Our First Evening.

I would first like to start by saying that I have no idea how to work Blogger anymore, because the iPad app homepage has automatically changed to German and I can barely read anything. Oh, well... Maybe this will force me to pick up on the language.

Steve and I are renting a room in an apartment a couple blocks away from one of Berlin's major sights, the Brandenburg Gate, which we will see tomorrow.

The owner of the apartment is a German guy named Peter who is probably a few years older than we are. He gave us some recommendations for good places to hang out, eat, etc, and we will probably take him up on his advice in the next couple days, but for our first night we wanted to do something low-key. We had basically been awake all night long and justed wanted some fresh air and a good meal before going to sleep in a real bed for the first time in close to a week (as we had been sleeping on couches and sofabeds, which are most definitely not real beds). So we took a little walk in search of something nearby that looked good.

Oddly enough, most of the restaurants we saw were either some kind of Asian (Chinese, Indian, Japanese, even a Vietnamese place which got Steve excited because they probably have pho) or an Italian pizzeria. Before the trip, I did read that Berlin is more of an international food hub and doesn't identify much with the typical German cuisine, which is mostly Bavarian (brats, schnitzel, pretzels, etc), but the reality of it was astonishing. Even getting from the airport via bus, which took us through many a neighborhood, we hardly saw any German restaurants at all.

We walked about a block from our apartment and came across a little place called - and going here was a very, VERY touristy thing to do - Berliner Bistro. They had a chalkboard menu outside advertising burgers and the famous Berliner currywurst (which is just about the only thing I've found to be the specialty food of Berlin). Steve ordered a bratwurst and I ordered the currywurst, and we both ordered a beer.

I have heard that at Oktoberfest, beers are only served in liters, which means I have to drink TWO of these beers, which are both half liters. Oh goodness.

After a tasty meal in which Steve and I basically ordered everything with Berlin in the name, we walked further down the road to the coolest thing I have ever seen.

This wonder-maze actually ended up being The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. More on that tomorrow.