Chapter 132: Berlin Beginnings

nerd blog post #145

Ahhh Berlin. It's hard to begin nerd blogging about this city. We have seen so much and it is such a cool city. Soooooo yes. We arrived to berlinpad.com on Sunday and met Jorg (a friend of the owner) and he gave us the keys and left us here. The pad.com is WAY bigger than we thought it would be, and is perfectly equipped. There are cleaning products and tons of pots and pans and towels and an iron and even spices. So I was happy. It has a nice balcony overlooking a park, but as it's chilly, it's doubling as a beer fridge.

On Monday, we spent the morning grocery shopping and eating a breakie feast. Steve and I both like to cook (I'm still a beginner) so we were stoked to have this month with a kitchen and eat what we both like. So far we have taken turns with cooking delicious meals for dindins. We eat them with red wine and candles and it has become my fave part of the day. Breakies are also good. Mealtime is great in general. I would nerd blog about menu items, but there are other things I should talk about....

You may recall Clown Nicole and her bf Matt from earlier nerd blog posts in Paris. Well, CN isn't back at Clown School this year, but has instead moved to Berlin with bfM. So on Monday afternoon, they came over for a few hours and showed us (on a map) some cool walking routes of neighbourhoods to check out. We had a good visit and Steve and I were excited to have some friends in the city to hang with. They left early evening, and we went for a long stroll in the area, and stopping at a local bar for a beer.

Steve and I decided that what we both want this month is to discover the city on foot. So we have taken the metro to an area of town every day, and then walked for hours and hours. So far, the weather has been cloudy and chilly, but hasn't stopped our epic walks. In the three days we have been exploring, we have covered around 20 kms and seen some main things. Some highlights for me include:
-anything to do with the wall. It's fascinating. And with the 20th anniversary of the fall coming up on the 9th, it's easy to think about. We walked along the longest stretch of preserved wall (The Eastside Gallery) which has been re-painted by various artists for the anniversary.
-Kreuzberg is a really cool neighbourhood that changes from block to block, but has some really cool markts and stores and a large Turkish population.
-The memorial dedicated to the murdered Jews of WWII. Completely overwhelming and massive, and unbloggable in its power.
-the abandoned airport. Spooky Halloween.

Basically, everything has been pretty cool so far. I have realized, though, that I prefer to discover the neighbourhoods, to look into neat antique stores and to look at the people who live in their hood, than to walk by big churches and government buildings and be surrounded by snap-happy tourists. I think that the neighbourhoods and the people within are really what make a city interesting and unique.

There's so much more I could write about, but don't want to get too bah-ring. Things are great here. I am loving Berlin.

Signing off,
Hincks.