Day 21

Today was relatively uneventful, save for a fun incident this morning with my cell phone.  I am using now a german cell phone, and the charger I had for it wasn't working.  I changed out the SIM card and put it in the other cell phone that I brought (not knowing if I'd be able to find a working charger), which worked as a backup until I got another charger.  Luckily the Thiermeiers had one that worked, so that was all good.  However, when I put the SIM card back into the german cell phone, it didn't want to connect to the network (it just said "offline")... I looked through all of the menus to try to find something about getting it to reconnect, but to no avail.  Finally after restarting it a few times and messing with the options, I got it to work.  That was a relief.

Some of the time while I'm here in germany, I plan to travel around some (not just spend the entire time in berlin).  The time has come for the first of these little side trips: Groningen, Netherlands.

Well, not quite...I don't actually leave for another week, but I did buy my train tickets today!  I'm going to be taking the train early sunday from berlin, and will arrive in Groningen about 4:30 in the afternoon.  The price itself roundtrip was actually rather affordable as well, only about 90 euros (normally tickets are about 200 euros, but there was a special discount for whatever reason).

I'm going to Groningen to meet my uncle, who is there for a conference.  He'll be busy most of the time, but at least that gives me a base of operations to explore the city, and possibly to elsewhere (amsterdam is only 2 hours away, etc).  I'll be there for three days total.

  

Day 20

Wow, 20 days here already!  Definitely doesn't feel like it's been that long.

Today was a bit cooler even than yesterday, in the mid 50's...nevertheless needed the jacket again.

I didn't go out as much as yesterday.  I did go out at one point to check out a street fair that was going on a couple of blocks north of my apartment.  That was quite fun.  There were a lot of vendors and food, not to mention 5 live acts going on simultaneously (albeit not at the same location - they were spread out over several blocks).

After that I came back to the apartment, got caught up on this blog, and then went upstairs to the Thiermeiers to have dinner.

I was a little later coming than usual, so I ended up having a frozen pizza for dinner (amazingly, even the frozen food tastes better here) with a glass of red wine (a Rioja from Spain).  All quite enjoyable.

While eating dinner we watched the Germany vs. Australia game, which germany won (!) (part of the World Cup going on right now).  When germany won, one of the neighbors set off fireworks even!

This should be fun watching the World Cup here...especially since we're already winning!

Day 19

  

It was quite a bit cooler today, and rainy at times.  Actually needed a jacket (first time in over a week) and umbrella.  Nevertheless Timo and I headed out again, this time to check out the "Franco-German Festival" in northwest berlin.

It took about half an hour to get there, after two connections with the u-bahn and then further on a bus.  The festival itself actually was pretty similar to the state fair in the states, albeit different language, and different food.  The only part of the whole festival that was actually french was in one corner of the grounds with some french food stalls, as well as live music (a trio with guitar, accordian, and violin), a statue-maker exhibition, and a place where you could make soap.

One of the food stalls was selling spiced sausages, all of which were quite tasty (i.e. we said that we would buy a few, and they let us try all of them!).  We ended up buying a fig sausage, a sausage with herbs de prevence, and a third one with Thyme.  The guy running the display was actually german, from berlin, and interestingly enough was willing to talk to me in the local berlin dialect (berlinerisch), so I could start getting my ear around it (I got a recording as well...more analysis to come :) ).

After a while Timo and I headed out, this time over to his grandmother's apartment (had to pick up a few things there).  While there, she actually let me borrow a few books of poetry she had, all of which were written in the berlin dialect of german.  This definitely bodes well for me actually possibly learning to speak some of it!

Soon after we met up with Julian and spent the rest of the saturday night in the true berliner style (well, maybe not most berliners) at an observatory!  Julian and Timo both had worked there and had been under the mentorship of Wolfgang, one of the guys that works there.

The observatory is currently being used for the set of a movie, the title of which I never heard.  Apparently it's almost done being filmed, but there is one last scene they needed to get involving the office of the "mad scientist" character (which was all being staged upstairs in the room with the telescope).

The rest of the time we were there, Julian was getting some help with questions he had about some aspects of quantum mechanics from Wolfgang, which went on for a few hours.  It was cool to actually learn how to do some math in german (not necessarily new theorems or anything, but more how to do the basics like "times" "plus" "square root" "eigenvalue", and other vocab like "take an integral", among others).

After that it was about 1am, and we needed to head back.  We stopped quickly at an Imbiss stand to get some Döner (none of us had had dinner), and then headed back to our respective homes after that.

