Zicke Zacke, Zicke Zacke

Hoi, Hoi, Hoi!

Welcome to Germany. Berlin in particular... It's a big and varied country. These guys are nutjobs. Berlin is very much a modern city that makes its living as a tourist destination based off of exactly how nutty they were a century ago. They handle it today with their museums and monuments and memorabilia with the utmost taste though, I found it remarkable. The city doesn't draw me to live there, but as a historical landmark, don't miss it.

My first encounter with Germany was the train conductor that permitted me to board in Amsterdam. Most of our conversation was in Chinese, and I don't know any! He spoke in half a dozen languages, and I don't know if that display even exhausted his repertoire of polyglotism. While he rambled on about whatever, punching my ticket, I just smiled and laughed at what I could only take to be German humour. And he confirmed my notion that, yes, German is the funniest sounding language. That characteristic harshness and requisite yelling cracks me up. 

Berlin is the land of sausages. The schnitzel was fine, and I thought the spatzle (special preparation of egg noodles) was amazing, but I knew it would be, having had several knock off versions in America, always delicious. However one German laughed at me for thinking spatzle was German. No, it's Bavarian. How silly of me... And so, since spatzle doesn't count apparently, sausage it is! It's everywhere, and constantly dollar-dog-day if you know where to look.

Aside from the captions in my pictures below (need to streamline my posting process, just haven't had the time, and we definitely aren't slowing down, as we prepare for seven cities in two weeks through Greece and Italy), I had lot of fun in the German nightclubs, out till 7am one night. German techno clubs are tradition, couldn't leave without partaking. Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA (yes I know that's Swedish, not German, but it's all I could think about) 

Terrible impromptu dancing on museum island

Berliner Dom with the Fernsehturm poking up behind it

German Parliament

Brandenburg Gate

Holocaust Memorial

These cement blocks get gigantic, and the terrace rolls down slowly. It's a beautiful memorial, deceptively complex. A holocaust museum is hidden UNDERNEATH. 

Topology of Terrors monument, with a separate museum. Mostly describes the Nazis rise to power. Harrowing. 

Famous sign at Checkpoint Charlie, maintained since the rise of the Berlin Wall.

Monument for Otto von Bismarck

President's Palace

Victory Column (Siegessaule), the golden angel is striking

East Side Gallery, a portion of the Berlin Wall which still stands and is covered in legendary graffiti. Continues to get tagged today unfortunately

This is the only street artist whose work I would ever recognize.
Look up Blu and his stop-motion videos on YouTube.

The longest subway car I've ever seen

Neptune (Poseidon) and his trident at Alexanderplatz

BLEAARGGGHHH!

Surprise museum of Berlin: the Stasi Museum. Depicted are various commonplace items with cameras hidden inside. If they could do this in the '60s, who knows what's going on today. James Bond gadgets in real life. It isn't all fiction. 

Personal office of the head of the Stasi, Erich Mielke

The Stasi were a secret police agency set up in East (Soviet) Germany to spy on and suppress that population. 

Stasi service medals. Employees were treated very well. In combination with the Berlin Wall, the East Germans could not easily get into West Germany. 

See ya next time in Poland after an overnight bus. A very Happy Father's Day to my dad who is re-acclimating to life in Jersey. He taught me the only complete German sentence I know. And so I ask of you, Father:

Trinke Limonade mit mir? 

Ciao!