Germany
Nikolaiviertel

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    • Day 13

      Berlin

      September 20, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      In Berlin haben wir ein Hostel. Es kostet für drei Nächte 150.-
      Wir haben uns die schönen Ecken von Berlin angeschaut und waren positiv überrascht, am letzten Abend sind wir noch das berühmte Brandenburger Tor anschauen gegangen. Für das essen in diesen zwei Tagen haben wir 60.- ausgegeben, da wir günstige Restaurants, wie McDonald und Burger King besucht haben .

      Hostel: https://tinyurl.com/mrrh9h2s
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    • Day 69

      Berlin, Germany (Days 1 & 2)

      October 13, 2023 in Germany ⋅ 🌬 68 °F

      What we did:
      - Train got into town around 11. Stored our bags and headed out! Grabbed some quick healthy lunch and then headed over to the famous Brandenburg gate for our historic walking tour. Had some time to kill so of course - drinks!
      - We did a three hour walking tour that was awesome! Best tour yet. Our guide (from Los Angeles) was a walking textbook, but made it super interesting and come to life. We learned so much as we covered historical germanic times through to WW1, the lead up and events during WW2, and then all the events through the cold war to the fall of the Berlin wall. We had stops at the holocaust museum, old Nazi HQ and Hitlers bunker, Berlin wall, and famous Checkpoint Charlie. We found it all super interesting since most of our childhood history classes stop by 1950 and didn’t really touch on the Cold War and Berlin wall.
      - Now super educated and smart, we grabbed our luggage and checked into the Airbnb. Did some laundry and had a great time calling Helen to catch up and say hey! We talked a big game on our plans to stay out clubbing at the notorious warehouse parties until 6am…
      - Grabbed an amazing ramen dinner in a quaint spot and then headed out to burn down the town. Even made sure we were repping our trendiest all black outfits to hide our Americanism and convince bouncers we were worthy of partying.
      - Started hot around 10:30 with old fashioneds at the swanky BonBon bar in the Mitte neighborhood. We then walked by a more happening bar and panicked at the quantity of people so kept going. Berlin is intimidating, man. The blogs saying bouncers will straight up deny any Americans had some real estate in our heads. Not to be deterred, we kept it going with Absinthe drinks at the “Sharlie Cheen” bar as we worked up the nerves to hit these wild clubs. Well….. around 12:03am a rotation of yawns had us coming to the realization that we wouldn’t know the first thing to do in a club by ourselves, leading us to grab delicious doner kebabs and hit the pillow by 12:30…. At least we made midnight!! We are still cool, hip, and fun and definitely aren’t on the backend of our peak...
      - Woke up at 10 after our wild night out and grabbed our brunch in the trendy Mitte neighborhood - favorite brunch yet!
      - We then walked through the museum /old building district and then hit our 1st museum of the trip. WW2/SS museum that was very well done.
      - After the somber museum we went to a Biergarten! Trent then took a scheduled call with his boss to talk through his new role, new happenings and plans for return - the real world is trying to pull us back! And we don’t like it
      - After drinks we headed back to regroup and opted to grab some takeout food and call it an earlier night. On to Rome and the land of food and wine! Berlin was awesome 🙌

      Where we ate:
      - Day 1 breakfast of coffee/croissants from the Dresden train station
      - Lunch of our future US franchisee, Dean & Davids, as we desperately needed to eat green things. German food is tough
      - Dinner of absolutely delicious Ramen, gyoza and edamame. As soon as Steph gets a whiff of fall, her all-consuming Ramen cravings kick in and Trent is happy to indulge. Again, successfully avoiding German food ✅
      - Day 2 breakfast at Factory Girl. Voted our #1 breakfast of the trip! This place smacks. All very healthy fancy food. Steph had fruit covered Bannana and Tahiti pancakes with a side of spiced cheesy potatoes. Trent had the classiest pile of eggs, cheesy potatoes, avocado, onions, sauces and more. Couple of flat whites to cap it off.
      - Assorted bread platter and dips at Cafe Am Neuen See biergarten
      - Dinner of delicious Mexican burritos in Mitte. Place was absolutely packed so we knew we found a gem. Again successfully avoiding German food ✅

