Berlin, Germany

Started off the day with free coffee from Kima. What a nice guy.

Fernsehturm (TV Tower)

Woke up late this morning, didn't get out til about 11am. The room I was supposed to move into wasn't ready yet, so I just threw my pack into the strorage room and hit the road. Went to the top of the TV Tower for 7 euros. I'll tell you, it's not worth it. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but spending 10 minutes up top, looking down on buildings sure wasn't it. You'd think I'd know better, since I've been scammed on the CN Tower (the biggest commie TV tower of them all) so many times before.

It was too foggy to see much beyond the base of the tower, even Tiergarten, I could only make out the eastern edge of.

As you can see from the pics, East German architecture is kind of strange. There aren't any spaces between the buildings. The go on for a while, turn the corner and keep on going. This forms something of a square, leaving an inner courtyard called a hof. Inside these hofs are stores, restaurants, galleries, or just parking.

I am really starting to take a shining to East Berlin. I actually feel ill at ease when I go into the Western part.

This it a bratwurst, and comes highly-recommended by almost anyone I ask. In the end, it was just a skinny, 2 euro sausage that didn't have a big enough bun. It was ok, but I didn't eat anymore throughout the remainder of my stay here.

These streetcars (or trams, as they call them here) are only found in former East Berlin. They used to run throughout the city before separation, but once the Berlin Wall came to be, the West tore up all their tram tracks and haven't relaid them since. Trams, along with good ol' Ampelmann are sure signs that you are in former East Berlin.

Prenzlauer Berg

According to my Lonely Planet guide, Prenzlauer Berg is the place to be now. So, I began my trek north to check out this hip little neighbourhood. Here's what I saw along the way:

After about 20 or 30 minutes of walking, I found myself on Kastanienalle, where all the trendy shops are supposed to be. I wasn't really planning on buying anything on this trip, but maybe this street will change things.

I stalked around for about an hour and wasn't really that impressed. The shops here were definitely different from the other places I've seen in the city, but didn't really compare with stuff I'd come across in Harajuku, Daikanyama or even Kensington Market back home.

I am a jelly-filled doughnut

I've been craving a doughnut for the past few days, but I usually don't like buying them outside of Canada, as they usually suck (American ones aren't bad, though). I had a few horrible experiences with doughnuts in Japan and promised myself never to stray again. But today, I was in dire need of one. So I walked into a pastry shop and picked up a Berliner (jelly-filled doughnut).

Hmm...not bad, not bad at all. I can see now why John F Kennedy proclaimed to be one, with his (in)famous quote "Ich bin ein Berliner!" (translation: I am a jelly-filled doughnut. Should have said "Ich bin Berliner." - or so the story goes. Some people say it's true, others say otherwise).

Haß Soße

So, to give credit where credit is due, I should probably tell you that the fantastic logo you see at HateSauce.com was not created by me. Rather, it was stolen from the Germans and made it superior (eyes made smaller, hair filled in), as seen in the photo below.

Coming across this thing, I understood how Homer felt in that episode where he finds his face on a Japanese commercial. Granted, this isn't an exact likeness of me, but it's closer than any other piece of grafitti I'd seen.

I sat around for a bit, took a few more photos, then headed back to the hostel to claim my new room and relax for a bit.

The new room is smaller than the old one, but I like it a lot better. The set up makes it easier for me to read at night and the desk is placed so that I don't have to keep readjusting my head position to see the light (the old room, the light was always behind me, so my shadow would always obscure whatever it was that I was looking at).

At this time, it's only about 3pm and the museums (specifically, I wanted to see the Pergamon Museum) aren't free until 6pm. So that leaves me with about 3 hours to read, write or just stare out the window. Or more likely, nap.

The Pergamon Museum

I tell you, you'd never be prepared for what awaits you in the first chamber. Even if you looked at all the photos I have here and listened to me explain at length, your breath would still catch in your throat, the moment you laid your eyes upon the Pergamon Altar.

My immediate thoughts went to my friend Ted. He'd love this place, it's full of Hellenic artifacts and testaments to the greatness of the Greek culture - he'd love it, until, like me, he realized that none of this stuff had any business being in Germany. It's both sad and angering that this was excavated from one land and brought to another, all in the interest of money.

I took a ton of photos here, but will only post a few. Despite what I said about this not belonging here, it was an incredible sight.

The Altar

Copied from a plaque, mounted on the wall.

Some artifacts (far-right is Turkish, not Greek)

A little taste of home

Had a hankering for some Chinese food afterwards and I just so happened to remember this place on Tor Strasse, near the hostel. I'm always a little sceptical about Chinese food where there isn't a large Chinese population, but whatever. It's called Neu Hong Kong Imbiss (New Hong Kong Eatery), so how far off could it be?

I looked in the window and there were two Chinese people behind the counter. This is a good start. I went in and spoke to them in Cantonese. The other customer in there was German and gave me a small smile.

Turns out the owners are Hakka who had been here for 20 years. The man spoke Cantonese, but his wife didn't. She kept speaking to me in Mandarin. We went through the usual questions: Where are you from? What are you doing here? etc.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the beef brisket noodle soup I wanted, nor did they have the bbq pork and rice. Said it didn't go over well with local tastes. But they did have wonton noodle soup, which was something I hadn't had in a while either.

10 minutes later, I was shovelling this into my mouth.

Again, not bad, but nothing like what I'd get back home.

I said my goodbyes to them and thanked them for the meal (even though I paid for it). They told me to stop in again to say hello, but I never did.