Berlin ist arm, aber sexy (Berlin is poor, but sexy)

We finally made it to the much-hyped city of Berlin!  Strap on in, this is a long one.

I am ashamed to admit this, but before our trip Noah and I really didn’t know too much about recent German history.  We knew there was a wall in Berlin, that JFK said he was a jelly donut (Ich bin ein Berliner versus the correct Ich bin Berliner), East Berliners learned Russian, and the wall came down in 1989.  Pathetic, I know.  But to our credit – we were 4 when the wall came down, and they don’t really teach much ‘modern European history’ in Texas.  And, because we knew so little, Noah and I have been actively learning about Germany in the 2^nd half of the 20^th century.

Anyways…. Regardless of how much or how little you know about Berlin, the city is a pretty awesome place to visit.  We arrived on a Saturday afternoon, and immediately dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to explore.  First stop – lunch on the river!  Second stop – St. Marienkirche – which was across the street from our hotel.  It is a nice church, but at this point Noah and I realized we are good to skip German churches in big cities, because it starts to get to be ‘seen one, seen them all’. 

Right outside there was a good view of the Fernsehturm – an iconic Berlin landmark.  I think this is probably like the Eiffel Tower in that some people see this as a historical landmark that makes the skyline, while others see it as an ugly eyesore.  Noah and I had differing opinions on the Fernsehturm – though I won’t divulge who thought what.

As we walked along the river, we noticed a photo shoot happening at the Berliner Dom. Maybe the next season of Germany’s Next Top Model?  Work it girls!

We walked around to various squares, hitting up Nikolaiviertel where I eyed a cupcake shop (I declared we would return later), and then had icy chocolate drinks at Gendarmenmarkt.

Our last stop on the way back to our hotel was the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).  I can’t believe this is a church  – it is the most impressive building I have seen in Germany (from the outside that is – we didn’t want to pay to view the inside). But the lawn was a great place to relax and people watch.  And Berlin is a great place to people watch – interesting looking tourists and locals alike.  I just hope the all-orange look we saw (orange shoes, purse, skirt, top, jacket, and hair) isn’t coming into style for the 50+ age category (or any age category).  But if you like looking like a citrus nightmare, you go girl! 

Back at the hotel we finally checked in, and marveled at the enormous AquaDom in our hotel lobby.  It is a 25 meter tall aquarium with over 1500 fish.  You can pay to ride the elevator in the middle, but our room looked right out on the thing, so money saved.  The AquaDom inspired Noah to try to take artsy photos on our balcony, and this is what we got.  We should stick to our day jobs.

The next day we started with the Neue Synagoge.  This is a very beautiful building, and we paid the 3EUR to go into the dome.  While we couldn’t take photos from the dome, we did learn more about the history of the building.  It was built in the 17^th century, but was badly damaged in WWII.  They basically demolished the synagogue after the war, and once the Berlin Wall fell in ‘89 they began to reconstruct it in the original design.  Inside they try to distinguish the little bit of original building from the reconstruction.

Down the street is the Kunsthaus Tacheles.  Noah had read up on this beforehand and it sounded really interesting – it is an old department store, then a Nazi prison, and then partially demolished.  After the wall came down, artists took over the remaining building.  Now it has workshops and galleries, and apparently a nightclub and cinema (according to Wikipedia).  However when we went there in our Gap shirts and tattoo-less skin, we didn’t feel right walking around and trying to make art (photos) of other people’s art. Plus it looked like a constant drug deal, so we stuck to the outside only.  Chickens, I know.  But whatever.

Now it is off to finally find some of the wall!  We started with the Berlin Wall Memorial (Die Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer), where some pieces of the wall were left standing.  Down the street is Mauerpark – another place where some of the wall was left standing.  Mauer = wall.  Get it?  Here was a collection of interesting people.  We ran across a music video shoot (what is with the tiny Chihuahua – he was shaking the whole time?!), a guy tagging the wall (there is graffiti everywhere in Berlin, especially on the pieces of the wall left standing), and my name!!!  I am on the wall!!!

Carrying on with the theme of the day, the Berlin Wall, we hit up the East Side Gallery (after I picked up some cupcakes).  I think this was my favorite place in all of Berlin.  This is 1.3km of the Berlin Wall with over 100 paintings from various artists from around the world.  The disappointing thing to me is the graffiti that marks up the art.  I am sure many people can argue that this is what makes Berlin Berlin, but in my mind there is a difference between art and vandalism.  And this is vandalism.  Not to mention a lack of respect for those artists that came before you.  Anyways… enough soap box.  Here are some of the photos of the open air gallery:

You know those folks that try to wash your windshield at the red light for some cash?  Well, here is a new take on that.  These girls would stand in front of your car at the red light and juggle!  I was impressed – if I was in the car I would have forked over some money. But they were far away, so we just kept walking instead.

I am not sure how many American’s go to Berlin and don’t eat any German food… but there are at least 2 of us.  And not even authentic Berlin currywurst – I hope they don’t kick us out of Germany.  But can you blame us – we have it every work day at lunch, and there were actual American style restaurants! And not McDonalds or Hard Rock Café.  We gorged ourselves on milkshakes, onion rings, and cheeseburgers.  And then we felt pretty gross.  But it was worth it!  It was the first milkshake I have had here that wasn’t just melted ice cream (I am looking at you Hard Rock Café).

