mirror on the stem going up to the dome which reflected the people walking around the ramps very clearly. I don’t know what kind of wizardry is involved, but it’s impressive. Down at the base of the dome is a series of plaques that walk you through the history of the place.

After the Reichstag, we had a parting of the ways. Harper and Amy were interested in a coffee and a bit of a rest. Cole and I kind of wanted to walk the 1.25 miles or so to the Victory column. We did not make a bee line. Rather, we were distracted by the Soviet War Memorial and the Beethoven-Haydn-Mozart memorial in the Tiergarten. From a purely American perspective, the Soviet War Memorial is kind of bonkers. They’re the bad guys, right? Does nobody remember the documentary, Red Dawn? But it’s a testament to the complicated history of the place. For all of their own atrocities, the Soviet people were wronged by the Nazis. The Soviets controlled the area and erected a monument to the sacrifices and achievements of their people. Part of the German de-Nazification project involves recognizing that they were bad actors in WWII. And, so, you have Soviet tanks on the way to a Prussian monument.

The monument to the musicians is tucked away a little bit. We were walking the path and saw something shiny off to the side which turned out to be the Beethoven-Haydn-Mozart memorial. Cole joked about how their music seems to be the only “real” music in the eyes of the Jacobs School of Music where he’s currently studying. (Hyperbole, I’m sure.) It was apparently commissioned in 1904 by Kaiser Wilhelm, suffered a lot of damage during the War, and restored in 2007.

By and by, we made our way to the Victory Column. It’s an impressive structure in the middle of a traffic circle. I guess it has symbolized various things over the years, but Prussian military prowess and defeat of various European adversaries seems to be the main purpose. One cool feature is that it has tunnel access from the four corners of the intersection. Amy and Harper had taken a bus there but, with no obvious cross walks hadn’t figured out how to access the circle until Cole and I popped out of a tunnel. Once again, as a tourist, I’m never entirely sure what to do with these things. I look at it, admire the structure, snap a few pictures, and then go on to the next place. I’m not exactly speed running the sites, but I don’t know how deeply any of it is penetrating either. That said, if it’s an excuse to spend time with my family, it’s probably worthwhile.

Next up, Checkpoint Charlie and its museum. The area itself is a street with a guard shack in the median and posters of American and Soviet soldiers hanging above. Back in the day, after East Germany put up the wall to keep its citizens in, this crossing point at the border was a symbol of the Cold War. Now it’s a street where I almost got hit because I was looking at the poster rather than watching out for traffic. There would have been some irony in getting hit by a car at that spot in the world. We went into the adjacent museum, and it is *dense*. This does not seem to be the work of professional historians. It’s informative, but a bit random. And there’s no real narrative that I could discern. But Ronald Reagan’s hat was there! Our family had mixed opinions on the museum. I think the kids ended up liking it better than the adults. Nerds!

We had a well earned dinner at a place called Maximilians. It was good but not great. I had some trout, and Cole and I both had large beers. One thing about being an older man and a beer drinker is that one is well-advised to take advantage of a bathroom when the opportunity presents itself. Cole skipped that opportunity and quickly came to regret it as we made our way home. It was going to involve some time and train rides. The boy was in pain, and Berlin doesn’t have the number of public restrooms you might expect in a city so large. Eventually, we made the decision to stop in a restaurant and get more drinks so that we could be paying customers, entitled to use their facilities. I’m not sure if it was the Titanic hotel or the Pascarella restaurant where we landed, but there is a really comfy bar in between where we set up shop. It has nice seats, tables, and couches. Soccer was playing.. It was really a happy bit of spontaneity. (Amy had us so well planned that we joked about putting spontaneity on the schedule.)

At that point, we’d run ourselves pretty hard, and it was time for bed. I woke up in the middle of the night freezing. At the time, I thought it was just cold in the room. But in retrospect, it may have been a bit of a fever I didn’t know I had. Whatever it might have been was gone by morning.

Next time: food tour, East Wall, and the Hasselhoff “Museum”

The Berlin Series:

• Berlin Day 1: Travel & Copenhagen
• Berlin Day 2: Brandenburg Gate-Reichstag-Checkpoint Charlie
• Berlin Day 3: Food Tour, East Side Gallery, and the Hasselhoff “Museum”
• Berlin Day 4: Museum Island, River Cruise, and the Ice Bar
• Berlin Day 5: Trip to Barsinghausen
• Berlin Day 6: Tempelhof Airport and Adjusted Travel Plans
• Berlin Day 7: Bonus Day in Berlin and Travel Home

Berlin Day 1 (March 10-11, 2023)

Traveling has become a bit of a focus for our family. There are plenty of people who go to way more exotic places, but for a humble Midwestern family of four, we’ve been to some cool spots. We could use our budget in other ways – putting more in retirement, kitchen renovations, etc. – but travel has lately been a luxury we’ve permitted ourselves.