      Fun facts:
      - Berlin has prospered as a mecca for the artsy folks of the world. David Bowie and Iggy Pop among many others lived here. It’s got a grungy, artsy edge to it that you just don’t see anywhere else. As a result it’s nightclub scene is voted the best in the world with countless abandoned warehouses turned into exclusive raves that don’t kick off until 1/2am. If you speak English in line or aren’t dressed edgy enough the bouncers simply won’t let you in
      - Being formerly communist, Berlin is one of the few places with a North Korean embassy. It had two buildings and without Germany's permission started a hostel out of the 2nd one. It became super popular for backpackers because it was located in the city center. Therefore, any backpacker that stayed there was technically “staying in North Korea”. Germany has since shut them down.
      - Germany is very cognizant of its past and has taken lengths to prevent it again. Students learn about the holocaust/atrocities every year starting in kindergarten and by graduation it's a requirement to tour two concentration camps. The new generation is starting to pushback and asking to stop making them feel guilty/embarrassed to be German when it had nothing to do with them.
      - Hitler's notorious bunker is now simply an apartment parking lot. We saw it and they purposely made no museum/recollection for it as to not give a place for anyone to have a sacred spot for Hitler
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    • Day 23

      Day 23

      June 18, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

      Today I had arranged to meet up with my cousin Simone but since she was busy until lunchtime, I spent most of the morning in the apartment. Since I’m flying home tomorrow, I spent quite a bit of time trying to find the best route home possible. After checking seat numbers, connection times and destinations, I chose the route of Berlin-Frankfurt-Hong Kong-Melbourne. So you can imagine the frustration when the staff travel website crashed as I was about to buy the tickets! I called Ted for help and fortunately, he had no trouble buying them for me on the computer at home.

      After walking to the train station, the connecting train to Simone’s location was easy to reach. I bought a 24 hour train pass which ended up being fortuitous as I needed to take several transport options during the day. Simone came to meet me at the train station with her 4 month old baby David who was really sweet and happy. Simone suggested we go for lunch, so we went to a Thai restaurant not far away.

      The food was really nice and we were amused that the waitress was wearing a Melbourne T-shirt, although she told us she’d bought it in London. As I paid for lunch, Simone offered to pay for coffee and cake, so we went to a place nearby called House of Small Wonder which was previously a Jewish school. The two girls who worked there were actually from Australia and New Zealand, and the Aussie girl and I talked about her interest in becoming a flight attendant. Simone and I couldn’t decide on the bread pudding or the chocolate cake so we ordered both and shared them between us.

      When we headed towards the U-Bahn we were detoured slightly as an apartment building was on fire, meaning there were a lot of firemen and emergency crews blocking the street. Simone was keen on having me meet her daughter Clara so we went to her daycare to pick her up. I think Clara may have been very tired though, because as Simone described it, she’s going through the Terrible Twos! After a short while at their apartment, I headed towards the U-Bahn for my journey back to Roman’s house.

      The first part was easy however, trying to find the train line after leaving the U-Bahn was far from easy since the connecting station was split into two different parts depending on the train taken. Thanks to Google maps, I eventually reached the correct station and was able to return to Roman’s house without any further problems.

      Even though I’d offered to buy sushi for dinner, Roman ended up paying for it, insisting that I was the guest and shouldn’t pay. Therefore I made a promise to pay when they all came to visit Australia! Tomorrow I have an early start to the day (4:30am) as I will need to be at Berlin airport for the first flight to Frankfurt. Even though there are plenty of flights, it’s better to get on the first flight possible in case there are cancellations or delays.

      After packing up all my remaining items, I farewelled Roman and Steffi and thanked them for their hospitality. I’ve already ordered an Uber for tomorrow so hopefully I can still get some good sleep.
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    • Day 26

      Liebe geht durch den Magen

      June 14, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      Headed to our first biergarten of the trip & had some really good apple strudel along with Fleisch Rezepte! It’s pork, mushrooms, and cheese! Yum😋 I also tried some of my mom’s dumplings or Knödel!

