Berlin Trip

Berlin Reise

Thanks again for reading everyone! Here is the update on Berlin!

The morning of May 25^th dawned early for me haha. I wanted to make some chocolate chip muffins to celebrate my Birthday. I was kind of nervous to make them because I didn’t have any way to measure the liquids for the recipe. Being the baker that I am I kind of made an educated guess haha. They turned out deliciously! After I baked them and ate over half of them myself and shared the rest with my neighbors I headed to the airport to meet the group.

After we got our tickets and checked our luggage we had to go through security. Naturally no matter how careful I am the metal detector always goes off. So after be pat down and such we arrived at our gate. Have I mentioned how tiny the Salzburg airport is? 8 Gates and no gangways. Basically you walk out a door to the plane. It’s great haha, unless the weather isn’t nice. Thankfully we had great weather for takeoff. The flight to Köln was fairly uneventful minus Andy’s loud laughter heard the entire 2 hour flight. Love him and his laugh. You never have to ask if he’s around because one he’s really tall and two his laughter can be heard miles away haha. Once in Köln we had about an hour to waste and grab a snack then a little over an hour flight to Berlin. We arrived at a tiny airport, that rivaled Salzburg and headed to our hostel. We stayed at a great hostel chain called Wombats. Upon check in we even received a complementary drink from the rooftop bar.. WOOT!

That night we went to a great Italian restaurant called 12 Apostles. I was super stoked for Italian and had looked up ahead of time what I would be getting. I had found a dish that sound great. It was Fussili pasta with eggplant, green olives, black olives, and peppers in a pesto sauce. Well It was mostly pesto with some pasta. I wasn’t thrilled with it but the trooper that I am was determined to not let it get to me. I snacked on the bread that was on the table and ate as much of the pesto dish as I could. Once our plates were cleared and we were planning on what to do next I got a great surprise. Our trip advisor found out that it was my birthday and had ordered me a dessert. It was brought out with a big sparkler then the ENTIRE restaurant started singing Happy Birthday to me. I was doing a great impression of a tomato and giggling out my Thanks to everyone. I had no idea what the waitress had sat in front of me but it was chocolate and I couldn’t wait to try it. I later found out that it was Tiramisu. Tiramisu is now one of my favorite desserts! After dessert a group of us ended up getting drinks at a 50’s themed American restaurant. One thing that I love about Berlin is that drinks aren’t nearly as expensive and liquor is more reasonably priced. That and they had Margaritas! So we celebrated a bit more then headed back to the hostel. Did I mention that chivalry isn’t dead? We were walking back and the temperature had dropped a lot and I was without a jacket. I was shivering slightly and a friend offered me his jacket. I graciously accepted and then realized that he only had a t-shirt on. I tried to give it back to him as I had a ¾ sleeved shirt on but he refused to take it back stating that he was fine. So there’s hope out there yet!!! WOOT haha.

Here’s a fun side story before we continue to the next day: Once we arrived back at the hostel a friend and I saw a few others from our group sitting downstairs. So we joined them. The way the room was set up was kind of like an L shaped sectional without a back to the seat. Well my friend had wanted to lie down so I got up off the chaise part and went to sit on the couch part next to it. As I sat down I realized I sat too far back and forgot there was nothing to stop me but air. I fought for a split second to regain my seating but failed. Needless to say I ended up falling backwards and doing a tuck and roll and ended up sitting in the middle of the entryway laughing my head off. My friend jumped up and kind of freaked out asking if I was alright, and was confused by my laughter. Haha So he helped me up and walked me back to the couch. I went to sit down on the couch and he thought I was going to fall again but thankfully I didn’t.

The next day started kind of early, 10am. A few of us went to a great little bakery called Zeit für Brot (Time for Bread). I got a delicious chocolate scone and a bottle of water. My allergies were starting to act back up and on top of traveling I wasn’t at 100% but I was looking forward to the bike tour. The bike tour was fun. Our tour guide was really cute haha. Oh and I only almost fell off my bike once! That’s a feat seeing as I haven’t ridden a bike in YEARS! We got to see a lot of the main Berlin sights and even the hotel where Michael Jackson almost dropped his baby out the window. Then part of the group went to a restaurant and I got fajitas and a Margarita. Once we were done with the tour I took a nap because I was exhausted and couldn’t breathe due to allergies. When I woke up a group of us went shopping then went to this amazing little Mexican restaurant. I ordered my first ever Piña Colada. It wasn’t a true Piña Colada as they don’t have a sense of frozen drinks in Berlin but I’m hooked all the same. We each got a variation of quesadillas. Mine were chicken and delicious! I called it an early night once we got back but woke up around 1 and went downstairs to text my mom about how I felt. She told me to take some ibuprofen every 4-6 hours and sleep. I finally started to get tired and headed back upstairs to sleep.