Note:  I used Timo's camera to take pics from today, and still haven't gotten them from him, so pictures will come soon.

Day 18

   

It wasn't quite so hot today, and the humidity finally backed off a bit, so today was a perfect day to open up all the windows in the apartment and get a nice breeze flowing through it.  After being out and about all day on thursday, today I didn't go out too much, just for a quick walk here and there.

One of the nice things about having an apartment on the ground floor, is that it opens up to a nice terrace with lots of plants, a few chairs, a table, all in the shade of tall trees.  Also, while out yesterday, I got a tomato plant!

It's actually growing pretty fast as well.  According to the gardner I got it from, it should be making tomatoes before I leave (if not, there are a bunch of tomatoes waiting for me at home as well).  Regardless, it'll be fun to take care of while I'm here.

Also, for the first time since here, I actually took some time to sit outside, enjoy the weather, and read a book.  It was incredibly relaxing - definitely will be doing more of that (especially since I need to do some pre-reading for one of my classes next semester...it's an interesting book though, so no worries).

   

Day 17

So the weather was a bit oppressively hot and humid, but overall it was a pretty fun day.

Timo is finally back from Norway, so we hung out some today.  We met up at my apartment and then headed on the U-bahn in the direction of the lakes in southwest berlin.  Halfway there though, Timo thought it might be cook to check out his old schools and the neighborhood he grew up.  So we got off the U-bahn  and walked around.

The area was really pretty.  The roads were two lanes, with a boulevard down the middle, and trees planted along both sides of the roads as well as in the middle, creating a cool canopy effect.  We went first to his elementary school (which actually teaches up through the high school level as well), and checked out the building and grounds.  It was a rather nice place, with airconditioning (!), and then lots of shaded areas outside (including an herb garden, a pond, several fields, and a playground set for the younger kids).  We also checked out the auditorium, which had in it a really nice piano!  Needless to say I was quite enthralled at the discovery.  The piano itself was an older (built in 1893 according to the serial number) Steinway, concert grand size (a little over 9 feet).  It was very well maintained, and the touch was incredible.  The keys were oddly shaped (the black keys  were a little shorter than I'm used to), but that didn't affect its playability.  I played a couple things on it before we headed out.

After that we walked up the road a couple miles, and headed over to the Free University (Freie Universität), which I had never visited before.  The campus definitely had a distinct feel to it.  It was incredibly green, like Rice, but the buildings had a more modern feel to them.  A lot of the buildings were kind of a metal, glass, and concrete mix, which is quite different from Rice.

We had been walking around a couple hours by then, so Timo and I stopped to get something to drink to cool down, and to enjoy a break from the heat and humidity in the dining hall's AC.  After resting for a bit, we headed on out and walked a few more miles down the road to get back to the u-bahn station we started at.  On the way, we passed a church that actually had the grave of Rudi Dutschke (click here if you don't know who he is).  Pretty cool. 

Also saw this in someone's front yard (not sure why it was there)...

We took the u-bahn over to the part of berlin where Timo's aunt lives.  We met up at her place and grabbed some lite food and had an impromtu picnic over at Rüdesheimerplatz.  Overall, a hot, but fun day out.

    

Day 16

   

Today I decided to go over to eastern berlin to check out a rather famous landmark, namely the East Side Gallery.

To get there, I took the U-bahn from Nollendorfplatz (the station near my apartment) all the way to Warschauerstrasse, got off, walked about half a mile down to the Spree river, and then turned up a road that ran parallel to the river.

The gallery itself is actually a long piece of wall (parts of which apparently came from the original berlin wall - don't quote me on that though, that's just what I heard from somebody), that was painted by famous graffiti artists over the last few years.

Each mural was about 20 feet long, and as high as the wall (about 12 feet or so).  Some ran a bit longer, and each was very cool.

A lot of the murals had themes of entrapment and subsequent freedom (paralleling the history of east berlin).  A lot of the murals had poetry and dedications to people who had died.  The whole thing was pretty powerful.

The gallery stretched along the road as far as you could see.

  

Day 15

Today Mrs. Thiermeier and I headed up to northwest berlin to check out the Charlottenburg Palace.  

The palace itself was originally just one wing, intended as a summer retreat for the prussian royal family outside of berlin (at the time of it's building, the town was not a part of Berlin - now it's well within the city limits), over time however more wings were added on, especially as the royal family spent more and more time there.

If you want to read more about the history of the palace, go here.

We couldn't tour the whole thing unfortunately (would take too long, and was rather expensive), so we went through the old palace (i.e. the original wing).

