Week 8 (Oct 22-28)
Right after Dave got back from the States, we shot off to Berlin for a long weekend. We got in on Saturday and made it to our plush hotel, then had some Hefeweizens at a great German pub in a cosy little booth. Got a little tipsy and talked crazy. Dave got Nidhi a rose, which she promptly ate. Then slammed some pizza at a local joint (open til 3 -- we're not in Switzerland anymore, baby).
On Sunday we had a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel, then took bus 100 from Zoologischer Garten through Tiegarten (the Central Park of Berlin). We got off near the Reichstag (the German parliament) and waited in line for two lifetimes to get in and have a view from the Dome at the top. Fortunately there were some puppet performers keeping us on our toes.
After that, we walked to Brandenburg Gate and into East Berlin where the walk signs had "jaunty" little red and green men.
We walked down Unter den Linden where we had some fun with the local scam artists and their famous box game - everybody wins until its your turn to play. We played a couple rounds before we realized and walked away embarrassed. We continued on, figuring what was done was done but saw the same people again as we were walking back. We decided to try and get our money back by playing the scammers -- Nidhi put on a "poor little student who's ruined her trip boo hoo hoo" act and they fell for it!
For dinner we picked up some street-side chinese (Sooo good) and roasted chestnuts and fries. Yum.
On Monday we were going to rent bikes and take a tour of Tiergarten. On the way, we checked out the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which was bombed out to a shell in the war.
Unfortunately, it was a rainy day and we'd missed all the guided bike tours already, so we skipped that and went to the "Topology of Terror" memorial/walk by the remaining part of the wall.
That evening we had all-you-can-eat sushi at a restaurant near our hotel. It was one of those places where the sushi goes around on a conveyor belt and you just pick up what you want. It was soo good. Between the two of us, we polished off 32 plates of sushi. Oink oink.
Tuesday we took a little walk to the tiergarten before out flight and picked up a couple of cute hot cocoa mugs and postcards. Getting to the airport was a bit tricky -- we almost missed the train to the airport and were all in a panic. Good times.
Nothing much else happened that week. We went to Markus's again (this time his brother was visiting) and that was that.
My 'n' my rose. Don't I look smug?
On Sunday we had a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel, then took bus 100 from Zoologischer Garten through Tiegarten (the Central Park of Berlin). We got off near the Reichstag (the German parliament) and waited in line for two lifetimes to get in and have a view from the Dome at the top. Fortunately there were some puppet performers keeping us on our toes.
Isn't this a pretty tree?
The Reichstaag
Puppet guys keeping us entertained while we waited:
View of tiergarten from the top and the dome from the inside
After that, we walked to Brandenburg Gate and into East Berlin where the walk signs had "jaunty" little red and green men.
We walked down Unter den Linden where we had some fun with the local scam artists and their famous box game - everybody wins until its your turn to play. We played a couple rounds before we realized and walked away embarrassed. We continued on, figuring what was done was done but saw the same people again as we were walking back. We decided to try and get our money back by playing the scammers -- Nidhi put on a "poor little student who's ruined her trip boo hoo hoo" act and they fell for it!
Here's a snap of the box game. Watch out!!
We continued on to Checkpoint Charlie and the Museum of the Wall.
For dinner we picked up some street-side chinese (Sooo good) and roasted chestnuts and fries. Yum.
On Monday we were going to rent bikes and take a tour of Tiergarten. On the way, we checked out the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which was bombed out to a shell in the war.
Unfortunately, it was a rainy day and we'd missed all the guided bike tours already, so we skipped that and went to the "Topology of Terror" memorial/walk by the remaining part of the wall.
That evening we had all-you-can-eat sushi at a restaurant near our hotel. It was one of those places where the sushi goes around on a conveyor belt and you just pick up what you want. It was soo good. Between the two of us, we polished off 32 plates of sushi. Oink oink.
Tuesday we took a little walk to the tiergarten before out flight and picked up a couple of cute hot cocoa mugs and postcards. Getting to the airport was a bit tricky -- we almost missed the train to the airport and were all in a panic. Good times.
Nothing much else happened that week. We went to Markus's again (this time his brother was visiting) and that was that.
posted by nidhi at 11:33 AM
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