Our last day found ourselves visiting the famous Brandenburger Tor.  Though one of my questions is: I read that the French took the Quadriga (the statue at the top) by Napoleon, but now it is there.  How did they get it back?  Or did they?  As I wrote this, I realize I am on a computer, and Google is right there.  So here is the answer: In 1797, Napoleon carried the quadriga off to Paris, but after Napoleon's defeat in 1814 and the Prussian occupation of Paris, the horses were returned to Berlin. However, due to the effects of atmospheric pollution, the original quadriga was retired to a museum and replaced with a replica in the 1980s.  My source – Wikipedia, of course.  Looks like my suspicions were correct in that the original was not up there!  And yes, that is a person in a bear suit.

Near the Tor is the Holocaust Memorial – Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe).  It is a city block of columns of various shapes and sizes.  You can get yourself a bit lost in here – and makes a great hide and seek or game of tag location, as many children were doing.  Unfortunately, and Noah can attest to this, Jewish things are often closed when I want to go to them.  And this was the same for the memorial center here.  Oh well.

We stopped for lunch at the Englischer Gartens beer garden in the Tiergarten, and spotted Sadie!!!  What was she doing there?? Crazy little puppy!!  

We made our way back to the Jüdischer Friedhof – Jewish Cemetery.  I say ‘back’ because this is another place that was closed Sunday when we tried to go, even though Fodors.com told me they would be open.  It was a beautiful cemetery, I think in part because they let the plants grow everywhere.  We didn’t find any ‘Weiss’ tombstones, but I did have my favorite.  It simply said, ‘Auf Wiedersehen’.  And to top it off – they had a public bathroom!!  This is something that is very hard to find in Europe, especially a free one.  I was very grateful.  Don’t judge.

Sadly another trip had come to an end.  We flew back home the next morning, but decided to hang out at the airport a little while longer.  Why would anyone choose to do that?  Oh, just because they had SURFING at our airport.  Lufthansa is sponsoring a ‘Surf & Style’ this month – kids can take surfing lessons in the morning, everyone can surf in the afternoon, and there is even a 2^nd European Championship (though we missed this by a week). 

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin!  Because of you, we now know what the October 3^rd holiday in Germany is all about – 22 years since German reunification!  Huzzah!

Scott's Visit

We often say if we had more friends and family living closer, we might just stay in Germany forever- this being the part we miss most from back home.  It is no surprise then that we get really excited to have visitors from home.  Having guests distracts us from that feeling of being different and reminds us we have accomplished a lot since coming here.  Plus guests give us an excuse to get off our butts and go out and explore the city!  Therefore, we were really glad to have Scott, my childhood best friend, here to visit for one week!

Scott arrived on a Saturday morning and is the first person I have ever seen defeat jetlag (including our three attempts at it).  I’m not sure what it his secret, but perhaps not sleeping at all on the flight over here was the key.  His flight was delayed an hour which kept us from racing across town to catch the Munich TSV 1860’s season opening soccer game.  No problem, instead we started the city tour early. 

After an obligatory lunch stop for Döner Kebap (future guests take note) we walked the tourist trail through the city center.  Every time we visit the city it gives that same feeling one gets when returning to their elementary school, the place just feels smaller and smaller.  It seems like it used to take 4 hours to walk through Munich, now it feels like 30 minutes.  After Scott wore us out (still without sleep for something like 20 hours), we rested up at home with some Olympics on the TV.  I must say the German coverage was not nearly as exciting because the German athletes are not ALWAYS winning like the US.  That, and probably because the coverage was in German!  We capped the night off with a giant beer and pretzel at our local Hirschgarten (future guests take note, again).

On the following cloudy Sunday morning, we gambled that the weather would clear up and went out to Lake Starnberg for a swim.  Smart move because we the sun came out just as we arrived, and we beat the crowds.  Being in the Olympic spirit, Scott and I played water polo while Julie just floated away in her toddler size, “Dora the Explorer” looking floatie.   However, playing water polo led us amateurs into swallowing a bunch of lake water, which I found to be more unpleasant than salt water because the earthy taste lingers for hours.  Bring a toothbrush next time.

We returned home in the afternoon and Scott and I took the 20-minute bike ride up to Olympic Park, which was hosting their summer festival.  This is the perfect bike ride in my opinion (future guests, your itinerary is being written right here).  Coincidently, this marks the one-year anniversary where Julie and I came to Munich for our interviews and then escaped to the festival to contemplate our future lives over carnival food.  

Scott and I had a bratwurst, went up the Olympic tower, and spent 30 minutes touring the park festivities before a dark, dark storm rolled in.  And there we were, like our childhood all over again, riding bikes through the rain.  This was one of the biggest storms I have seen in Munich, and we were forced to take cover under a nearby apartment building.  Not to let their lunch plans be spoiled, a family sharing our shelter decided to have their picnic right there on the cement ground next to us.  Eventually it cleared enough to safely ride back home.  We reached the edge of the storm to find a perfectly sunny day waiting us at home.  We ended the evening with another trip to the biergarten and more Olympics.

