arm, aber sexy

This past weekend, I took a break from der Schweiz 
(which is really die Schweiz but whose article changes to der when in the Dativ case - 
can you tell I've been thinking, eating, and dreaming in German for the past 3.5 weeks?)
and headed to Berlin for a weekend of exploration and relaxation.

I met Frank and Marlene (our wonderful friends from Munich) there for a weekend of Urlaub (vacation).  While the trip to Berlin took me a mere one and a half hours on a fabulous Swiss Air flight (complete with a delightful cheese sandwich (whose cute little wrapper label tells you it's fresh from a Swiss bakery in German, French, Italian and English) and decadent Swiss chocolate (complimentary on every flight)), it took Marlene and Frank six and a half hours by train.  To make up for their clearly much-greater-effort, I cashed in on my Starwood points for a room for three for two nights at the Westin Berlin - perfectly located to all the key historical sites.

Cozy but comfy:

The hotel room was lovely but nothing special (beyond what you'd expect to find in a typical Westin), 
but the minibar had one item I wasn't used to seeing:

A piece of the Berlin Wall.

(For only 20 euros...)

While our room was modern, the lobby was all sorts of old-world excellence:

After a late, but fabulous dinner at some very cool restaurant recommended by a colleague of Frank's on Friday night, we headed to bed to prepare for a weekend of intense seeing and doing.

We began our Saturday morning with a traditional breakfast at Einstein Kaffee - the cafe of power breakfast and lunches for politicians of Berlin.  From what I've heard - a favorite for Angela Merkel.  I kept my eyes peeled, but did not (to my knowledge) spot her.

After breakfast, we headed to the Brandenburger Tor:

Gotta love those completely typical Deutsch pedistrations

 in blue and red and green in the background there

After some "Tor" (GATE) viewing, we headed to the Reichstag (once home to many Kaisers) for some more history.

Then our walking tour was onto the Fluss (river)...

...and then some Berlin Wall viewing:

memorials for people who died trying to cross the wall

a path outlining where the wall once stood

a memorial to the wall

a piece of the wall still standing

It was then onto the Holocaust memorial...

...and then Checkpoint Charlie - the once infamous border-crossing between the two sides:

So much sight-seeing left us hungry for a snack:

Who doesn't love a Brezel?

While Berlin is full of rich history, the city is not quite as tidy and clean as a Munich or a Switzerland.  Unlike in der Schweiz, you often find trash on the street or grafatti on a U-bahn train car or a building on its way to being kaputt.  The city's water pipe system (almost entirely over ground due to too much being under ground) also contributes to the city's somewhat run-down feel.

Even the police cars look as though they had perhaps seen better days.

But Berlin's dirt, alternative-ness, and grittiness, is really what makes it so charming.  A street with trash and graffiti and people wearing ripped tights with tattoos and messy hair and multiple piercings suddenly becomes spectacular - worthy of a blog post only about it.  

As the Berliners say: 

Berlin is arm (poor), but sexy.

xoxo

KK