The next morning we left around 9. We were going to the DDR museum and the Egyptian Museum. I was super stoked for the Egyptian Museum. The DDR museum was cool but really small. I was obsessed with an interactive smart table. It was basically a glorified touch screen computer. Everything about this museum was hands on. I also found a PINEAPPLE! The Egypt Museum was awesome. However we were given a guided tour by an architect who knew nothing about the Egyptian culture but talked mostly about the building we were in. We did get to see a famous bust of Nefertiti that is featured on all the History shows about her. I was thrilled to see that but we couldn’t take any pictures. I also got to see numerous Sarcophagi and hieroglyphs. I had fun finding the infamous: Ametephis, Horus, Ra, and Anubis. Yeah I’m slightly obsessed when it comes to Egyptian culture and history and it was only further cultivated by the great show Stargate and The Mummy films. After going on the tours a friend of mine mentioned a giant flea market a few subway stops away. So we went and she wasn’t kidding. It was HUGE! We didn’t buy anything but it was fun to see. That night we went to a play called “Der Zerbrochene Krug”. It was hilariously good and sad at moments. I quite enjoyed it while others not so much. I just love going to theatres and escaping the world for a bit, even if I have to sit next to a smelly person. Yuck. After the show I called it a night.

I woke up at 6 in the morning and got lectured by my mom for being up. I’m over 5000 miles away, separated by an ocean and I got the “Child” treatment. As in “Child what are you doing up!? You’re sick and need to sleep!”. I chuckled, and I’m still chuckling, and told her that I’d sleep on the train. I was feeling about 85% and was exhausted but hey I’m on vacation so I’m going to have a good time. On the train ride I was cracking up listening to Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks “2000 Year Old Man In the Year 2000” which prompted a great discussion about comedy with my seatmate. When we arrived in Leipzig, the resting place Of J.S. Bach, we noticed something peculiar. There were a lot of Goths! Turns out the Leipzig is the International HQ for the Gothic Culture and they were having a convention that weekend. We took a tour of the town and got to see the infamous Bar where Faust and Mephisto made their deal. There was a statue of Faust and legend goes that if you rub his foot you’ll do well on tests and such. So naturally we all took turns slyly rubbing the statues foot after our professor stated that it wouldn’t work. A little help wouldn’t hurt haha. After the tour we split off to go explore on our own. However it was a holiday so no stores were open. A group of us went to a lovely restaurant and enjoyed a nice meal. I had schnitzel and mashed potatoes. After lunch we walked around the city and took pictures of the Goths. They wanted their pictures taken and posed happily, or menacingly, for them. After people watching we went to a great ice cream shop and then sat in a park for a bit. We headed back to the train station and got a pizza from Pizza hut. Can you tell we are missing home? Mexican food and Pizza have dominated our meals haha. That night I finally made it up to the rooftop bar and had a few Piña Coladas then had a heart to heart with Andy at a Kebab shop down the road at 1 in the morning. Like I said good times.

The next day was our last day in Berlin. We were going to the Jüdisches Museum and then the day was ours. The museum was pretty interesting. It covered Judaism through its entirety. There was a neat room for the holocaust that made you feel entirely alone and without hope. It was at the end of a halway and the room was all concrete with high walls and a tiny window at the top that let in barely any light. It was extremely foreboding. After the museum our program director took us all out for Currywurst. It’s a Berlin Specialty. It’s basically a fried hotdog in a ketchup sauce with curry powder on top. If you know me then you know I think ketchup is a sin. It’s gross and shouldn’t be used in anything except Meatloaf. We had fun eating our Currywurst as a group and then split up. I got a cute cardigan at H&M then went to dinner at a burrito place that was just like Chipotle. I couldn’t even finish my burrito. Then we went up to the rooftop bar and had a good time. I met a nice guy from London and we all stayed up until 1AM. We had to be leaving the Hostel at 5.

Travel day had arrived. I was bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4 in the morning trying to check out and retrieve my ID. Little did they know that they gave my ID to the wrong person. After looking for a solid 30min they realized their mistake. Thankfully we found my ID and we could be on our way. I slept most of both flights home. There was a minor delay to landing in Salzburg. We were literally on approach when all of a sudden our pilot pulls up and guns the engines. Apparently there was a strong side wind and we had to circle until it died down. 15min later we landed.

All in all it was a great trip. Funny thing is that everybody ended up getting sick at some point. That’s what you get for traveling together on a plane. I had a great time seeing a big city, eating delicious food, shopping, and getting out of Salzburg.

21 Days until I meet my family in Zurich!! Time has flown by!