Berlin

After some equivocating, I ended up heading to Berlin for Memorial Day Weekend. I caught a ride there from Kaiserslautern on Saturday morning and arrived at my hostel around 5 PM. I hadn't realized it, but at some point I became much older than the majority of the Western European hostel set. If I had to guess, I'd say the median age was around 19 or 20. It wasn't like this in Eastern Europe, but I suppose that's because no one goes to Bulgaria for an epic post-high-school drinking trip (although they should, because the beaches are really nice and everything is super cheap.)

A museum that we siesta-ed in front of.

Berlin is a very cool city, though. It has a lot of the same appeal as New York, except that it's easier to get around, things are cheaper, and everyone speaks German. But, you know basically the same. There's a good culture scene, both highfalutin and underground, lots of concerts, cool monuments, walkable areas, a big central park, stores full of things I can't afford, warehouses that people have turned into lofts (with mixed results), interesting and varied nightlife, lots of international people, good food, and a lot of different neighborhoods whose names you can toss around to sound like a local.

A much-diminished Berlin Wall

On Sunday I rented bikes (only 10€!) with two new hostel friends and we spent the day cruising around to museums, seeing the city, and laying around in parks and along the river. Since one of them was Argentinian, we spent most of the time speaking Spanish. I'm awarding myself Bilingual Points for making a friend in a foreign country who I spoke to in a foreign language.

We saw the old Bauhaus workshop (the third one) and the Pergamon museum,

I was so, so excited to see this.

This is where IKEA furniture comes from.

On Friday we sort of gradually worked our way across town towards my train station. There were a bunch of really shiny buildings and a Turkish street fair. 

Turkish festival

Reflective buildings

Someone in Germany has a sense of humor! We've proved it!