All the rooms were very nicely decorated (tons of paintings, tapestries, etc), and gold adorned (was a baroque and rococo style palace), with numerous antechambers, dressing rooms, beedrooms for the king and queen, seperate apartments for guests, as well as a large oval room used to greet guests as they arrived (this room opened into the garden, and sticks out from the line of the palace quite a ways).

Outside the palace was a large garden, park, lake, and mausoleum.  Inside the mausoleum lie 4 members of the royal family (can't remember which off the top of my head).  The mausoleum itself was built with lots of black marble, which gives it a very regal and solemn feel.

We spent about 3 hours at the museum.  Afterwards we headed to a cafe to get something to drink (was hot again today), and then headed back to the apartment on the U-Bahn.

After we got back, I went for a run, and then spent the rest of the evening sorting (still!) through the weekend's photos, and getting caught up on the blog.

  

Day 14

Today was pretty uneventful...pretty much I stayed in most of the day to rest, just went for a quick walk mid afternoon around the Tiergarten area (which is quite pretty - I'll take my camera next time) to get some air.  I practiced piano and clarinet for a while, and started sorting through the 800 pics from saturday and sunday.

I counted up how many pics I've taken in the last two weeks - I'm currently up to 2500 or so...I may need to be a bit more efficient with my picture taking, as that that's 3 MB per shot minimum!  I also looked at my hard drive, and I have more than 40 GB of pics since just last summer!

So, I will endeavor to still take good pics, but not waste so many shots in between.

Weather-wise, it's still warm, although not quite as hot as it was saturday and sunday.  This thursday and friday though it's supposed to get up to 90 (yay)!  The locals here are all complaining already about how hot it is, and how "humid", with only 60% humidity...I don't think people from berlin would fare well in houston during the summer!

Regardless I've definitely recuperated since the weekend, on to more stuff tomorrow!  

  

Day 13

I slept really well last night...guess that's what happens when you run around a big city for 2/3 of a day...

I got up around 11:30, checked emails etc, had breakfast, and made plans to meet up with Sam and Friends at 2:00 near Stadtmitte.

We met up at the chocolate shop, but resisted all urges to go in again (well they didn't anyways...I went in quickly before they got there to get a piece of marzipan :) ).  We headed up Friedrichsstrasse (another shopping district in Berlin, with some of the most expensive shops you could imagine) up towards Bebelplatz, as there was supposed to be another concert that afternoon (more on that later).  

We got to bebelplatz by about 2:30, but then discovered that the concert didn't even start until about 4, so that gave us a bit more time to wander around.

Steven and Chan wanted to go back to Checkpoint Charlie to take some more photos, and to read the info placards over there (they had the history of the wall, as well as a lot of the happenings during the cold war).  

After that, we headed back to Bebelplatz to catch the concert.  It was a live concert (not a broadcast like last night) of the Berlin State Orchestra (Staatskapelle Berlin) playing the Tchaikovsky Symphony number 4 in f minor.  This is one of my absolutely most favorite symphonies of all times.  It was completely amazing - I couldn't believe the concert was free!  Listening to it was a bit nastalgic as well as I played the same piece in orchestra back in high school...it made me really want to be able to play more orchestra at school, if only I had the time...

The concert lasted about an hour, after which we decided to head back to the Reichstag.  We wanted to take a look at the outside and get some pics.  When we got there, we noticed the line to go to the cupola was rather short, so on a whim we all decided to go up and see the view.  It only took 20 minutes to get through the line and into the building, a record, considering it normally takes 2+ hours!  

When we got to the top, we were given an audio tour earpiece that we could listen to as we walked around the cupola.  The view from the top was amazing!  You could see all of berlin from every direction!

As well the inside of the Cupola is quite cool to look at - there is a giant array of mirrors which reflect sunlight down directly into the building below.

And of course the exterior of the cupola is quite cool as well.

After heading out from the Reichstag, we went over to Potsdamerplatz and had dinner at the Cancun restaurant.  The restaurant was very ornately decorated, and the food was pretty good as well.  I ordered a plate of empenadas, and the others all got Chicken with Mole sauce.  

Sam and the others had to head back soon after that, as Steven and Chan's train was to leave at 11pm to go back to Hamburg.  I headed back to the apartment and crashed for the rest of the night, still exhausted from yesterday's events.

   

Day 12

 
Wow, today was incredibly busy!  I got up on the early side (i.e. before 9...) and met up with my friend Sam at the Brandenburger Gate at 10:30.  She brought two of her friends from singapore who are studying in Hamburg for the summer, and are visiting berlin this weekend.  We met up there to go on a free, 3-hour guided tour of central berlin.

