Made my way to Berlin. Spent the morning with Derek then walked to the Bus station to find the bus late. This is very unusual and was due to mechanical
difficulties. Luckily the weather was great to sit and chat outside.
Got in and started making my way to Kristina's bosses house to pic
k up the key to her flat (she was having a workshop there). When I get to my destination I 'realize' that it is Kristina's house so I tell her I'll hang out for awhile as there were some great shops to window shop and cafes if I wanted to stop. Nicely my friend the walk sign showed me safely across the street (if you haven't seen Berlin's walk sign you should google it!)...it's the little things that you forget about until you are back somewhere.
Needless to say after shopping, enjoying the weather, and meandering around, her flatmate was going home and could let me in. Only then did I actually go to the flat...where I didn't see Kristina's name...after texting her it dawned on me...I AM at her bosses house...hehehhehe...I start giggling to myself as I text her hoping she hadn't left already.
Graffiti on my walk...love it
Once Kristina was done we got ready and headed to a bar. Tonights happy hour consist
ed of paying 2 euro and serving yourself wine and beer, at the end of the night you then paid into a glass what you believe you should pay. Also, the bar has a shared flat theme which makes this night even more cozy! It was super fun even though we got chastised by the police for riding our bikes on the sidewalk (no ticket, yay).
On a side note I'm really glad I got to start the trip off slowly with Derek. It was really good to see him and was nice to get to talk about moving to a new country. Defiantly nice to not only to talk to someone who's done it but also that the person was my brother. Will see him again in a month in Oberstdorf.
13 October 2011
Woke up to not a cloud in the sky. Kristina lent me a bicycle so I had free rein of the city. It was great to just start biking...knowing I needed to go to the city center at some point but not in a rush. I ended up going the complete opposite direction but it was great to go through different areas of the city and pass by parks and interesting buildings.
Went to Alexanderplatz to get a converter for my american devices. Wander through some shops then continued to wander through the sites of Berlin. After 4 or so hours I wandered back to Kristina's to allow me time to relax prior to her coming home. We will be going out to see the monuments in light installations later this even.
Fernsehturm in Alexanderplatz
Neptune fountain in Alexenderplatz
Berlin was the favorite city I'd been to and with my second visit remains so. It seems to have it all new, old, history, grit, beauty, starkness, parks, museums, bike paths, and little unexpected nooks. Maybe it's due to the fact that it was separated for so long and even though the wound is healed the scar shows through...but this is one of those cases where it just brings out the beauty in something. Whatever gives Berlin its allure, I'm glad it continues to make me fall more in love with it.
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