round 6: Berlin!

Berlin is one of those cities that makes our friends (and ourselves, now...!) excited, whenever it's mentioned. It's big, it's bustling, it's modern, it's full of good food, its history is fascinating (albeit dark), and its museums are first-rate. My first brush with Berlin, however, was not so shiny: it was December, I was by myself (on my epic solo backpacking trip, having [very, very sadly] missed a rendezvous there with some friends who'd forgotten what time we'd planned to meet), it was my birthday weekend, the Pergamon Museum was closed, and the only hostel I could get into was in a sketchy part of town. My first night there was cold and lonely and shared (in a giant, cheap room) with about 20 other people, all of whom decided to come and go through the constantly slamming door at all hours of the night. Not. Fun. The next day being my actual birthday, I splurged and booked myself a night in a one-star hotel (complete with shared bathroom), and it turned out to be infinitely nicer than I imagined. I sat on the bed and ate gummi bears and watched C-SPAN (which was the only English channel on TV, and during the infamous "hanging chad" incident, no less! the excitement was palpable!) and felt much better. I went to the aquarium, saw the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church purely by accident, visited Checkpoint Charlie and the East Side Gallery, did a little window shopping, and capped off the day with a giant blueberry sundae. Day 2 in Berlin had been a vast improvement over Day 1, but that was my only brush with the city until last month, with Mike and my parents. And now I can say that I get it. What a fantastic place.

We rolled into the city with just enough time to check into our funky little black-and-white hotel in Charlottenburg, then set out to find dinner. Having eaten enough German food for a while, we settled on Nu, a bustling Asian fusian restaurant just a few minutes away. The place was ridiculously crowded, but they got us right in, and, despite rather slow (although pleasant) service, we had a great meal. Mike and I started with an app platter of tuna skewers, vegetarian spring rolls, deep-fried beef rolls, shrimp won tons, and shrimp and sweet potato tempura; Dad went for the cauldron of shrimp, coconut milk, lemongrass, and onion soup; and Mom had a giant breaded, fried prawn. (A solid start, for all of us.) My entree was wok-fried veggies and chicken with lemongrass and oyster-chili-soy sauce; Mike had the pad thai with shrimp (...surprise!); Mom went for beef in ginger-lemongrass sauce with veggies and cashews; and Dad ate what I believe was an entire crispy duck in honey-sesame-chili-malt sauce with veggies and cashews. (Or at least, it seemed like a whole duck. THERE WAS LOTS OF DUCK.) Yum, yum, yum. Well worth the trend-of-the-minute atmosphere.

Our first full day in Berlin started with breakfast at a darling little cafe around the corner from both our hotel and the Savignyplatz train station, and then it was off to Brandenburg Gate. Because where else would you start?

Last time I was here, it was covered in a giant Advent calendar featuring the Pink Panther (for restoration/maintenance, one can only assume). It's a little more impressive in its full glory. 

Then, around the corner to the Bundestag.

Also impressive in its sheer scale. Nope, we didn't climb the dome...maybe next time.

The Berlin Wall ran immediately past both the Bundestag and Brandenburg Gate, placing the gate just inside East Berlin, and the Bundestag in the West.

One of my latest fascinations: manhole covers. I think it's amusing how much pride a city can display on top of its sewers.

Then, a "quick" walk over towards Checkpoint Charlie past Konzerthaus Berlin, through a ridiculous chocolate store, and finally to our destination.

Das Konzerthaus. They seem to appreciate the monumental architecture here.

At Fassbender & Rausch: the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial in chocolate.

This guy was sculpting the Titanic for its 100th anniversary. 

  

Brandenburg gate...chocolate. (They also had the Bundestag and Berlin's TV tower in chocolate, as well as cupids, airplanes, piglets frogs, and numerous other items.)

The praline counter. Longest one I've ever seen, and they had SO many miniature one-bite desserts. Mesmerizing.

After a short, chocolatey distraction...Checkpoint Charlie. The American guard house here was moved elsewhere, and the East German watchtower demolished, in 1990 after the fall of the wall, but the museum nearby is fantastic. It was opened by a private citizen in 1963 (!), and it's a crowded and chaotic, but it's full of stories about the building of the wall, subsequent protests (which began almost immediately), escape attempts (and some of the gadgetry involved), the Berlin Airlift, the fall of the wall, an exhibit on artists' interpretations of the wall, a Reagan room (a bit of a shrine, really), and a large section on nonviolent protest around the globe. And all sorts of artifacts relating to the wall and the East/West divide. It's all quite moving, and it's good to know that this particular era of history is not forgotten in the least.