The tour started at the Brandenburger Gate, went briefly to the Reichstag (basically to acknowledge that it was there...), and then headed over to the Jewish Memorial (holocaust related) which is located right next to the american embassy.  This memorial is a permanent art installation, made up of vertical concrete columns, put on downward sloping ground.  The entire area is a bit of an illusion, as when you look out over the top of the memorial, the tops of the stones go higher; yet at the same time the ground slopes downward.  When you walk through, you get a bit of an overwhelming feeling, as the stones completely take over everything.  You can't see much around you, just the 10 foot stones.  In the picture, you can't see the ground, just the tops of the stones.  Where I'm standing, the stones are only about a foot or 2 tall, but in the top right corner (where it looks like it slopes up a bit), they are closer to 10 feet tall (also, on a tangent, the skyline in the background is of the famous Potsdamer Platz, which I have mentioned in a few previous posts - its a giant entertainment center, with a three story mall made entirely of glass, an IMax theatre, a couple museums, and then some).

We then headed over with the tour to the spot where Hitler's underground bunker was located.  This was the bunker he and his goonies hid out in towards the end of the war as the Soviets marched into Berlin.  The bunker is not longer accessible to the public (as it was filled with concrete or something along those lines), but the walls still stand.

After that we walked over to a couple of older buildings, one of which was a former nazi government building (used now as one of the governmental buildings for the german government).  On the other side of the street from that building was a portion of the berlin wall (not much to look at, as it was mostly taken down, even at that spot where they tried to preserve it).

We walked two blocks further down the street to Friedrichsstrasse, and came to Checkpoint Charlie (the former entry point to east berlin from the west).  It wasn't much to look at (just a small shack, rebuilt to look like the original building before it was enlarged).  

After that, we took a half-hour break from the tour, and hung out at an expensive cafe (didn't buy anything, but enjoyed the shade, as it was about 85 degrees under full sun, no clouds).  When the tour resumed, we headed towards Stadtmitte (city-center), and checked out a very nice chocolate shop.  Inside they had sculptures of important buildings in berlin, made out of chocolate.

After that we checked out one more platz with the french and german doms, as well as a performing hall (not sure exactly what for, I heard everything from ballet to orchestra to opera).  The tour then went from there to Bebelplatz (next to Hedwigkirche, and across from the main building of the Humboldt University), where they were putting together a giant screen and speakers for a concert that night (more on that later).

The tour ended when we went to the Lustgarten between the Old Museum and the Berliner Dom (both on the Museum Island).  Although the tour was theoretically free, we all tipped the tour guide (as that is their only source of income).  

After the tour, we went back over to Humboldt, as there was a massive book sale going on in front.  Apparently this goes on every weekend, as a way of giving books and literature back to the community (in addition, the money raised by th sales is donated to charity), also serving as a remembrance of the book burning that happened on Bebelplatz during the nazi regime.  Many of the books burned there were first editions with no further printings, i.e. meaning that once burned, they were gone forever.  There was an entire library that was emptied during this burning.  A memorial to the lost books still stands in Bebelplatz: there is an opening in the ground covered with glass, which lets you look down about 40 feet, seeing nothing but empty shelves, where books should be.

We then headed over to Alexenderplatz to get some lunch.  I had döner again, it was incredibly tasty as always.  Sam had to head out soon thereafter as she had to babysit that night.  Her friends (steven and chan) and I then went to southwest berlin (as the tour had only covered stuff in central and north-eastern parts) to Ku'damm.  We went into the Gedächtnis Kirche, and after that got some currywurst.  There was a Bach Cantata in the church at 6, so we went in and listened.

After the Cantata, we took the U-bahn back up to Stadtmitte and went back to the chocolate shop - the guys wanted to buy Sam's mom a thank-you for letting them stay there the weekend.  I got a little something as well - quite delectible.  They were mini-truffles, with liqueur fillings.

After that we went back to Bebelplatz to watch the (Free) performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which was being showed ont he big screen (A live video cast from the Berliner Staatsoper in the next building).  The opera was in russian, with german subtitles.  The guys I was with didn't really know much german, so I translated the subtitles for a while.  We came in pretty late to the opera, so we only caught the last half hour or so.  

