Friday
My 20th Birthday. What more need I say? I arrived in Berlin at 6:30 a.m. after a 7 hour bus ride from Copenhagen repetitively interrupted by climbing out onto the ferry, waking up for border control, and struggling to sleep on a bumpy bus. After checking in at my hostel I start to see the city. Yet everything was still closed, so I passed by the “Museuminsel”, an island of
museums including Parthenon museum. Next to the Reichstag, the German building of parliament and discover that I can travel up to the dome on the top of the building so I slip in line, wait behind what seemed like 100 French junior high schoolers and finally at the top saw a panoramic view of the city and read of the history of the building. Also, on the way up I passed by an Fire elevator with the inscription “LON-102-RL03” and found it coincidental that it had the first three letter of my last name, my initials, and my favorite number. Whoa…conspiracy theory?? Nah, just me being boring.
Next past the Kanzleramt building, see protest for environmental actions. Down to
Brandenburger Tor, this was somewhat disappointing as it seems merely a relic of the past. Walk through “Unter den Linden” and grab Nachos and a beer at an outdoor café. Continuing on I pass the Berliner Dom (cathedral), and hike along the river viewing the various bars and clubs, including one that actually made it’s own beach, full with cabanas and sun chairs. Upon returning to my hostel, I open the door to my room to find not only a Freiburger, but a friend of mine from Freiburg University. We hadn’t crossed paths in almost 2 months and now where do we run into one another but by staying in the same room in Berlin. So chat and again, nap for 4 hours until 7 p.m.
Waking up to find food (quite reminiscent of Copenhagen), I walk down Oranienburgerstrasse with restaurants lining the streets waiting for me to make my choice. I settle for one in Hackescher Mark and order a 32 inch pizza, read my book, and brush off the condescending waiter who implies I am miserable at German.
The whole point of rushing with dinner was to meet my friends back at my hostel to go out for my birthday with Jenna Duesterhoeft, Tom Dobberke, and their friends from their study abroad program (IES). We sit around the hostel for a while, then move on to Prenzlauerberg area, located in East Berlin and maintaining a low-cost appeal. But on the way we head to the tram and notice almost 150 people piling out of a bar as part of a pub crawl. Standing on the sidewalk we hear one of those pub crawlers shouting Jenna’s name and who does it turn out to be but an acquaintance from the Carlson School; Pat Gaddy the former President of Alpha Kappa Psi ran into us in Berlin.
We are out on the for a while. Jenna and I run out for a moment to get a Döner—an American’s substitute for late-night burritos. The night winds down at about 3 a.m., I walk back to the subway with Jenna and Tom and head home for what was a great 20th birthday.
My 20th Birthday. What more need I say? I arrived in Berlin at 6:30 a.m. after a 7 hour bus ride from Copenhagen repetitively interrupted by climbing out onto the ferry, waking up for border control, and struggling to sleep on a bumpy bus. After checking in at my hostel I start to see the city. Yet everything was still closed, so I passed by the “Museuminsel”, an island of
museums including Parthenon museum. Next to the Reichstag, the German building of parliament and discover that I can travel up to the dome on the top of the building so I slip in line, wait behind what seemed like 100 French junior high schoolers and finally at the top saw a panoramic view of the city and read of the history of the building. Also, on the way up I passed by an Fire elevator with the inscription “LON-102-RL03” and found it coincidental that it had the first three letter of my last name, my initials, and my favorite number. Whoa…conspiracy theory?? Nah, just me being boring.Next past the Kanzleramt building, see protest for environmental actions. Down to
Brandenburger Tor, this was somewhat disappointing as it seems merely a relic of the past. Walk through “Unter den Linden” and grab Nachos and a beer at an outdoor café. Continuing on I pass the Berliner Dom (cathedral), and hike along the river viewing the various bars and clubs, including one that actually made it’s own beach, full with cabanas and sun chairs. Upon returning to my hostel, I open the door to my room to find not only a Freiburger, but a friend of mine from Freiburg University. We hadn’t crossed paths in almost 2 months and now where do we run into one another but by staying in the same room in Berlin. So chat and again, nap for 4 hours until 7 p.m.Waking up to find food (quite reminiscent of Copenhagen), I walk down Oranienburgerstrasse with restaurants lining the streets waiting for me to make my choice. I settle for one in Hackescher Mark and order a 32 inch pizza, read my book, and brush off the condescending waiter who implies I am miserable at German.
The whole point of rushing with dinner was to meet my friends back at my hostel to go out for my birthday with Jenna Duesterhoeft, Tom Dobberke, and their friends from their study abroad program (IES). We sit around the hostel for a while, then move on to Prenzlauerberg area, located in East Berlin and maintaining a low-cost appeal. But on the way we head to the tram and notice almost 150 people piling out of a bar as part of a pub crawl. Standing on the sidewalk we hear one of those pub crawlers shouting Jenna’s name and who does it turn out to be but an acquaintance from the Carlson School; Pat Gaddy the former President of Alpha Kappa Psi ran into us in Berlin.
We are out on the for a while. Jenna and I run out for a moment to get a Döner—an American’s substitute for late-night burritos. The night winds down at about 3 a.m., I walk back to the subway with Jenna and Tom and head home for what was a great 20th birthday.
More on Berlin...
Later Days,
Rick
Rick
No comments:
Post a Comment