Well, except for the goofy guard house replica out front, utterly thronged with tourists. But at least that makes it easy to find.

Next, a quick trek past the Trabi museum...

...to the Topography of Terror exhibit, an open-air display next to a long portion of the wall left in place. This particular site was chosen for this exhibit not only because of its location immediately under the wall, but because it once was the site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters, which was razed after WWII. The trench in front of the wall allows for display of the remaining pieces of the demolished buildings, as well as a lengthy exhibit on Nazi propaganda and actions in Berlin between 1933 and 1945. We hadn't planned on spending much time there, but the exhibit is really well done and we ended up reading the whole thing.

I didn't take any good photos of the exhibit, but it's under the glass on the left, with the wall to the right.

The wall segment, from the sidewalk. Pretty bleak, even now. I didn't realize there were still portions this long that somehow managed to survive.

The next day was a little lighter: the Pergamon Museum and the Berliner Dom, both of which I didn't get to see my first time in the city. Pretty impressive stuff.

The Pergamon Museum! I knew it was famous for having entire giant pieces of monumental architecture, but I wasn't quite prepared for how monumental, exactly. This is the Pergamon altar.

The market gate from Miletus.

The gates of Ishtar.

Assyrian carvings. The detail on these things is insane.

An Islamic prayer niche. The collection of Islamic art was just breathtaking.

Mosaic floor from the Acropolis, 2nd century BC.

Hellenistic architecture, with the temple of Athena in the center. The columns on the sides are impossibly huge.

The Berliner Dom: known as the "Protestant St. Peter's," this place is massive, and the current building fairly young. A version of the current building was finished in 1905, the dome was destroyed by bombing during WWII, and reconstruction began in 1975 and lasted through 2002. The pipe organ was dedicated in 1905 and survived the war intact; it has 7269 pipes and 113 registers. Craziness.

Exterior...note people for scale.

Former tomb of Elector Frederick I (1657-1713) in the main sanctuary. (He's now in a coffin in the crypt, along with several other members of the Hohenzollern house.)

Creepy skeleton thing at the foot of Sophia Charlotte's monument (Frederick's wife).

The dome and pulpit.

Wider angle of the sanctuary.

The Imperial Staircase.

The Sauer organ!

Dinner on day 2 was Italian food...and some of the best we've had outside of Italy, I'd say (with the exception of our homemade, naturally). We ate at Gusto, just a short walk from our hotel, and almost entirely empty...which means we had decent service and got to listen to the owner and waiters speak Italian all night. Lovely. We shared a couple of appetizers (beef carpaccio with parmesan and arugula, and shrimp with mushrooms), then Dad and I split the pasta sampler (linguine with chicken, cream, and pine nuts; spaghetti with shrimp in tomato sauce; penne with eggplant, peppers, beef, and zucchini); Mom had a whole plate of the linguine with chicken and pine nuts; Mike had a first plate of spaghetti with black pepper, parmesan, and black truffle; and then he finished with a plate of beef and veggies in Barolo sauce. Great meal. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm sure: really good Italian food is hard to beat. 

Next up: a quick day trip from Berlin to Wittenberg.

round 5: Torgau.

Holy crap, the sheep are back! I fully realize that this has nothing to do with Germany or our travels therein, but it's something that I feel needs to be noted. In a weird juxtaposition with the usual street and construction noises, there arises the occasional clanking of bells and some infrequent bleating. Ooh, and I think I just heard some baby sheeps. I am going to find them this afternoon.

And now, to Torgau. (And Torgau only: my post lengths seem to be spiraling out of control, so Berlin is up next.) From Heidelberg, we took the six-hour train ride northeast to Torgau, which was a lovely ride, and really didn't feel that long. (Especially since we had to change trains twice, which keeps one on his or her toes.) Dad had spent some time in Torgau in 1990, right after the wall fell, in order to help a previously secret East Germany church figure out how to be not secret anymore. His account of that trip sounds both chaotic and almost miraculous, and he wanted to go back just to see if we could find that church again. He set our expectations low--"There's really not much there!"--but we went anyway, and what a fascinating little place. The old town in Torgau is absolutely beautiful...clean, old, and oh yeah: THERE'S A CASTLE. A nice big one, with bears in the moat. Torgau was also the meeting point of the American and Russian armies during WWII; the site of Wehrmacht and Russian prisons; both the birthplace and burial place of Martin Luther's wife, Katharina; and the home of Luther's first Protestant chapel. Very, very interesting little town, and utterly devoid of the tourist crowds we'd seen everywhere else. Just don't go in expecting everyone to speak English, 'cause they probably won't. (Yaaaaay for my terrible, limited German skills!)