After the opera was over, we went back to the Lustgarten in front of the Dom, and relaxed for a while.  It was about 10, so the sun was just going down (!), and we were enjoying the nice evening breeze, and finally break from the overbearing sun.  After about half an hour, we wandered back over to Alexanderplatz, and had some dinner.  I ordered a margherita pizza (tomatoes, basil and mozzerella) - the other two had pasta dishes.  After dinner we went our seperate ways, and I headed home to crash after being out for more than 14 hours.

Long day, but incredibly fun.
    

Day 11

  

The weather continued to be amazing!  Day 2 of 70+ weather, no clouds, and a nice breeze.

The air was so nice even last night that I left all the windows open in the apartment overnight to let it air out a bit, and it was quite refreshing to wake up to.

I slept in a bit late today (till practically 11), but apparently so did nina and her mom, so breakfast was served a bit later, ending a bit after noon.

After brunch, I went to my apartment again to clean up and sort through some more of yesterday's pics (another 500...).  At around 1:30, I went back upstairs, and nina's mom and I decided to go out and enjoy the weather by heading over to the Schoeneberg park.  I hadn't been there before, and Mrs. Thiermeier wanted me to see it while the nice weather held out.

The park itself starts just on the side of the Rathaus (basically a mayor's office - the government seat in Schöneberg), and goes on quite a ways for several kilometers.  It has a large pond at one end that has HUNDREDS of large goldfish and koi.

After that we walked around the park for a while, passing several large open areas with hundreds of people laying out in the sun.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat as well while out, stopping at an Imbiss stand, which sells various brats, drinks, and schnitzel.  After that, we headed back to the apartment, and I went for a run shortly after.

Later we had dinner - tonight was pasta with a chicken/vegetable/paprika sauce, green bean salad, an red wine (a rioja from spain).  Mrs. Thiermeier and I made some muffins later as well (which she will take to the horse stall tomorrow for the riders).

After that we watched a movie, and then I headed to bed.
  

Day 10

The weather was amazing today!  It had been cold and rainy pretty much since I got here, so having sunny, 70 degree weather was definitely a welcomed change.

To enjoy such good weather, we went to the Schlachten See (literally, the "lake of slaughter"...don't ask me how it got that name...) which is located in a very rich part of berlin.  The lake itself is fairly good sized, and has a trail around it that takes about an hour and a half to walk.

We got there early afternoon and walked around the lake.  There were quite a few types of ducks there that we saw, as well as a pair of swans.  After that, we grabbed a quick lunch at the cafe that was there.  I got a pair of brats with potato salad - quite delicious.

We headed back to the apartment late afternoon.  Nina and her mom wanted to go shopping for a dress, so we all headed back to the car and headed up to north east berlin, near the Brandenburger Tor and the Television Tower, to Oranienstrasse.  They went to a dress store for about an hour while I wandered around that area.

I first walked over to the Museuminsel (which was right down the street) and went inside the Bode Museum (has architecture, art, sculptures etc from europe).  Since it's thursday, entry to museums is free after 5 pm, hence I didn't have to buy a ticket.

The collections inside were really cool.  There was a collection of coins and medallions from various countries over the years (including full sets of german "tollars", which were the precursors to the US "dollar").  Also they had a lot of religious artwork and sculptures.

After that, I headed back over to Oranienstrasse and checked out an area where a lot of artists live.  Originally the building was some old structure (hundreds of years old I think), which was abandoned during one of the wars, and then occupied by students and artists back in the sixties.  It's about 5 or 6 stories tall, and outside around the first floor a lot of the people living there have little areas set up where they sell their art (os well as a few outdoor bars where you can get a drink).  Overall the place had a very eclectic and energetic feel, it's kinda hard to describe or really get though unless you see it.

After that, I met up with Nina and her mom again, and we headed home.  On the way, we ended up getting behind a rather hilarious vehicle (Rice people - you'll appreciate this):

Yes, in Germany you can drink beer and ride a bike at the same time!

So we got home soon after that, and had a late dinner of spaghetti, and salad.  We watched a bit of soccer coverage on tv (prepping for the world cup which starts in a bit over a week), and then headed to bed soon after.

Day 9

Today was my first day alone in the city!  Mrs. Thiermeier had some other errands to run, so I decided to go out on my own.  We had a pretty late breakfast – didn’t finish till noon…and then I left probably by about 1:30 or so.  I walked from my apartment up to Nollendorfer Platz and then took the U-Bahn (the subway, although ironically it runs above ground for the route I was taking today) to Potsdamer Platz. 

