We woke up a littler earlier than we had intended, given our late (and awesome!) night before, but my friend Theresa had called so that was okay. Theresa had been a German exchange student at CMU in my research group two years before, and I’d also gone to NYC to tour it with her family. She said then that if I ever found myself in Germany she’d show me around – I hadn’t thought then that it’d be so soon! We planned to meet at Museum Island, which is a little bit of land where a ton of museums are in Berlin.
It was too late to hit the big Mauerpark flea market as we’d planned, but was enough time to just head out and see where we could have brunch. Brunch is apparently a big thing in Berlin, and we picked the Einstein café on a fancy street – expensive, but got tons of bread, jam, a super rich hot chocolate, and a huge “farmer’s omelette” with tons of potatoes, bacon and cheese. We had also initially ordered “eggs in glass” just to see what would come, but she forgot – which was fine, because we were super full. Noms!!
It was a beautifully sunny day in Berlin, uncharacteristic and totally lovely. We met Theresa and her friend and toured the Pergamon Museum, which we were told was the best. It had a TON of stuff from the Athens Acropolis, including a painting of how it would have looked at the time and a full-size recreation of the temple, which was neat. There was a lot of Islamic and Egyptian art as well. It was smaller than expected but still impressive.
Afterwards we grabbed a coffee and chatted with the girls. We got to ride in Theresa’s bright yellow Bug as they gave us a driving tour of the city, past some towers and memorials we wouldn’t have seen, and then it was time for our 5pm appointment at the Reichstag. You have to have reservations for the Reichstag because it’s the seat of the German Parliament – and they background check you! Or so I’m told. For once, I did almost zero planning and Peter did it all, which felt awesome, hehe. Anyway, he had timed it perfectly for catching the sunset, which was perhaps the first time we saw the sun do anything interesting during the trip! I was obliged to take a ton of pictures, of course. It really is a neat building, with a spiral walkway up to the sky, and the fact that they reuse the rainwater it collects and use green techniques to heat and cool the building makes it even more awesome.
After the sun was sufficiently set (Peter said we weren’t allowed to leave before then, haha), we caught back up with Theresa to say goodbye. They very kindly dropped us off at Potsdam Platz, a neat plaza enclosed by a kind of fan design that changes colors. They also recommended that we get dinner at Vapiano, which is a chain but it also strives to serve fresh food. You get a card upon entering and they swipe it at the different food and drink booths, and then you pay on the way out. The pizza was awesome and the décor of the place was extremely neat for a chain. I love recommendations!
It was too late to hit the big Mauerpark flea market as we’d planned, but was enough time to just head out and see where we could have brunch. Brunch is apparently a big thing in Berlin, and we picked the Einstein café on a fancy street – expensive, but got tons of bread, jam, a super rich hot chocolate, and a huge “farmer’s omelette” with tons of potatoes, bacon and cheese. We had also initially ordered “eggs in glass” just to see what would come, but she forgot – which was fine, because we were super full. Noms!!
It was a beautifully sunny day in Berlin, uncharacteristic and totally lovely. We met Theresa and her friend and toured the Pergamon Museum, which we were told was the best. It had a TON of stuff from the Athens Acropolis, including a painting of how it would have looked at the time and a full-size recreation of the temple, which was neat. There was a lot of Islamic and Egyptian art as well. It was smaller than expected but still impressive.
Afterwards we grabbed a coffee and chatted with the girls. We got to ride in Theresa’s bright yellow Bug as they gave us a driving tour of the city, past some towers and memorials we wouldn’t have seen, and then it was time for our 5pm appointment at the Reichstag. You have to have reservations for the Reichstag because it’s the seat of the German Parliament – and they background check you! Or so I’m told. For once, I did almost zero planning and Peter did it all, which felt awesome, hehe. Anyway, he had timed it perfectly for catching the sunset, which was perhaps the first time we saw the sun do anything interesting during the trip! I was obliged to take a ton of pictures, of course. It really is a neat building, with a spiral walkway up to the sky, and the fact that they reuse the rainwater it collects and use green techniques to heat and cool the building makes it even more awesome.
After the sun was sufficiently set (Peter said we weren’t allowed to leave before then, haha), we caught back up with Theresa to say goodbye. They very kindly dropped us off at Potsdam Platz, a neat plaza enclosed by a kind of fan design that changes colors. They also recommended that we get dinner at Vapiano, which is a chain but it also strives to serve fresh food. You get a card upon entering and they swipe it at the different food and drink booths, and then you pay on the way out. The pizza was awesome and the décor of the place was extremely neat for a chain. I love recommendations!
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