Years ago, the “big” vacation was an every-other-year event. Then as the kids got older, we were willing to go every year because we figure time is running out. Then COVID hit and put us on pause for a couple of years. Now, scheduling is our limiting factor. Cole went to college last Fall, and we were pretty excited when we found out his Spring Break lined up with Harper’s.

I don’t entirely recall how we landed on Berlin as this year’s destination. But, I know Amy offered up a few suggestions, including warm places like maybe another trip to Hawaii. Cole took several years of German, and we’ve wanted to see more of Germany, so Berlin became our destination.

Cheap airfare is kind of Amy’s jam, and routes with long layovers end up being less expensive. So, the itinerary involved an overnight in Copenhagen on the way out and an overnight in Stockholm on the way back. (The Stockholm stop was not, ultimately to take place – more on that later). Those visits of something less than a day with an overnight end up being a great way to see a little more on your trip, so we see them as more advantage than detriment.

On Thursday, March 9th, Amy did the marathon drive down to Bloomington and back to retrieve Cole. On Friday the 10th, we were able to work most of the day, get things squared away, and then head for Chicago O’Hare for the 11 p.m. flight. Everything closes down at the international terminal at about 9 p.m, so just like the beginning of our Portugal trip, we got drinks and snacks from a little kiosk and set up at a big table in the food court. (The same table as before Portugal, if I’m not mistaken.) Through the magic of modern technology, we were able to watch IU play in the Big Ten tournament on Amy’s computer. They sealed the win over Maryland just as we were taking off.

The flight was smooth, everyone got at least a little sleep, and we arrived in Copenhagen at something like 1 p.m. local. (I bettered myself, intellectually, by watching Orange County and Hobbs & Shaw on the flight entertainment center.) We checked into a Clarion next to the airport, had a bit of a rest, and then took a train into the city center. A bit of entertainment on the train as the conductor cited a girl for not having a valid ticket. I didn’t understand any of the words exchanged, but from tone and context, I got the idea that the girl gave the conductor a pass she knew was expired; and, when that didn’t work, she pretended not to understand how the system worked. After the conductor cited her, he stopped checking tickets, so ours never got scanned.

When we got to the city center, we briefly walked along the Strøget, a pedestrian mall, but pretty quickly turned around and walked over to Nyhavn, a waterfront canal district with shops, entertainment, and colorful houses. Cole & I got a hot dog from a street vendor that was served in a sort of baguette while Amy & Harper went for some fresh made churros. For bonus points, a street vendor was handing out free glogg samples while we were waiting for the girls to get their churros.

Not really having any firm destination in mind, we decided to make our way to the famous Little Mermaid statue which was about a mile walk. It’s at this point, I’ll note the Danes’ commitment to cycling. The weather was not great. It was pretty cold, a little windy, and occasionally had some light precipitation mixed in. There were still a lot of cyclists out there. On our way to the park, we happened across the Amalienborg palace with its imperial guards. These layover tourist excursions make us more superficial than usual, so I know we left a lot of history on the table, but just coming across this sort of thing without expecting to is very cool. At the Little Mermaid statue, we took our turn amongst the significant tourist presence – even with less than ideal weather in March – and got a picture. Not having much more to do in that area, we headed back toward the City Center where we had reservations at Restaurant Karla for some traditional Danish food. The walk was another 2 miles, so we were foot sore, cold, travel weary, and ready for some nourishment!

Even though we were a bit early, there was a table available. The place is cozy and has the feel of a place that locals probably go to. Along with a house pilsner, I got the roast pork, and it was delicious. Sometimes pork can be hit or miss, tending toward the dry if you’re not careful. This was perfect. I was feeling a little unsettled and maybe not as ambitious with my food choices as I might have otherwise been. I chalked it up to travel, but I think I was shaking off the remnants of a cold or some other ailment that I thought had mostly passed me by the previous week. I will say that it was not cheap. Our family of four managed to drop what amounted to $200. We weren’t being any too cautious with our ordering – getting drinks and desserts on top of everything else. And the use of the Danish krone made the prices a little more obscure to us, clocking in at $0.14 krone to the dollar. We called it monopoly money since the conversion required a little mental math. That said, I don’t regret it at all. Great food and service in a place that we may never visit again.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. After some navigating some geographic restrictions on broadcasts, Amy set up the IU/Penn State game on her computer, streamed onto the hotel TV. Despite working hard to secure the broadcast, Amy fell asleep before a minute of game time had played out. The Hoosiers started hot, fell frustratingly behind, and clawed their way back to even. But, with about seven minutes left, the momentum shifted back to Penn State, the stream froze on me, and rather than trying to fix it, I decided to call it a night. Excellent call on my part, we lost by four! Everyone fell asleep easily. We’d had plenty of exercise and, even though it was probably only about 4 p.m. back home, we had mostly skipped a night’s sleep on the plane. We had an early flight to Berlin the next morning.

Next time: Brandenburg Gate-Reichstag-Checkpoint Charlie