Berlin Checklist

Who’s that a statue of? Beats me.

“Friday December 28, 2007:  This morning at breakfast we were joined by an older couple. This annoyed me, as the gentleman seemed to have difficulty breathing, and made quite a noisy production out of it, which was very disgusting to me while I was trying to eat.  I like to have my own space.”  

Yes… we were getting near the end of our time in Berlin, and we’d been touring aggressively, and finding it exhausting, and I was not about to tolerate someone sitting near me in the early morning making those gross noises.  I’m sure Andrew tried to calm me down, and point out that I was being rather harsh and the poor guy probably had medical problems or something.  You may be surprised how often we have such conversations.

Or maybe you wouldn’t.

Anyway!

“Then we set off to see the Olympiastadion.  Saw it.”

Check!

“Then we went to see the palace at Charlottenburg…”

Check!

“…Where a fellow in Baroque-style clothing pitched a classical symphony to us, so we bought tickets for that evening.  He said he thought we were from England because our English is excellent, which is unlike the Americans, apparently.  So we bought tickets, and continued on.”

Okay… if anyone’s reading this… what do you think — was that guy a scam artist?  Since then, we’ve realized there are people pitching all kinds of things to tourists all over the world!  I don’t remember what we paid, but we did actually go to the concert and enjoyed it … but I wonder.  I don’t know.  And that comment he made about our English-speaking skills… seems like false flattery or something.

“We went to Potsdamer Platz, to the Filmhaus film museum.  That was pretty interesting, German film history is quite fascinating… Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Expressionist film… and that’s just scratching the surface.  Could’ve lingered longer, but we were getting tired and needed to eat.  We had lunch at a place called ‘Alex’, where we were next to this American guy, probably in his 60’s at least, loudly pontificating about his life to two people he seemed to barely know — I had the impression that maybe he was their ‘guide’ to Berlin or something?  Ugh.  Anyway, I decided he had a personality disorder, and Andrew said, ‘Obviously’, and we moved to another table.  I had a gigantic cheeseburger and fries and beer, and Andrew had pork steak that he wasn’t fond of.  Then to the old art museum.”

Check. (This is Rembrandt’s “Mennonite Pastor and Wife.”)

Sorry if I sound very anti-American.  I’m honestly NOT.  Unfortunately it’s the loud annoying ones that announce to the world just where they’re from, and that reinforces the Ugly American stereotype.  Think of all the normal, respectful ones touring the world… do people mistake them for Canadians?

Also, what’s with all our terrible restaurant choices on this trip?  I don’t know.  We were much younger then, and it almost became a sort of theme for this trip.  Ha.

“Then we went to the new art museum.”

Check! This is a painting of a giant blue rectangle. Perfect for reflecting us in 2007.

“Then we went back to our hotel for a quick nap before a dinner of free currywurst at our hotel’s restaurant, and off to the concert.  We dressed up as best we could for this.  It was in the Orangerie in Schloss Charlottenburg, where Mozart and Bach really did play back in the day, and the musicians and vocalists were all in Baroque-dress.  It was SO FANTASTIC!  Then back to our hotel.  Tomorrow is our last day in Berlin.”

I may have nodded off during the concert.  It was very relaxing.

Aaaaaand… check. Good night!