On Monday we (without Julie who had to work, and without the dogs because the hike was too difficult) went out to hike an Alp.  We were delayed in our departure though because it seemed Rita might have seriously injured her leg.  I’m not sure what happened, but she was in pain and unable to fully walk on one back leg (in hindsight perhaps a bee sting or minor sprain).  Eventually she seemed like she would be ok, and since our vet was only open 4-6 pm, we couldn’t do much now (some things really do shut down here in the summer break).  

We hiked the peak of Wendelstein, a place Julie recommended after her work’s team builder there.  We knew we were limited on time because of Rita and the vet so we set a pretty brisk pace.  Initially the plan was to hike a bit up and then turn around to get home.  The weather was perfect and we were making such good time we just hiked all the way to the top with 3,000 foot elevation gain in 2.5 hours.  The best part about hiking up mountains in Bavaria is that awaiting you at the top is a beer hut.  So we enjoyed the beer we worked so hard for and some incredible views before taking the gondola back down to the bottom.  This is probably my favorite and most memorable hike I have ever taken (if only because most hikes don’t end in beer).  See for yourself:

Scott spent the rest of the week on his own before returning home.  Unfortunately, I do have to work sometimes. But we accomplished a lot in three days.  Come see for yourself what you can do here in a long weekend, if only you can beat the jetlag.  We looooove having visitors!

The Joy of Car Renting in Sardinia

I mentioned we had an experience renting a car in Sardinia last month, and here is the story you have all been waiting on the edge of your seat for:

We had a reservation for an automatic smart car with Thrifty for 200EUR for the week.  After waiting over an hour in their line, we find out their credit card machine isn’t working.  This would be fine, expect we have a fancy Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and the credit card numbers and name aren’t ‘raised’.  And since they were using the old system of copying the cards with carbon paper, they refused to take our credit card.  What about cash?  Nope, that wouldn’t do either.  And we were told there was nothing they could do – even though we had both a valid credit card and plenty of cash, they would not honor our reservation.  Thanks Thrifty!

So what did the guy behind the counter do to help?  He leaned over and said he would write down some other places that we could check for cars.  But the thing is – the rental car building is a small place with 20 counters all around – he only wrote down the names of the companies we could see by turning around.  Man, thanks dude!

This left Noah scrambling around the building looking for a car, because this is peak holiday season, and most cars are already taken.  We finally get ‘lucky’ with a small local business where the owner agrees to rent us the same smart car for only 450EUR.  Oh, and we have to pay 300EUR cash now as a deposit since the machines are down.  He writes down our credit card information, and we agreed to come back the next day to pay the 450EUR assuming the machines are back up. 

The next day we return as agreed, and the machines are up. We pay the 450EUR with our credit card, and ask if we can get the 300EUR cash back now.  He lets us know that this is a deposit, and we will get it back when we return the car at the end.  Ok, except that we have an early flight out – will he be there at 6am when we need to drop the car off?  No problem!  He lets us know that his hours are 6am-10pm, and of course he will be there.  Ok, but really?  6 in the morning??  I ask twice, and Noah asks for the third time.  We just don’t really believe this laid back island-Italian man.  But what are we to do?

Fast forward to the last day of our trip.  We have an 8am flight out, and arrive at the airport at 6am.  Yes, this is very early, but we assume the whole car thing will take at least 30 minutes to deal with.  When we get to the building, do you think the guy is there?  Of course he isn’t.  At 6:30 we decide to go check our bags, and return 15 minutes later to a still empty counter.  Now it is reaching 7am, and still no sign of the guy, and it is starting to look like we will be spending 750EUR for this stupid car that was supposed to cost us 200EUR.

I write out a note explaining that he wasn’t there as agreed, and he owes us a 300EUR credit on our credit card.  I then take about 25 photos of the car, and film myself returning the key.  Yes, this was a bit extreme, but I was determined to get my deposit back. 

At 7:10 we give up and head to the airport to get through security.  Our flight is in less than an hour.   As we are walking in the terminal, I realize I don’t have the rental agreement in my bag.  I ask Noah if he has it, and he can’t find it.  Uh oh – we definitely need this to fight for our money (or at least in my mind, as I am envisioning many emails and international calls to get my 300EUR back).  Noah says he will run back to check that I didn’t leave it with my urgent note on the counter.

When Noah catches back up to me, he lets me know that he has the cash!!!  When he returned to the building, the man was just showing up (7:20 at this point).  He asked Noah if he wanted to rent a car, and Noah says, “No – I am returning it and I need my cash deposit back”.  It must have been the look of irritation on Noah’s face, or maybe he realized that we were the couple that he swore he would be there at 6am for, but he reached into his cash register and handed Noah the cash.

Now this is really the kicker in our minds.  The guy never even checked the car, or checked to see if we actually returned the keys!  So what was the point of the cash deposit?? 

Ok, my rant is over.  Sardinia was an amazing vacation sandwiched between a horrible car rental experience.  And I will be boycotting Thrifty from now on.