Over winter break this year, I visited my friend, David, in Berlin, Germany. He lives there with his family. Me, Devon, Mitchell, and Kennis went to go see him. (I feel like a first grader typing those last few sentences, but whatever, it gets the point across.)
January 2, 2011
Let's start this thing the night of January 1. I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. I guess this is what jet lag will be like, maybe. Great. I haven't even left and I'm already feeling it. Well, I fell asleep only to be woken up from a nightmare about those stupid aliens from Independence Day, which I had watched with my family the night before. In the dream, those dumb things were hiding under my bed just waiting for the perfect moment to catch and eat me. When I woke up, I contemplated getting in bed with my parents, but two reasons stopped me. 1. I'm 20 years old and I should be able to realize that there are not, in fact, purple aliens under my bed. I am leaving for Germany in two days - I don't think David's parents would appreciate me climbing into bed with them. I just need to man up. 2. I was too lazy to get out of bed. So I fell back asleep.
7:15 came way too early, especially since I had wild and crazy dreams. Nothing too exciting happened on the car ride to the train station (Mitchell and I were riding the train to Devon’s house since our flight was out of DC and Devon lives there). Side note: we really need a new GPS since the death of Jane, our old, deceiving GPS. I was proud of my dad for pulling over and asking for directions. The train station was SO GHETTO. I was kind of scared for my life, especially when I saw the train. I was expecting some fancy bullet train, but no. It looked more like a rusty tube. I found Mitchell, and we entered the train of death.
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| I got a picture of the stinky lady! Or at least her fro. |
I’m on the train now. I keep getting alternating whiffs of body odor and cherry cough drops. I’m pretty sure it’s the large woman in front of me who can’t get comfortable so my tray-table thing keeps moving. A combination of that and the unsteadiness of the train is making me a bit nauseated. What I thought was a barf bag in front of me was actually a passenger safety instructions booklet. This could be a problem. Ok, well I’m going back to Mitchell’s power woman playlist. I’m not really sure why Oops I Did it Again is on it. Mitchell says it screams more “I’m a slut” than “I’m a powerful woman.” I agree.
Devon picked us up from the train station with Justin (Justin didn’t go with us, he just lives in the area and wanted to hang out with us. I mean really, who blames him?). We played Just Dance 2, and Devon was pretty good. I should have practiced more...oh well. That night, we watched Miss Congeniality and Inception. I was really freaked out, so when it was over we watched an episode of Scrubs. It settled me a little, but I still had scary Inception dreams...or were they?Ok, so all of the other entries are not this long. And I didn't write about the last two days, but it was mostly traveling so it doesn't really matter.
January 3, 2011
Target run - we wanted to get snacks for the plane ride. Unfortunately for me, I had eaten a rather large breakfast and was disgusted by the thought of food. I settled on rice cakes and gum. Shoot...I think I left that at Devon’s house (I’m on the plane now).
At the airport, Mitchell and I escaped the naked security pictures, but Devon wasn’t as fortunate. For the added cherry on top, he also got the pat down. Awesome. After we got through security, we called Kennis (she was flying out of Boston and would just meet us in Berlin). She was still packing. I hope she didn’t miss her flight. Right as I got off the phone, this crazy lady got us to take a survey. She told Devon that he was a trouble maker. He told her that the club couldn’t handle us right now.I'm not sure if this next entry was on January 3 or January 4. There was a time change somewhere in the mix. I think it was January 4th, oh well. Just be aware that at some point in the next section is the switch between January 3 and January 4.
On the plane...What’s up with the people sitting in front of me and not being able to sit still? The complementary eye patch and ear plugs were very nice. I probably got 2-3 hours of sleep, but with the time change you never know. When I woke up, I watched Toy Story 3. Everyone who ever told me about that movie said they cried. I did not cry. Maybe it was because I was angry that Devon kept poking me with his jacket sleeve while I was trying to sleep. He swears it wasn’t intentional, but I don’t believe him.
Paris finally came into view. It was quite foggy, so we decided that it was steam since Paris is the city of love. The airport was so sketchy. Devon spotted a vampire by his pasty-like skin. I was too tired to notice.
