Ich bin ein Berliner

Well rested from a good nights sleep, we woke up on our first day in Berlin with an idea of what we were going to do, but no real plan. I think that that is and will be a theme for me on this five month excursion, no real plan. For the first time in my life I am embarking on a trip where there is no one making plans or preparations for me. Where I go, what I do, how I go about it...is completely up to me (and whoever I may be traveling with). There is a sense of independence around that idea and I am quite excited to fully embrace such freedom. That said, you cant exactly go into a foreign country or city with absolutely no idea what awaits, but you can go in with a flexible list of places, things, people, etc that you think might be fun or interesting. As the trip progresses you may stick to your ideas or you may stumble upon something new and unexpected....it is those unexpected tangents that I look forward to the most.

With some tips from the Ottos combined with some of our own ideas, over the next few days we took in many of Berlin's main attractions. We saw the Pergamon Museum and its exhibit on Babylon: Myth and Truth, the TV Tower (the tallest building in Berlin), the Berliner Dome, Alexander Platz, Hauptbanhoff (the main train station in Berlin that was built within the last four years), the Chancelory (the building where Angela Merckl works, affectionately called the "washing machine" by Thomas because of its appearence), the Reichstag (complete with a very informative session on the German government and how it works), Brandenburger Tor, the newly built Holocaust Memorial with its impressive and modern architecture, we biked through the Tiergarten (where you can find an old statue around every corner), Siegessaeule at the Grosser Stern (where Barack Obama recently gave a speech in front of a massive crowd), and finally Potsdam with all of its old and historic castles and sites. It was an action packed, historic, culture filled first part of the week.

For me though, the best parts of the week came at times where we were with some or all of the Ottos and taking the less touristy parts of Berlin. One night we drove from the Ottos house in the eastern neighborhood of Mahlsdorf into the countryside where there was another lake to swim in. It was again very secluded, but magnificent with cool, deep, and clean water and a spectacular setting in the German countryside. Another night we went with some of the Otto children to a "beach bar". My first experience at a European bar was not the expected German pub or techno rave, but a very relaxed, comfortable setting of a beach bar. With Bob Marley music playing in the background, a cheerful bartender, good friends and conversation, and sand between your toes, I coudnt ask for a better evening. On the way home we walked back to the train station along "the Wall"...usually bustling with tourists and posed pictures, but that evening it was quiet and mostly deserted...a very humbling experience. On another afternoon on our way home from Potsdam, Matthias took us to a "boat restaurant" located along one of the rivers running through Berlin. It had a very quiet, secluded, but charming atmosphere, as it was off the beaten path a bit. You could sip on your "hefe dunkel", or dark beer, and enjoy the serenity of the river (even if it was nothing more than a glorified canal). As the week went on there were all sorts of these moments, afternoons, evenings that occurred giving us a real sense of life in Berlin.