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We visited Berlin in May which just happened to coincide with the middle of Spargelzeit - Asparagus Season. This was great news for 2 reasons:
1. The Germans are apparently go crazy for asparagus; and
2. I had very recently become obsessed with the stuff!
Spargel (asparagus) was everywhere in Berlin. But not the skinny green type, this was white asparagus, with huge, thick stalks. Everywhere we went there were stalls laden with it for sale.
Outside every restaurant & café there were signs saying 'Spargel!' and special menus devoted to this delicious vegetable. I was in my element!
I managed to eat it once or twice a day during our trip. And yes, it does make my wee smell funny, but I don't mind ; ) Leave a Comment
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I took this picture in Frankfurt am Main, but I am posting it here on my Berlin page to show how the Jewish Museum Berlin is being advertised all over Germany.
This poster is part of a series entitled "Nicht das, was Sie erwarten" -- meaning "Not what you expect."
In this one you cut open a coconut and find it is a grapefruit inside.
My interpretation of this is that even very well-meaning people in Germany, who fully understand how dreadful the Holocaust was, have gotten somewhat ODed on somber Holocaust exhibits.
These posters are meant to convey the message that the Jewish Museum Berlin is not only a Holocaust museum, but shows a lot more as well -- all the ups and downs of two thousand years of Jewish life in Germany.
Second photo: Another example. In this one you open an oyster and find there is a fried egg inside, sunny side up. Leave a Comment
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Well, I guess it is good to know that you wont have any problem for certain meeds when in Berlin, especially if loaded with lots of beers. Those who are not comfortable to use cafe-bars or restaurants, and many of them have awornings like "this is not public toliete", can use this public toiletes which are very clean and in perfect conditions. As I could see it, the city authorities take care of toiletes and they do it very well. Leave a Comment
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If you are walking around Berlin and you are not very sure if you are on the ex-Eastern side or the ex-Western side, here you are a tip: on the Eastern Side pedestrian traffic lights have different icons. You only have to look at the photo.
Si vas paseando por Berlin y no estas muy seguro de si vas por el lado ex-oriental o por el ex-occidental, aqui tienes una pista: en el lado oriental los semaforos de peatones tienen iconos diferentes. Solo tienes que mirar la foto
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From the end of November Berlin is full of Christmas markets. You'll find the biggest around the Gedaechniskirche, at Gendarmenmarkt, at Schlossplatz, at Alexanderplatz and around the Opernpalais.
Besides the popular Gluehwein & cookies you can buy all kinds of souvenirs there. Leave a Comment
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I think the biggest the brightest in golden reflection building on Unter den Linden Street. The building is staying here from DDR and USSR times. I ask the guard and there is no problem to make the photo of the building. Besides the guard man showed me a point of view to the building with most wonderful picture. The building is situated near of Brandenburg Gate. Leave a Comment
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At the Circus Hotel, I picked up a flyer advertising 'the best' walking tour of Berlin, an all-day affair. A few tours are offered but this one had been started many years ago by an American expat who had fallen head over heels in love with the city, studied everything about it, etc. I decided to give organised travel a first try & registered.
The guide came by at 10 a.m. sharp the next morning & we went to pick up other walkers at another hotel. Finally, there were a dozen of us, a good mix of Europeans from all nations, a couple of Americans (and me.) Our guide was another American who'd fallen in love with Berlin & been hired by the tour founder. He was young, energetic, enthusiastic & had an anecdote for every building & street corner. And he was huge! He looked like Moses leading his people across the desert.
I was disappointed when he told us that the whole tour would be in former East Berlin, "because that's where all the interesting stuff is." Maybe, but I thought 8 hours should leave time for the rest... Anyway, it was fun & interesting for a couple of hours, although the only focus was on the Berlin Airlift, stories about American forces in Berlin, & the Nazi period. We spent an hour at a wall called Palace of Tears, listening to him recount every anecdote he knew of families separated there. I would have liked to hear about the Berlin of the twenties I guess.
I lost the group at the Brandenburg Gate but went on walking until 9 p.m. Saw a lot but lost a lot of time trying to find the Spree River & walk along it. I'd get to the River on a path but be led away by another path, always to find myself at a place called Grosser Stern or Siegissäule, a victory column which I didn't have the strength to climb. Leave a Comment
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I have yet to meet another German who does not openly look at something or someone they want to observe until they are content they have seen all they wished to. So don't be surprised if you get looked or stared at openly, its not aggression (in most cases), its just curiousity.
Especially if you are "unique" for the area, not visibly indigenous, meaning if you have darker skin than average. Again, this is not meant to be offensive to anyone but its the plain truth. Berlin is very multicultural and you see people from all over the world, yet still there is curiousity and frank appraisals. Don't let it bother you. I am quite used to it and do it myself I confess. People are so very interesting, aren't they? Leave a Comment
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At every second corner in Berlin you can find these little stands where you can buy a typical german dish, a typical Berlin dish, the Currywurst & Pommes. It is a fried sausage with a tomatoe curry sauce and french fries with it. It is a must do to try one when in the city. Leave a Comment
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If you bring up the topic of the Holocaust, of WWII, of Nazi Germany and the people involved and if it's Germans you are talking to, don't be offended or surprised if they "clam up" so to speak, or don't wish to discuss it. It's not from guilt, though I feel we can have a deep sense of uneasiness about it. Its mostly from exasperation. So many times that is the first thing people wish to talk about with you, or immediately become accusatory about it. It has been rehashed and rehashed so many times, some get tired of it and will tell you so.
In discussing German life and history, for myself, people wish to know how I came to be born in Germany, do I consider myself German, why would I wish to consider myself German when I could also claim American citizenship? There have been ones who, though having individual German friends, consider Germany to still be a Nazi country or all were sympathizers to the Nazi cause and do not like Germans on a whole. Every nation has their faults, their secret guilts, their histories of some type of prejudices and injustices. Don't be surprised if people do not wish to discuss such things. Personal feelings of politics and recent German history can be sensitive topics and usually are not discussed except with close friends. Leave a Comment
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