I walked around Potsdamer Platz for a while.  It was incredibly crowded (it was lunch time, which figures), but there were some neat things to see.  Interestingly, American style malls are catching on in germany, and there was one there at Potsdamer Platz.  There are a few differences though – the design is much cooler than most malls I have been in (the entire ceiling and most walls are purely glass), and the store choices are different.  In most US malls, you have to go elsewhere if you want to buy groceries – here they had a Kaiser’s Supermarkt within the mall itself.  Also, the food court idea isn’t really done – most places to get food have their own small seating areas, instead of general public seats for any restaurant.

I got lunch quickly while I was there – a good sized piece of fresh bread with some veggies and coldcuts, all for 2 euros!  Food is so cheap here!  I stopped at the suermarkt and got a drink as well.

After that I headed over in the direction of the Berlin Philharmonic building.  I wasn’t going to that building in particular, but rather to the Music Instrument Museum that is located right next to it.  Inside they have a rather impressive collection of classical instruments, dating from the early baroque to modern synthesizers.  Included in which was a Stradivarius violin (Cremona, 1703):

Now I would consider myself pretty well versed in what instruments are out there in the classical world, but there were some here that I had never heard of before!  There was a type of harpsichord that used the damper system of a piano (unheard of in harpsichord making technique), a double piano (it had two keyboards!), and several other instruments that looked utterly bizarre (one of which is included below - and by bizarre, I mean I have no idea how to play them).

Overall, I was really impressed with the museum, the only annoying thing was that I couldn’t touch a single instrument!  It was very hard to resist the urge to play a few notes, but I held back.  The pics I took will have to suffice for now.


When I was done at the museum, I headed back to the apartment, practiced piano for a while, and went for a run soon after.  After I got cleaned up, I headed upstairs to the Thiermeiers for dinner.  Nina had a few friends over, so we hung out for a while.  They headed out later on, and I watched tv for a bit before heading to bed.

Day 8

The weather was a little better today than yesterday – not quite so much rain, still kinda chilly though (the temp hung around 50 all day, with a pretty steady breeze).  Mrs. Thiermeier and I went down to Potsdamer Platz again, but this time to check out the Unter den Linden area (near the Branderburger Gate – this time in East Berlin).  We took the S-Bahn (an over-ground transportation system) up to Potsdamer Platz and then walked the rest of the way to the Brandenburger Tor.  I had my camera today, so we took a slight detour so I could get a shot of the Reichstag.

After that we walked through the Brandenburger Tor, and checked out a mall that had a lot of car company showrooms inside (Volkswagen, Seat, Bentley, among a few others).  I was surprised at how many models of VW they have here that they don’t have in the US…the prices were much higher though.  One of the smaller VWs (about the size of the GTI), costs about 37,000 Euros, quite a bit more expensive than in the US.

After that we checked out Humboldt University and walked around the inside of the main building, (didn’t go to the rest of the campus).  I was surprised at how stark everything was inside, just bare walls and fixtures, all painted white. 

We didn’t stay to long at Humboldt.  We went out the back and walked down a side street, which put us near the Hedwig Cathedral.  That was quite pretty on the inside.  There was a large organ, and two levels of seating (on the main level, and some on the level below).  There were a few artifacts downstairs in the lower level as well (old bibles, Bishop’s regalia, communion cups made out of gold), which were quite cool.

After that we walked over to the Museuminsel (Museum Island), which is a small island located in the middle of a canal split in two in north east berlin.  There are 4 or 5 museums located on it, included among which is the Pergamonmuseum, which has quite a famous collection of Middle Eastern and Islamic Art.  We didn’t stay to check out the museum (it’s an all-day commitment), but got information about types of museum passes you can get.  All museums in Berlin cost money to get in, and there are different types of tickets you can buy – the one that I will eventually buy will be a 3-day ticket that gets me into all of the museums on the Museuminsel. 

We headed over to the Dom, which was truly breathtaking.  The interior was very ornately decorated, with paintings, stained glass, gold leaf, ornate wood work.  It had a really large organ on one side, and a very ornately  decorated altar on the other.

We also walked all the way up to the cupola of the dom, which gave really good panorama views of Berlin. 

We then walked over by the TV Tower on Alexander Platz and got some Döner for lunch.  Döner is a very popular food in berlin, I think Turkish in origin.  It’s basically a piece of naan with shaved meat (the place we went to used chicken and veal), a sauce (can be mild or spicy), roasted peppers, and other vegetables.  It’s served hot, but the veggies on it are added cold, a nice contrast when you eat it.