Sadly, despite our best efforts (i.e., lots of Internet research and traipsing all over the town center, and checking in at the barely-English-speaking tourist information bureau), we could not find that little church. We have no idea what happened to it, which was certainly a letdown for Dad, but also for Mom and I, since we've heard the stories about Dad's trip to the former East Germany for so many years. But I think Dad was happy to at least get to sort of retrace his steps around the city, and it was really a nice surprise to find that the city was so interesting, and so quiet. What I found interesting was that the historic center was completely clean and beautifully restored/preserved, while the outskirts (in this town, a five-minute walk away) were a bit dilapidated...but I have a thing for fading grandeur, so I took lots of pictures of intriguingly crumbling buildings.

In the center, on Market Square, with the Rathaus at the left.

Beautiful medieval street leading towards the castle.

The castle! (Built throughout the 15th and 16th centuries.)

Crest over the castle entrance.

Bears in the moat! According to castle signage, bears have been kept here since 1425. This guy made himself comfortable in what appears to be his regular sittin' place. 

Interior castle courtyard, facing back the way we came in.

Martin Luther's first Protestant chapel is in the castle, too. He designed it, then consecrated it in 1544, creating essentially the first ever Protestant church.

Exterior tower facing the Elbe River. Fairly monumental and built in 1534.

...and then this. In German, it's called der Grosse Wendelstein, or "big spiral stone," but in English we'd just call it "crazy amazing." It was originally built between 1533 and 1536, damaged in wars thereafter (...naturally!), and basically in a state of constant restoration, maintenance, and study ever since. Another German Renaissance masterpiece, and built without a central support. Also, it's just really pretty.

View of the staircase in the inner courtyard.

Looking up the center of the staircase from the ground floor.

On the stairs...there were three little landings inside. Love the curves. So dramatic.

Outside the center:

A little Art Nouveau right around the corner from our hotel.

It could use a little cleaning and restoration, but I love it.

Giant, entirely asymmetrical building across the street from our hotel. Built into a long row of apartment buildings that had absolutely zero unifying style. Fantastic. 

Big door, little door. Not sure why, but I loved these.

Check out these details, too.

Obviously, there was some serious money in this city, at some point...most likely during the early 20th century. It's very quiet, and, in places, somewhat run down, but really an interesting and lovely place to visit. (And we didn't even have time to go see the exhibit on the Wehrmacht detention centers or the super ornate weapons and costumes of the 16th- and 17th-century Electors' bodyguards. Sigh.)

Well...I would post another photo or two of Torgau and environs, but the first evening we were there, I left my camera in the hotel room and eventually regretted it, so I took my remaining photos of the city (monument to the Soviet/American armies' meeting at the Elbe, a cute kitteh, dinner near the castle, etc.) on Dad's camera. But, as I'm still waiting for the remainder of my photos to be posted on Google+ (...ahem...), suffice it to say that we had a lovely meal at Bärenschenke (overlooking the castle's terraced rose garden...beef and venison in brown gravy, sweet red cabbage, and potatoes for Mom and Dad; trout with potatoes for me; and cherry and peach sundaes for dessert), and some killer pastries at Steinecke. (Which I did manage to get with my own camera.) 

Mmmmmm...berries in season.

These have fruit on them...that makes them good for me, right?

Ooh, and also, the breakfast buffet at our hotel was compact, but spectacular: they had around 10 meats (everything from familiar salamis to crazily-colored pressed loaf-things), at least 6 cheeses, several breads, fantastic fresh-strawberry yogurt, several cereals, homemade jams, our own giant pitcher of coffee, and--my favorite--breakfast brownies with little bits of what I think were cocoa nibs in them. YES, PLEASE. (And when I walked in, the 80s pop mix playing in the background was on a Rick Astley song. Best breakfast buffet ever.) Two thumbs up for the food in Torgau. 

Next up: Berlin. At long last.

round 4: Heidelberg.

Apologies for my recent lack of posts: we've been entertaining guests, and out of town a little. I'm starting to forget details about July's adventures, already (!), so on we go.

As it turns out, Heidelberg had a lot to offer. It was jam-packed with tourists, but well worth the visit. Cool medieval streets, a towering castle ruin, an old car show, and a stunning Art Nouveau library. And a little good food.