    • Day 16

      Berlin

      July 25, 2023 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      Wir sind von Prag mit dem Zug nach Berlin gefahren und haben im Hotel (https://tinyurl.com/3kzr9sax) übernachtet. Am nächsten Tag haben wir die Altstadt und das Brandenburger Tor angeschaut.
      (Kosten Übernachtung 248.- / Essen 60.-)Read more

    • Day 25

      The 3 Bs: Brot, Bier, und Bratwurst

      June 13, 2024 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      Headed to Berlin Germany via plane & stopped at this nice restaurant near Nikolaikirche and had the staples of a German meal. Brot, Bier, und Bratwurst topped off with some Apple Pie! Actually so good & the weather was perfect for outside dining along with walking around Berlin’s oldest neighborhood! The restaurant is zum Nussbaum!Read more

    • Day 10

      Brett's Perspectives on the Marathon

      September 24, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      Awesome time!!! That, and:

      - flattest marathon I've ever done, even moreso than the Saskatoon race! A few little inclines going over canals, but that's it. Also, basically no wind at all, totally still! Even with it being a full loop course.
      - it was lightly raining / misting for a good portion of the race, which was likely a damper on performance - traction, clothes taking water, puddle-dodging. But, made the most of it!
      - there were musical acts everywhere, which always helps with keeping spirits up. Mostly brass bands, but some rock ones too. The highlight was a choir of 6-8 people playing 3 m horns that like yodelers use up in the mountains - alpine horns? Not sure of the name - and they were all playing various notes in tune.
      - there were spectators for basically the whole course, out even in the rain. Got lots of "Go Brett!" cheers. Some people were cheering and playing music from their upper apartments.
      - great neighbourhoods and landmarks to see - you go around the Victory Column at the very beginning, later go by the Reichstag and TV Tower, eventually through Potsdamer Platz and through the Brandenburg Gate to finish. Lots of tall, nice churches too. Probably should have savoured the Gate a bit more, though did turn around after going through to appreciate it. I was about ready to be done by then, which brings me to:
      - my pace...got slower as I went. After the runners spread out, I held the target 3:30 min/km pace ok for the first 10 km or so, but then with the rain and I think the fact that that's just too fast a pace for me to hold that long, it gradually dropped so that it was tough to stay below 4:00. Maybe I could have made my form a bit better, but it was just so hard to keep the pace going. By the last 10 km my legs were really stiff and hurting, it's never really gotten that way before.
      - but, pushed through, stayed upright & strong through the finish line and still got a personal best by more than 4 minutes! Was close to breaking into tears as I often am at finish lines, gave the mascot a big bear hug. Got my refreshments, my non-alcoholic beer (they're pretty common here, was actually pretty refreshing - don't worry, had plenty of real beer that day too), and met the family, as well as my friend Stephan who lives here.
      - it was so great having all of them out here, getting through these races just wouldn't be the same or as doable without that. And, it was an amazing, well-put together race in a great city with a huge crowd turnout. Not sure what's next, I think I'll try the lottery entry for the London 2019 race, though I'll look into Tokyo's entry requirements too - if I can use this Berlin result, maybe I should while it's valid! At the beer hall dinner afterwards, met a group of Hong Kong runners, and one of them had gotten a special medal today acknowledging she'd done all 6 Majors - motivation to keep pursuing the other 2!

      Brett out.
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    • Day 2

      Berlin

      May 26, 2018 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

      We arrived in Berlin the night before and took the S Bahn to the Warschau metro station just to get a dive into the area of East Side Gallery - we didn’t know about it at the time - and feel the decadent mood in the station and the surrounding area.
      The morning was wonderful. At the Brandenburg Gate we met Christina, who came from Hamburg, and went around the city for the most interesting spots alinda town. We had lunch in the Island of Museums and relaxed by the riverside across the museum of arts, drinking a german beer in Amplemann Biergarten. Another long stroll across the Berlin Dom and the City Hall area through Alexander Platz led us to Höffbräu house - a replica of the famous Biergarten in Munich.
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    • Day 2

      Berlin

      August 11, 2018 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      After a morning checking out the Ice Bar in Amsterdam and getting even more Dam Fries we caught a train to Berlin. We shared a cabin on the train with two couples from Germany. They were really friendly. After they got off at Dresden we had a whole cabin to ourselves so we played some chess (and I won) We arrived in to Berlin at nearly 10pm. We thought we’d make the most of our short time here so went for some cocktails in our hotels bar.Read more

    • Day 1

      Berlin

      September 25, 2021 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      Earlier in the day, I had a flight from Budapest. Things were supposed to go well but I didn`t realize my ticket needed wi-fi in order for the QR code to get scanned. Luckily, there was someone who overheard and let me borrow his hotspot. I got on just fine and made it to the airport. Things were going pretty well until I got scammed a couple of times by the vending machine as well. Super annoying but I got on my flight to Berlin.