Finally it was getting late in the afternoon, so we decided to head back.  It was about 4pm by that point, so I decided to go for a run before dinner.  Dinner was also really tasty tonight – we had a chicken casserole with potatoes, cauliflower, cheese in a cream sauce, and a salad. 

After dinner I just watched some tv and sorted through the over 400 pics I took today…to be fair most of the pics was me taking the same shot 3 or 4 times – it was dark in most of the places I took photos, and I wanted to make sure each shot came out (i.e. shutter speed was very slow, which tends to blurring, as I had no tripod).

Day 7

Today was just a really dreary day.  It was cloudy, rained at times, and was cold.  I was going to go out at one point, but the plans got changed, and ended up staying in, getting caught up on this journal and getting in some more piano practice.  Dinner was great though - we had a vegetable dish similar to Ratatouille, some spiced meat, potatoes/French fries (they came out a bit crispier from the oven than intended), a cucumber salad with a vinaigrette dressing, and fruit for dessert.  After that we just watched the news for a while.  A lot is going on right now on tv, because the Bundespräsident of Germany just resigned today.

Day 6

Today we met some friends for brunch at a nice cafe in Kreuzberg (another district in Berlin, about 10 minutes driving, NE of Schöneberg).  We picked them up from their apartment (right across the street from Timo’s school) and then drove most of the rest of the way there.

About 5 blocks away from the cafe, the road was actually blocked off!  Apparently, today was the day of the Berlin Bicycle Marathon, which is either 60 or 120 km (I never got a definitive answer from anyone about how long it was).  So, we walked the rest of the way to the cafe after parking the car.

The cafe itself was about 2 blocks from a very popular park in Kreuzberg, where a lot of the youth in Berlin like to hang out (I’ll get to this in a bit).  I ended up ordering the “Spanish Breakfast”, which entailed a basket full of Brötchen (fresh made bread), and a plate with different cheeses, a bit of salami, and fruit.  I wasn’t exactly sure what made it “Spanish”…it seemed pretty german to me.  Regardless, it tasted great, I just thought the naming was kinda funny.

When we left the cafe, the riders in the marathon were actually passing by.  So we got to watch them go as they rode on.

A bit later, we walked over to the park I mentioned earlier.  Apparently, originally there used to be a lot of empty houses (empty after the second world war) there, which were taken over by a bunch of students back in the 60s.  Basically, the students just moved in, and refused to pay any kind of rent or for any utilities.  So to retaliate the city (not exactly sure who was behind it) had the houses demolished, and a park was put in instead.  Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera on me for that part, cause there was some cool stuff to see (art, sculptures, a circus, bridges over the Canal, political rallying areas, among other things).

The weather started to take a turn for the worst, so we headed back to the car (not quite in time though – we got rained on quite a bit on the way walking back), and drove home.  After that, I hung out in the apartment for a while, got some piano practice in, and took a nap.  That night we had dinner, and then went for our usual walk (this time up near Potsdamer Platz, and around the embassies).

Day 5

Today was quite a lot of fun.  In the morning, we drove to the stables where Nina keeps her horse, and helped get a stone wall built around one side of the jumping pin.  This involved first digging the rocks out from this massive pile of dirt, grass, and rocks.  The pile originally was just rocks, but since it had been sitting for 5 years, Nature kinda took its toll on it.  To dig them out, we had a large tractor that would shovel a scoopful of dirt out of the pile, and we would pull the loosened stones out of the dirt.

Then we loaded the brushed-off stones back into the shovel of the tractor, and the tractor carried them to the wall where other people put them in place to make the wall.  After the stones were put in place, they put more dirt in between the cracks to act as a sort of mortar.  On top, they planted little vine plants that will grow and hold the stones together as the wall settles.

It took about 2 hours to get the wall finished.  After that, they built another circular stone wall around a 30,000 L gas tank in the ground (essentially to protect it from the horses.  There were enough stones left over at the end that they decided to just make a 1.2m diameter fire ring in another part of the yard.  After we were done, Nina wanted to ride for a bit, so Mrs. Thiermeier and I walked around the town where the stables were located (which is about an hour north west of Berlin).

The town itself was really nice.  There was an old church with a beautiful organ inside (but they closed shortly after we got inside, so couldn’t stay long),

a tower with a stork nest on top,

an old Law School,

a lake,

among other really cool looking houses.

After heading back to Berlin, we actually went off to another place for dinner.  We had been invited by family friends of the Thiermeiers to attend a house-warming party for the daughter of the family they knew. 

