Sunday, September 4, 2011

I'm in Berlin, trying.



We finally arrived in Berlin. All smiles here!
Because it is really cool, odd and unique.


We woke up, and as Sebastian ran out to buy brötchen, I attempted to skype with my Mom on this terrible and poor wifi. When he came back from the bakery, we boiled water for tea and each ate half a banana. 
To my delight, he surprised me with a shokolade croissant...sometimes we refuse to purchase cola because we want to save money, yet he goes and does a thing like that. Carpe diem, chocolate is good for the soul :).


After breakfast we threw on comfortable walking clothes and went for a walk to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood we live in, and let me tell you Toto, we're not in Dresden anymore!
On our beautiful walk under the hot sun, we saw:


Casinos
Bars
Odd shops
Children climbing out of second floor windows
Turkish restaurants
Groups of men
Elderly care homes 
and many cars


What I like most about our neighborhood...the red brick buildings with obnoxious green plants springing to life out of the cracks. 


We arrived home, weak and hungry. This may be due to the fact that the both of us are inconveniently sick with minor schnupfen (colds). But we had to press on! Today was our first official day here in Berlin! We then packed our bags for the badeschiff; bikini, surf shorts, water and towels. 


On our way to the badeschiff, there was a street demonstration, burnt trash on the ground and people sitting and standing everywhere. Polizei blocked entrances and exits, and let no cars pass through. 
It looked like a riot, almost. So to be honest, my guards were up and I was a little nervous. Once we passed the bridge it was smooth sailing, we turned down the street to the badeschiff, but then entered a different location a street too soon. No matter, we ended up finding the coolest bar I've seen so far. 
If you've ever been on that Pirates of The Caribbean ride at Disney land, this bar resembled it big time. Especially the part where you first enter the ride and there's that restaurant on the right overlooking the river. 


yeah, I was reminded of that...only because I have never seen restaurants and bars facing each other separated by a body of water. I was surprised and impressed. 


After sitting down for less than five minutes, we left en route for the reaaaaaaal badeschiff.
Sebastian has a great head on his shoulders, we effortlessly found it  ten minutes later...paid the place three euros each (not bad, student discount) and then spent two hours there. 


Also a unique place; on the river, there's this deep rectangular pool where people can swim and sit in under the sun. 


However! it was freezing, which is no good for people with schnupfens, so after five minutes of cooling off, we exited and laid our towels down on the fake beach. Trying to study was no possibility. There were too many people with such interesting things to say, paying attention to a book was quite difficult. 


We left badeschiff, kind of hungry, so we stopped for some ice cold cola and shokolade filled donuts. WOW, YUM. I stepped in wet cement (unknowingly) and then drew a cross in it. I hope it dried that way...Amen. 


photo soon...help me bear with this trashy wifi