Yesterday we got up and ate breakfast at the New Zealand Café that's part of our hostel. At €3.90, we thought the breakfast buffet was a little expensive for what was offered: bread, cereal, assorted fruits, cold ham, and cheese. The food itself wasn't bad, but there just wasn't a very wide variety of things to choose from. But the café is right down the street and they offer free internet, so we'll probably keep eating there just for the convenience.
After breakfast we walked down to the U-Bahn (subway) station and took the train to Alexanderplatz (Alexander Square), where we got a good view of the Fernsehturm (TV Tower, the tallest structure in Berlin) and the Kaufhaus, a large department store on the square. We were trying to find an ATM, since I never got around to exchanging my American money for Euros, and thought that the Kaufhaus would surely have something like that. So we walked around for a while but never saw anything. After walking around Alexanderplatz for a while longer we eventually found a bank and I was able to get some cash.
After that we started walking toward Museuminsel (Museum Island), where we were planning on visiting the Pergamonmuseum (Pergamon Museum), a museum that has a wide variety of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts. On the way there, we saw the Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain) and the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).
When we finally found the Pergamonmuseum, we were a little disappointed to find that nearly the entire structure was covered in scaffolding, and that there was a fairly lengthy line. But the wait wasn't as bad as it looked, and once we were in we found that it was definitely worth the wait. The collection was extensive, so much so that we were exhausted by the time we got through it all (it took us about 5 hours).
After the museum, we toured a couple open-air markets that were near the museum, and then ate at Cafe im Zeughas, a café on the Spree (the main river that runs through Berlin). The meal was quite nice, if a little on the expensive side, and the view was amazing from our outside table. The low point of the meal was when a Bosnian woman approached us asking us if we spoke English. Excited that I did, in fact, speak English, I told her that and she handed me a card that was asking me for money. She had a little girl at her side, and just to make her go away I decided to just give her €5 (the smallest form of currency I had, which is actually about $7.00). But instead of being appreciative and going on her merry way, she then hit up Erica for money, too! Pretty brazen, if you ask me. Erica of course told her no, and she eventually wandered off to ask the next table if they spoke English. But later, her son, who was probably no more than 10, came by and asked, with the most pitiful expression on his face that you've ever seen, "Do you speak English?" Well, I wasn't falling for that one twice! We told him we already gave his mother some money, but I had the distinct feeling that he didn't understand as much English as his initial question might lead you to believe. Eventually, he, his mother, and his little sister left the area, probably quite a bit richer.
After we finished eating, we walked down Unter den Linden, one of Berlin's most famous streets which runs straight into Pariser Platz (Paris Square) and the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). The gate is very large, and it is a very popular place for tourists, so the area was packed. There also seemed to be some kind of walk for cancer going on, as there was a lot of crowds, music, and people in pink shirts that said "Walk for Cancer."
At this point we decided to walk up to the Holocaust Memorial, which is a rather uniquely constructed memorial of concrete blocks of various heights, apparently inspired by gravestones. Then we walked through Tiergarten, Berlin's massive central park area, stopped by the Philharmonie just as a concert was about to start (but it was sold-out). After wandering about a little more, we ended up in the Sony Center, which was packed. It's basically just a commercial center and has a bunch of shops and restaurants, but the architecture of the rotunda was impressive. There is also a large fountain in the center. When the rotunda and the fountain are lit up at night, I'm sure it's really cool, but we were there during the day, so we decided that it was about time to head home.
On the way home I picked up what I thought was a cool German soda, "Mezzo-Mix", an orange-flavored soda, and was mildly disappointed to see the words "Coca Cola" written in small letters on the side.
The hostel experience has been largely positive so far, except that one of our roommates from Italy has a rather chronic snoring problem. When we first got here, there was a couple from the US here, but they left that night (in the middle of the night for some reason). They were very friendly, and frankly I wish they would have stayed longer. The Italian snorer seems to have left at this point (it's Sunday morning now), and we've been joined by two guys who are probably Australian. These two came in in the middle of the night last night, woke everybody up, and complained loudly about the Italian snorer while we were trying to sleep. Because of all this, we didn't get to sleep until well after 4 in the morning, and we slept in until about noon today. But I think we needed the rest.
Here are a few pics we've taken so far:
Our room:
In the New Zealand Café:
Berliner Dom:
Fernsehturm:
Outside the Pergamonmuseum:
On the River Spree, with the Bode Museum in the background:
Eating at the café, with the Berliner Dom and the Fernsehturm in the background:
Erica under a giant statue on Unter den Linden:
