This I did contribute to the planning: I looked up where the best doners in Berlin were, and then we went there. Turns out several websites seemed to agree on Mustafa's Gemüsekebap at Mehringdamm 32, which was kinda close to where we eventually wanted to wander. And indeed, the doners were good! Their rotating meat spit was the largest I’d ever seen, the veggies were very fresh, and the meat was excellent. Hooray, internet!
From that somewhat odd breakfast we visited Checkpoint Charlie, a huge labyrinthian museum full of historical articles and items about the Berlin Wall. It seemed very poorly organized but the material was interesting; I hadn’t known much about it at all before I visited, so it seemed fitting. Apparently even the East German crossing outline guys are different.
We had also intended to go to the very ugly TV Tower, but its restaurant was closed for renovations and the lift was expensive. Instead, we hit the Berliner Dom, a gigantic cathedral with, interestingly, the original architect scale models and some other history which was fun to read about (when we could find the English translations). They also had a walkway at the top, a great view if you could stand all the stairs!
I had also heard from the internet (and Theresa) that the KaDeWe, or the largest mall in Berlin, was actually quite cool. Specifically it was in context of having chocolate cake, so we were of course game. Turns out this is the fanciest mall I’ve ever been to, and floor six is exclusively for food. A place the size of two Giant Eagles hawking the fanciest, most gourmet food you’ve ever seen! IT WAS THE SHIZ. There were no fewer than three counters with complicated baked goods, plus huge sections for cheese, dairy, soups, frozen waterfowl, canned things, breads, liquors, strange meats, and a whole prepared food plaza. Plus I’m surely leaving things out. My favorite section, other than ALL OF IT, was the Ridiculously Overpriced American Things section. For 8E (let’s call it $10.50), you could buy one of the following: one jar of Jif, 16 fl oz of Karo syrup, one Betty Crocker warm delights package, or six Pop-tarts. A stupendous, hilarious markup! Needless to say, we spent, um, a lot of time – almost three hours! – there, just walking around gawking at all the weird stuff they had. I personally purchased pork chips and a single pickle in a can, hahhaha. I’ve never had this much fun in a single floor of the mall, ever.
(click through - it's worth seeing those larger!)
We attempted to leave the mall, thinking it was lame to spend so much time there, and did walk up the Ku’damm shopping avenue. This was also fancy, and had no fewer than three H&Ms in a five-block radius (or so it seemed). We passed the Kaiser Wilhem Memorial Church, which was supposed to be a bombed-out symbol of strife but was under renovation so we just saw the new blue-tiled building instead (which is also cool). There was also a two-floor Lego store we spent some time in. Eventually, however, we started to get a bit hungry, but didn’t really find anywhere we wanted to go. So…back to the KaDeWe it was! Except all the prepared food places were closing up, whoops! We hastily grabbed a fancy bread loaf called “pain au lard” which we figured would be good, then hustled across the street to a plainer (ie cheaper) supermarket for salad fixings. This supermarket also had a suction tube system much like you put your change in at bank drive-thrus, except it was for Coke bottles! Neat.
Anyway we grabbed our prizes and headed back to the hotel, picking up some wine along the way. Luckily we had a kitchen and a bunch of basics at our disposal – knives, salt, pepper, plates, glasses – which was really nice. The best surprise was when we cut into the bread we’d bought – turns out it had little pieces of bacon baked in, which was AWESOME. With this fancy dinner, we played some cards and planned our Hamburg train and hostel. Great day.
From that somewhat odd breakfast we visited Checkpoint Charlie, a huge labyrinthian museum full of historical articles and items about the Berlin Wall. It seemed very poorly organized but the material was interesting; I hadn’t known much about it at all before I visited, so it seemed fitting. Apparently even the East German crossing outline guys are different.
We had also intended to go to the very ugly TV Tower, but its restaurant was closed for renovations and the lift was expensive. Instead, we hit the Berliner Dom, a gigantic cathedral with, interestingly, the original architect scale models and some other history which was fun to read about (when we could find the English translations). They also had a walkway at the top, a great view if you could stand all the stairs!
I had also heard from the internet (and Theresa) that the KaDeWe, or the largest mall in Berlin, was actually quite cool. Specifically it was in context of having chocolate cake, so we were of course game. Turns out this is the fanciest mall I’ve ever been to, and floor six is exclusively for food. A place the size of two Giant Eagles hawking the fanciest, most gourmet food you’ve ever seen! IT WAS THE SHIZ. There were no fewer than three counters with complicated baked goods, plus huge sections for cheese, dairy, soups, frozen waterfowl, canned things, breads, liquors, strange meats, and a whole prepared food plaza. Plus I’m surely leaving things out. My favorite section, other than ALL OF IT, was the Ridiculously Overpriced American Things section. For 8E (let’s call it $10.50), you could buy one of the following: one jar of Jif, 16 fl oz of Karo syrup, one Betty Crocker warm delights package, or six Pop-tarts. A stupendous, hilarious markup! Needless to say, we spent, um, a lot of time – almost three hours! – there, just walking around gawking at all the weird stuff they had. I personally purchased pork chips and a single pickle in a can, hahhaha. I’ve never had this much fun in a single floor of the mall, ever.
(click through - it's worth seeing those larger!)
We attempted to leave the mall, thinking it was lame to spend so much time there, and did walk up the Ku’damm shopping avenue. This was also fancy, and had no fewer than three H&Ms in a five-block radius (or so it seemed). We passed the Kaiser Wilhem Memorial Church, which was supposed to be a bombed-out symbol of strife but was under renovation so we just saw the new blue-tiled building instead (which is also cool). There was also a two-floor Lego store we spent some time in. Eventually, however, we started to get a bit hungry, but didn’t really find anywhere we wanted to go. So…back to the KaDeWe it was! Except all the prepared food places were closing up, whoops! We hastily grabbed a fancy bread loaf called “pain au lard” which we figured would be good, then hustled across the street to a plainer (ie cheaper) supermarket for salad fixings. This supermarket also had a suction tube system much like you put your change in at bank drive-thrus, except it was for Coke bottles! Neat.
Anyway we grabbed our prizes and headed back to the hotel, picking up some wine along the way. Luckily we had a kitchen and a bunch of basics at our disposal – knives, salt, pepper, plates, glasses – which was really nice. The best surprise was when we cut into the bread we’d bought – turns out it had little pieces of bacon baked in, which was AWESOME. With this fancy dinner, we played some cards and planned our Hamburg train and hostel. Great day.
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