We stumbled upon the car show completely by accident on our first afternoon in town...had no idea it was there. Dad surmised that there was some sort of rally going on: all the cars had numbers, and some were lining up to drive out of one side of the main city square as others were coming in from another corner (with an announcer and everything). It was delightful to be strolling through these adorable cobblestone streets and have various classic cars drive by.

Fantastic old MG (...I think).

Look at this beast! I don't know how one manages to drive such a boat around tiny European streets, but seriously...that is style.

Completely fabulous Jag. Look at those ridiculous fenders.

This one was my favorite. Soooo sleek. WANT.

Meandering through the streets...and we found Kornmarkt Platz, with our first view of the castle.

Charming (and, finally, tourist-free) little medieval street. I could live here.

Karl Teodor bridge over the Neckar River. It's not that old--mid-18th century--but there were many wooden bridges before it, dating back to medieval times, which did not survive the frequent ice and flooding of the Neckar. This thing is apparently fairly famous, and I can only imagine that it's far more picturesque from the other side of the river, looking back towards the castle and the town. Next time, I'll get that shot.

Medieval gate at the end of the bridge, going into town. 

View of the castle over the town, from the bridge.

Another weird little goblin-eared dude on the side of the building. I have no idea what their story is, but I like them.

In our second day's explorations, we stumbled across the university library. Positively monumental, and full of all sorts of Art Nouveau-y goodness.

Crazy detail over the main entrance.

Positively delicious details on the inside. 

The library was currently holding an exhibit full of old books on the deities of various cultures. There were some really beautiful illustrations and even a German translation of Marco Polo from 1611.

The Babylonian King Balthasar kneels before an idol. From a Viennese world history dating back to 1420 (!). (Photo quality = not great...sorry, it was really dark in there.)

Next, a brief stop at Peterskirche, across the street from the library (originally built in 1485, but completely remodeled in the 19th century; and paintings by Hans Thoma [1902], purchased for the church by Wagner's stepdaughter's [via Liszt's daughter, no less!] husband...some nifty trivia there).

Then, on to Heidelberg Castle! The thing is mostly a giant, shambling ruin now, but in its glory days it was the seat of one of the Prince Electors, gradually built up between 1400 and 1619, with a giant footprint and massive gardens that took years to build. The Prince Electors were responsible for "electing" kings and keeping an eye on them, serving sometimes as kings themselves (if the king were indisposed), and occasionally becoming kings themselves. Due to their efforts (and vanity, one might say...), the castle became one of the most important pieces of German Renaissance construction. It was mostly destroyed by the French during the War of the Palatinate Succession between 1688 and 1693, and what was left was reduced further by a lightning strike in 1764. In the following century, the castle's ruined, overgrown walls attracted hosts of Romantic poets and artists, and the Duchy of Baden decided to rebuild only a portion of the castle as a museum. Due to the Romantic leanings of the era, the reconstructed portions were completed in the "historicism" style, taking bits and pieces from various historical eras. Utterly lacking in any kind of unified authenticity, but it makes for a gorgeous interior!

Our first view, through the Elizabeth Gate (built in 1615--legend has it, in a single night--by Elector Friedrich V for his wife, the English princess Elizabeth Stuart).

Inner courtyard, with the facade of the Friedrich building (~1601-1607)on the left and that of the Ottheinrich  building (1556-1559) on the right.

Looking back towards the gate tower through which we entered.

Nifty model of the castle and gardens as they would have appeared at their peak.

A failed attempt by the French to blow up the castle wall...in part, failed 'cause the walls were THICK, and 'cause the gunpowder used was poor quality.

Gorgeous, frothy, wedding cake-y spiral staircase that extends at least 4 floors.

Some grand hallway.

The palace chapel...note glassed-in boxes on either side in which the nobles could close themselves off from the rabble.

The Big Barrel! The world's largest wine barrel, built in 1751, holds over 55,000 gallons. For scale, Dad's in front of it. 

You don't really get a sense of the size of the thing, though, until you see the staircase by which one descends from the platform on top of the barrel. This thing is big.

View from the castle's terrace.

In the Pharmacy Museum. This is in the Ottheinrich building of the castle. I was totally uninterested until we went in (which we did 'cause it was free...). These are wooden herb storage vessels from around 1500 (!). 

Old-timey pharmacist's shop. The furnishings were expensive and designed to be very impressive to the client, who was not allowed in the prescription preparation room, but could have a look inside.