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| L-R: Kennis, Me, Mitchell, Devon, David |
David picked us up at the airport. I saw a lot of suitcases wrapped in Saran wrap...interesting (P.S. I found my gum). We rode the bus back to his apartment, ate lunch (rolls, cheese, jams, cookie butter) and then took a long nap until Kennis arrived. We explored some parks and the fairy tale fountain. Kennis was the first to fall. Whoever is next is a mystery to us, but everyone is slipping. We had spaghetti for dinner, which was good. Bedtime (or rather, anti-bedtime): 10 pm Berlin time, 4 pm US time.
January 5, 2011
Berlin Wall - The first part I saw was not what I was expecting. It was just a tall concrete slab, not what you see in pictures. Aka the East Side Gallery. That was so cool! Artists from all over were invited to paint on the wall. Some of the paintings made me uncomfortable, but overall it was a good experience.
For lunch we had currywurst. I decided it would have been better without the curry. I also had fries, a Fanta, and saw lots of fat pigeons. After lunch, we crossed the street. Some guy revved his engine at Mitchell. As he drove away, we saw him laughing. It was kind of funny.
Jewish Museum - The lady at the front gave us the student discount even though we all forgot our student ids. That was nice of her. There was this tunnel that ended up on the inside of a Levi’s exhibit. Devon and I sat there for a while. This one guy took a picture of the exhibit, but I don’t think he realized that we were there. Oops. There was this computer where we could leave comments, so Devon left the comment “hide yo kids hide yo wife”. I said that I wished they had more escalators. We didn’t know that they’d be displayed on the scrolling sign through the lobby area. I found a 10 cent Polish coin on the ground at security.
Brandenburg Gate (right) - The light up trees were so pretty (left)! We saw the baby dangle hotel (Michael Jackson stayed there, if that helps anyone figure where we got the name from). We rode on a double decker bus, which was cool.
January 6, 2011
Old National Gallery - lots of awesome paintings. My favorite was probably the still life of the fruit and the glass where you could see the reflection of the artist. I felt like the security guards were stalking me. There was a painting there that reminded me of the little boy in Shrek 4 who always said “Do the roar!”
For lunch, we went to Dömer. We had gyros; I wasn’t very impressed. They made my breath stink, which was unfortunate since I was wearing a scarf over my face. I smelt every burp.
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| The Berlin Cathedral/Dome |
We went to David’s friend, Franz's, house for dinner. We had a traditional German meal: sauerkraut and ground beef, which was so spicy. We had cheesecake for dessert, and later on, they brought out apple vanilla chocolate, which was so good! On our way back to David’s, this car drove through a puddle and splashed us. You’d think things like that would only happen in the movies. Nope.January 7, 2011
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| Contemplating the meaning of this piece. We decided it was a box of masculinity, souring the light of opportunity for women everywhere. Photo cred: Devon |
We went to the bakery directly beneath David’s apartment to get bread for sandwiches (it was cheaper than going out for every meal, and SO GOOD). We went to this crazy modern art museum - Hamburger-Banhof. We saw light bulbs stuck into lemons, suits made from drier lint, guitar hero to scary music, and a woman screaming randomly in agony.
After that adventure, we went to Gemäede Gallery. There were so many paintings and lots of them looked the same. There were lots of naked baby Jesus pictures, and even a scandalous cupid painting. After that, we went to the Old National Gallery, where we saw sassy paintings and paintings that looked kind of like Mitchell.
That night, we had microwavable pizza. After dinner, we went out for drinks with David’s friends. I had something with rum in it. I decided it was disgusting, so I ordered something else with tequila, which I also thought was gross. I didn’t finish either. Better luck next time, I guess.
January 8, 2011
Today we went to Dresden, Germany. It was about a 3ish hour train ride. Fun fact: train toilets dump out on the tracks. Yuck. Next time you’re walking around on rail road tracks...yeah. But anyways, Dresden is such a cool place! We wandered around the streets pretty much all day. Later in the day, Kennis and I went to a sculpture museum while the boys went to the armor and gun museum. Kennis and I, probably because we’re women/directionally challenged, couldn’t find the museum. Actually it had more to do with the fact that neither one of us spoke German so we couldn’t easily ask for directions. We walked into this building we thought was the sculpture museum, and were bombarded by hundreds of Asian men, women, and children. It ended up not being the sculpture museum. It was an oriental porcelain museum (lol). Eventually, we were big girls and found the right place. We were taking pictures and the security guard walked over to us and spoke to us in German. I guess he meant no taking pictures, but we did anyways.
