A burrito and a beer alongside the River Spree. Hell of a way to start a spin through Berlin.

Im posting tonight to tell you all I won't be posting tonight. Not much of one, anyway. Today we took an excellent private tour with David (the weather held for us, thankfully) that is definitely a highlight of this trip. Problem is, afterward he joined us at the Augustiner for Schnitzel as big as my head and a few Bavarian pretzels and after that Jim and I walked up to the Brandenberg Gate again to see it at night and it's now 11pm and we are just getting in.

On top of that, today is a difficult thing to quantify or put into words. The history of Berlin is so vast and so complex (even just the last 70 years of it) and in so many ways incredibly heart wrenching that I'm not sure how to express all that we saw without putting you through the same whipsaw emotional ride we took. (Also, late and beer.) So instead I'm going to give you some Europe is Weird, German Edition and try to take new stock tomorrow when we will be visiting the German History Museum and, likely either the Topography of Terror or the East Side Gallery.

So, on with the fun:

This thing seemed to follow us all over the place but this is the best shot I got of it. It is a bar, complete with taps that you sit at and pedal (every stool has a set of pedals) your way around the sights. So you drink your beer (no open container law here) and pedal to power it and the operator steers it from the back and (ostensibly) sober.

This guy tried to charge me €1.50 for a photo, so Jim took a picture from down the block with the digital zoom. He is cooking sausages on a grill he is wearing strapped over his shoulders. It's a neat little concept called grill runner and if he wasn't such a jerk about the picture we might have tried one. Behind him in the former East German uniform is a guy who for about €5 would put a fake East German visa stamp in your passport. Which doesn't seem like such a good idea to me, but I'm not behaving like a crazy tourist. (We actually saw someone taking a picture while giving a 'heil Hitler' salute at the Brandenberg Gate this afternoon. I'm going to assume that she had no idea what this meant because I'm not sure I want to live in the same world as someone who did know and took that picture anyway – there is a reason why that gesture is illegal in Germany and if she were a citizen the Polizei who were on site in front of the American Embassy would have arrested her. They take that stuff seriously among their populace.)

 

So I promise a return to regular programming tomorrow. Until then, gute nacht everyone.

 

PS Secret Message for Marni (yes again. She is my sister, stop groaning)

 

Look what passes for street food in Berlin!