Steve and I purchased metro day passes, figuring we needed to get out of the city center and see some places farther away from the touristy section. We started with breakfast at a little 24 hour "diner" on the west side of Berlin. I put the word diner in quotation marks because this place was not your typical American greasy spoon kind of diner. Case in point:
This was the first time since we arrived in Berlin where we couldn't finish our food. We have noticed that the portion sizes served at the restaurants here have all been smaller than what you'd typically get in the States. But not at this place. It was wholesome, hearty, and completely delicious.
We then took the U-Bahn over to the East Side Gallery, which is that famous stretch of the Berlin Wall that artists from all over the world have painted. Here are a few of our favorites:
At 1.3 kilometers (or close to a mile), it is the longest standing stretch of the Berlin Wall, though it was technically part of the inner Wall and not visible from West Berlin. (The longest strip of outer Wall still standing in its original location is at the Topography of Terrors exhibit.) The East Side Gallery runs along the river Spree, and once we finished walking by all the beautiful artwork, we found ourselves quite far from the U-Bahn station and caught in a little bit of drizzle. Rather than walk the 3/4+ of a mile back to the metro station we got off at, we instead wandered around Berlin's east side for three hours. East Berlin, from what we saw, is its less affluent section. The apartments aren't quite as nice as the area we were staying in, and there were a lot more ethnic neighborhoods. There were a lot of Asian and Middle Eastern people, restaurants, and markets in the area we explored, whereas the section we were staying in was predominantly Germans (or tourists). We also passed by a big park where a jazz band was playing and people running around on stilts...?!
Eventually we saw an S-Bahn line and basically followed it along the road until we came across a station and hopped on. It was about dinner time, so we took the metro to an area that Peter (the apartment owner) had suggested, as it had lots of resturants and bars. We found a Thai food place (it seriously weirds me out that there are practically no German restaurants here!) and had dinner before heading home.
Our night concluded with a visit to the Reichstag, or Bundestag, which is the German Parliament building. Visiting the Reichstag is free, but due to a recent terrorist threat, visitors must register online for a visitation slot. Luckily, when I went online on Thursday night, there were slots available for Saturday night, which was our last night in Berlin. We were especially happy because we were told that usually it takes at least three business days, sometimes up to a week or more.
The Reichstag is a beautiful building, and on top there is a giant glass dome with a walkway that winds up over the top. This is where the visitors go. The ceiling of the building itself is made of glass, so anyone walking in the dome above can look down into the debating chambers. We were told during our walking tour on our first day in Berlin that parliament members are encouraged to look up, when in session, so that they never forget who they are working for: the people.
It was a crisp walk back, hand in hand. We stopped to admire the Brandenburg Gate, which was lit up at night. It was one of the most beautiful, majestic things I have ever seen, and although no picture could ever do it justice, here's one anyway.
We get about a hundred yards from the apartment doorstep when Steve realizes he doesn't have the keys.
Mild panic attack ensues.
Our best guess is that they had fallen out of his pocket when he laid down on the lawn in front of the Reichstag to take a picture. We practically run back to the Reichstag, hoping that the group of kids who were sitting on the lawn chatting were still there so we could use them as a reference point, since we had taken pictures close to where they sat. Thankfully, they were, so we start an attempt at a search in the light of the Reichstag. I'm just looking around wildly, when one of the girls in the group says something loudly to us.
She says one of the few words Steve knows in German, and that is enough.
Schusslen...?
This means keys.
THANK GOD FOR THOSE KIDS! Not kids, really; more like teens. Whatever they are, I love them.
Whewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
I need to remember to add "Have you seen my keys?" to my list of useful phrases to learn before visiting a foreign country. The bathroom I can find on my own; a set of keys that has been lost is a whole different story.
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