Dinner was super good! I got Hühnergeschnitzel and Erdinger Hefeweizen dunkel. It was some kind of chicken and noodles and it was delicious. And then some kind of beer, which was pretty good, but there was a lot of it in one glass, haha.
On the train ride back, there was this lady who looked like the president of our college (a man). Devon and I tried to sneakily take her picture. We’re so creepy, I love it.
January 9, 2011
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| I had fox fur around my face for a beard. |
We went to church. It was in German, but they had translator headphones so it was ok. For lunch, we went to an Arabic place. I got a schawarma sandwich. It was kind of like chicken and it was pretty good. After lunch, we went to the arts and crafts street. Kennis got a painting. Then, we went to the flea market where Kennis and I haggled this fur hat from 30 euros to 15. It's probably because we're cute.
For dinner, we went to a pasta bar, which was sweet. I had pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce and sparkling white wine. I felt extremely classy. Mitchell and Devon went to a concert, so me, Kennis, David, and David's sister went back to the apartment. We played dress up in David’s mom’s furs, which was so good. PETA would hate us.You can definitely tell the posts I wrote when I was exhausted...get over it.
January 10, 2011
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| Silly ducks that followed us around when we got our sandwiches out |
We rode the train to Postdam. I sat next to a really cute guy. I hope I wasn’t drooling while I was asleep beside of him. Oh well. We met up with Franz (he goes to school in Potsdam, so he showed us around). We wandered around the city for a bit, and ended up at this one guy’s summer palace. I want one. We fed the ducks, which was funny because they kept slipping on the ice.
We went to this cafe, and I ordered some Mexican thing, which was basically a chocolate latte. It was delicious. They had anime wall paper in the bathroom. We were told that the anime in the boy’s bathroom was scandalous. The toilets were extremely tall. Going to the bathroom in Postdam was definitely an interesting experience.
January 11, 2011
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| So scandy. |
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| Children with mustaches..? Photo cred: Devon |
Mitchell wasn’t feeling well when he woke up, so he didn’t go with us in the morning. We went to the Gallery Lafaette, which is a huge department store. There was so much sass inside. Everything was so expensive. There were mustaches on the children mannequins, which I found to be a little strange. Then we went to Checkpoint Charlie, which was so fascinating. The museum there showed lots of ways the people got over the wall; some dug tunnels, some hid in cars, some rode in hot air balloons, etc. There were lots of students there, probably about 11th grade. Some were making out in the corner. There was an interesting “party police” van outside...hm.
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| Us in front of the Parliament building. Note the lawn of ice! |
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| Walking through the Holocaust Memorial |
We went to the Holocaust memorial (left), which was very sad. It was cloudy, so it looked super gloomy.
We met up with Mitchell and wanted to go to the Parliament building (right), but it was closed to visitors for security purposes (they should call the party police). The lawn in front of the building was a sheet of ice. We decided that if anyone wanted to rob Parliament, they’d have to bring ice skates to escape.This is the point in our trip where I stopped journaling, I'll try to remember all that happened, but no promises.
The last day, we went to the Pergamon Museum, which was pretty cool. Interesting story that happened while we were on our way...
So we wanted to throw chunks of ice at the ducks. Little did I know, the mitten that David let me borrow would soar into the river as I was tossing a frozen sheet at an unsuspecting victim...
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| "I'm so sorry, David, I'll buy you a new pair!" |
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| What was I thinking? I didn't have the money to do that! I'm a poor college kid. I'll just go down this flight of conveniently located stairs to try and get it. Maybe I'll get lucky and the mitten will float close enough to the dock so I can reach it. Let's just hope I don't get arrested for trespassing... |
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| Almost...just a little farther... |
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| Success! Look how happy I was, the face of pure joy. Glove montage photo cred: Devon |
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| Alexandar Platz...all hail. Or else. |
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| You can't tell from the picture quality, but this painting is SO detailed, it's amazing. |
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| Look how sassy Jesus is in this painting. I can just hear him saying, "Now look here..." |
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| Kennis likes art. Ok maybe not this one... |
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| They sure do paint a lot of fat guys. |
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| Charlie Sheen, anyone? |
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| Mitchell's portrait that currently hangs above his fireplace. Ok not really, but I could see it. |
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| Dresden! |
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| Little known fact: In Germany, Snow White is the most successful and feared mob boss. |
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| This is so lolzy, we saw this bumper sticker on more than one occasion. |
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| I love Berlin! |