      From the airport, I made my way down to the train terminal and took the train going to the city center. It was a pretty pleasant train ride, I managed to escape paying for anything once again. From the city center, I took a bus going to Evie`s place. I got to her neighborhood, it was nice and quiet, a bit chilly with some autumn foliage. The problem was, Evie didn't tell me what unit number her flat was so I was just stuck outside the apartment. I've been waiting for a while, contemplating whether to actually start knocking on each floor's unit but after a bit of back and forth, Evie finally called out from above. It was really nice to see her again, we picked up right from where we left off back in Tokyo. It was really easy to hang out with her, a bit eccentric and wild sometimes but hey she's one of my best friends. We started by going to a nearby bakery, running and catching the bus. I ate some raw meat inside bread which was pretty good. We went to town and saw some of the famous spots of Berlin. I had two impressions on Berlin, compared to the other European cities I have been to so far, Berlin was by far the dirtiest and the most dull. The architecture was pretty flat and gray. There was graffiti everywhere in all corners, some I wondered how they even got there in the first place. We went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews that also doubled as an art exhibition that was meant to give you a disturbed feeling. Brandeburg Gate, Bode Museum and the bridge leading to it, the TV Tower and several parks. We covered a lot of ground and surprisingly finished most of my spots in Berlin in a few hours. We went to eat some curry fries before going off to find an antigen test for Evie so she could enter some establishments. Even the train and bus had graffiti inside them, according to Yoko (a character appearing later in the story). Berlin itself is an artwork as the whole city is painted in these crazy graffiti. We went to the station where Evie was meant to get an antigen and from the get-go in the park, I made eye contact with one of the black dudes and knew that he was a dealer, two of them there. Tempting but nahh. After we got her antigen, we went to the hipster area of Berlin, we stopped by Cafe Luzia. A really hipster cafe with a slick interior but we were just having drinks outside. The stank of weed pretty strong. We took a long time catching up here, talking about various topics from spirituality and dreamwork, travel aspirations and life in general. I did invite her to come with me to Amsterdam but I have no idea then if she was serious about it or not. As it got dark, we went out to find dinner and ended up in this awesome Thai restaurant. We were meeting with her boyfriend and her other friend Yoko. We got to this crazy underground party place inside some abandoned area and there were tons of different party bunkers to choose from, we tried scoring some weed but I just opted not to as it was such a hassle to find a grinder and everything. Her boyfriend came soon afterwards and the three of us exchanged some drinks together but it seems like Yoko, who was actually the person who told us to come here, wasn't going to make it. We got bored after a while as the place wasn't exactly playing the best music nor were the people partying at all. On our way home, we passed by a guy playing this awesome guitar riff and we were just mesmerized by his work. We even opted to stay for a bit longer and even gave him some money. We went back to our place and I immediately could tell the difference in airquality coming from Berlin's city center to Evie's peaceful neighborhood. Berlin was hella dirty.

      We went back in to her flat and I was finally able to meet Yoko. He's Nigerian and we got on along pretty well from the get-go, during our introductions, I mentioned that Tokyo has a pretty strong Nigerian community as well and one of my really good friends, Sophie, was half-Nigerian and half-Japanese. Yoko was intrigued and wanted to see what she looked like so I showed him a photo of Sophie's Instagram. Yoko invited me for a smoke sesh and I happily agreed with a tub of ice cream, we talked deep about life and one of my most memorable nights of a jamming sesh happened here when I let Yoko listen to one of the songs I was really into at that time, Om Ganesha, by Mose. We were both stoned and eating ice cream and just seeing how much he jammed to the music made me so happy, we were both vibing hard throughout the song and he would just comment at how good it was. Afterwards Evie cameout a bit tired as she was trying to sleep so we turned it down and I also said good bye to Yoko as I was also a bit tired. I went to have a shower and went to bed on a makeshift couch Evie had made for me which was actually pretty comfortable.
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