The apartment itself was really nice – it had wood floors, high ceilings, and rather large rooms.  There were about 20 people there, all of them really friendly (they all knew the Thiermeiers as well).  There were a lot of hors d’oeuvres and desserts, and also there was the Eurovision singing contest on TV (if you’re not familiar, youtube it – it’s basically American idol, but where each contestant is an entire group, and each group is representing one of 25 countries in Europe) which we watched for a while.  It was pretty cool, Germany ended up winning!  I actually was rooting for Russia and Portugal, but Germany’s group was pretty good as well.

We stayed at the party till about 1:30, and then headed back.

Day 4

Today I slept in quite late, didn’t even get up till near noon (I guess I’m still not over my jetlag yet).

Last night when we were out walking, we passed a gym nearby to the apartment (about 5 minutes away).  Since I needed to go buy some groceries at a store near there today, I stopped in and had a look around.  The facilities there were all really top-of-the-line…they even had a juice bar on the first floor.  I talked to a representative from there about what it would cost to work out there (anticipating it being outrageously expensive) and found that it was actually quite affordable!  So was able to sign up for a two-month membership for what it would have cost to work out for 2 weeks at the gym near my house in NC.  Great Deal, I think.

Later this afternoon after going through some emails, I had a bit of down time, so I decided to try the gym out.  The equipment was all really nice.  They even had a place on every machine to insert kind of an electronic key that records all of your workout info (like amount or weight, reps, duration, what machines, etc), and as well you can program workout routines for the cardio machines into it.  Pretty cool.

Anyways, I couldn’t stay long, as I needed to be back at the Thiermeiers’ by 7:30.  Mrs. Thiermeier and I drove to the local Bauhaus (basically Home Depot or Lowe’s) to get some work gloves.  After that we came back, had dinner and went out for another walk, this time all within Schöneberg (the part of Berlin where I live), just showing me some more places and other stuff around.

Day 3

Today wasn't quite as busy as yesterday, which allowed me to get caught up on my sleep a little. Early afternoon Timo and I headed over to Ku'damm (short for Kurfürstendamm) to check out some of the sites and meet another friend for lunch.

Ku'damm is this giant shopping area (one of many in berlin), where you can find a mall within 500 feet in practically any direction. Also there is the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche (the memorial church for Kaiser Wilhelm), which is pretty cool to look at. Unfortunately, most of the church was destroyed during a bombing during WWII, and wasn't rebuilt. They still have one entryway and tower with original art inside that was preserved. Below is a picture of the tower.

After checking out the church for a bit we headed over to KaDeWe (pronounced "kah-day-vay", Kaufhaus des Westens - Department Store of the West) to meet up with Sam, one of Timo's friends from Berlin.  We ended up going to this great italian place not to far from KaDeWe for lunch.  Timo had to leave before too long (had a flight to catch), so Sam and I walked around Ku'damm for a while checking out the sights.

We eventually took the U-bahn (subway) back, and I had finally a little time to do some unpacking.  Later I had dinner with the Thiermeiers, and hung out at their place for a bit.  Mrs. Thiermeier, Nina (her daughter) and I went out walking later to show me more of the immediate area around the house.  This walk wasn't quite as long as our walk the first day (which went from our place at Goltzstrasse all the way to the Brandenburger Tor and the Bundestag/Reichstag and back, about 5km each way), but still covered quite a bit of ground.

Day 2

Today was even busier that yesterday!  I got up about 10 in the morning (felt like I still hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep), had breakfast (more rolls, cold cuts, preserves, juice, etc - amazingly delicious), and then met Timo at his school at 11:30.  I met him there, wanting to see what a german school looked like.  Turns out, they're really not that different.  The main difference is the physical footprint in the ground of the school is smaller (not as much lateral space in a big city), so the school is 5 stories high.  Below is a pic of one of the hallways.

After a quick tour of the school, Timo and I met up with his brother quickly, and then met up later with another friend Julian.  We ended up heading down one of the bigger roads in one of the shopping districts, and checked out things in a few stores.  Before too long we stopped and got a Currywurst (sausage with curry seasoning and a thick tomato sauce on top - a traditional Berlin food).  It was actually quite good...I'll have a have a few more while I'm here.

After that, we ended up heading to Julian's house and hung out there for a couple hours.  I discovered how bad I truly am at Foosball after loosing several games in a row.  Before too long it was dinner time, so we headed over to a Biergarten near the zoo and had pizza.  Soon after we walked over to Ku'damm with a few other friends for icecream.

It was quite a long day, covered several miles - and I'm still getting over jet lag.  But the apartment is really comfortable, and it looks like it's going to be a pretty amazing summer.