Chemists had to make their own vials and dispensers...which are actually quite pretty.

One last look back at the majority of the castle, with the gate tower on the right and the English building (1613-1619) on the left.

Back down in town: Markt Platz and the town hall, built between 1701 and 1705.

Teeny little shops built between the buttresses of the Holy Ghost Church. I love these. 

The Hotel Zum Ritter, built in 1592, located right on Markt Platz. The only private residence in the city that was undamaged by war, and pretty spectacular, too.

Heidelberg's Hauptstrasse: the longest pedestrian thoroughfare in Europe. Packed, but lovely.

And now, the food! If it hasn't become obvious just yet, I really love German foods. Schnitzel, wurst of just about any kind, potatoes, cheese spaetzle, the rich sauces...it's all pretty delicious. But sometimes you just need something different...so our first night in Heidelberg, we ate dinner at the Irish pub. Really, really good fish 'n chips; 'nuff said. And while I spent most of this trip being not hungry (believe it or not, German food is heavy and filling...!), it was hard not to drool over the gorgeous street food (wurst booths! frosted cookies! crepes! ice cream! roasted and candied nuts!) and window displays in Heidelberg.

The Germans do up some good bread, and apparently their cities can support roughly a bakery on every block. It's no wonder. This stuff is delicious.

LOOK...HOW...PRETTY. No offense, America, but these Europeans know how to do them some sandwiches. More often than not, they are super fresh and fantastically tasty. And so colorful.

Evening no. 2 in Heidelberg was dinner at Sudpfanne, in this little courtyard we'd spotted the night before. It was a lovely, if cool, summery evening, and it was so nice to eat outside. Mom had veal schnitzel with fried rosemary potatoes, Dad had the pork schnitzel with mashed potatoes and this amazing, creamy, almost maple-y cabbage concoction, and I went for the cheese spaetzle (lots of onions in this one!) with a lovely salad on the side. Delicious. (P.S. - all the food looks blue 'cause we were eating under a giant blue umbrella.)

Brains with cheese. Er, I mean...cheese spaetzle. I don't really go for plain spaetzle 'cause it's relatively characterless and is about as dense as a brick, but when they douse it liberally with cheese and onions, it becomes a scrumptious brick.

Mom's spectacular schnitzel and potatoes. Yummmmmmm.

Also in Heidelberg, we had one of the most interesting and delightful dessert experiences ever: schneeballen!! Invented in the neighboring town of Rothenburg, these gigantic delicacies are essentially long strips or scraps of an egg-based pastry dough, rolled into balls around some sort of flavored cream filling, then fried and dunked in chocolate and some sort of tasty topping. We saw them in quite a few shops, but the one we stopped in sold nothing but these guys.

Look at that variety! You could buy them singly, or all the way up to a dozen. Awesome. (Schneeballen = snowballs, in English.)

They weren't quite as delicious as they look, but they were pretty awesome, especially since A) the chocolate coating tended to melt all over your fingers as soon as you picked one up; B) they're super crunchy, so every bite produced a tiny explosion and avalanche of crumbs; and C) THESE THINGS ARE AS BIG AS MY FIST. If not a tiny bit bigger. They're like a meal in and of themselves.

Ahhh, Heidelberg...I quite enjoyed you. And we missed a few things, too! A couple of giant, hulking interesting churches; the student prison at the university; and the wood-panelled "Old Lecture Hall". Plus, we didn't really explore the castle grounds outside of the main buildings, and Mike didn't get to go with us, so...many reasons to return. And eat more snowballs.

What I'm reading: just powered through Tasteful Nudes, by Dave Hall; I Suck at Girls, by Justin Halpern; and A Bad Idea I'm About to Do, by Chris Gethard. For some reason, I got on a "men's comedic autobiography" kick and read all three of these sometimes-cringe-inducing, somewhat-laced-with-profanity, occasionally hilarious books in a row. If I had to recommend one, it would be Tasteful Nudes, for the sheer number of times it made me snicker (this guy has a way with words!), but be warned, this is not one for the easily offended. Now I'm on to something entirely different: Evening, by Susan Minot (fiction, gasp!). Just started it yesterday, though, so I'll report back when I actually have an opinion.

My favorite things: Letters of Note. Seriously, one of the most interesting and eclectic websites out there, and guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, think, and spend yet more time online. Seriously, you'll get sucked in. Maybe this should come with a warning as well.

Up next: Torgau and Berlin, Germany.