Berlin- Day 2

Building at Sanssouci

Our second day in Berlin turned out to be the least eventful of the entire trip, in part because we were still missing Jen and Stacy and in part because none of the gardens at Sanssouci weren’t in bloom because it was March. Here is the recap:


We woke up early-ish and headed down to breakfast in the hostel. The breakfast there was decent and the rolls that they served were phenomenal; we each had about three. After breakfast we had to check-out then check-in because we were gaining two people and you have to redo the whole things when two more come. It wasn’t that much of a hassle though. We then headed out to the royal city of Potsdam.

Potsdam wasn’t that hard to get to because we just took the subway to the train and rode that for a while. Everyone was pretty tired on the bus but the forests that we passed on our way there were beautiful and really gave me the feel of being in Germany. After all, the thing I most associate with Germany is the Black Forest because I am a fan of their ham.

Once we got to the train station we had to take a bus to the actual palace and park. Once we got there we walked around the royal gardens taking pictures. I’m sure in the spring and summer it is beautiful because even in the winter it was a nice stroll. There were a lot of stairs there and on one particularly long stretch we ran up while singing the song from Rocky. Because it was so cold the water in the fountain was frozen and Laura had never seen a frozen body of water before because she is from Melbourne, Australia so it was a big day for her. Wait until Vienna where she sees a squirrel for the first time.

Gardens

Palace

When we got to the palace of Frederick the Great it was a giant let down because all the brick façade was fake. No joke. And it wasn’t even nice looking fake bricks, just some plywood with bricks stenciled on. The LT stage craft class could have done a better job. If I am right about my German history, the palace got bombed during the last days of the war which might account of the façade, but I don’t know. But I digress. While in the bathroom the washroom attendant (you have to pay to use washrooms at many tourist attractions) asked Laura if she was Australian and followed that up with “Didn’t Australia fight in World War I and II?” Laura is not sure where this was going because she answered yes and then ran away into the sanctuary of the woman’s room.

After finishing up there we went into the town and got some food at Bistro XXL which served kababs, which Brittany and Stevie ate, among other things. Laura and I had the pommes fritas (French fries) as recommended by Papa Fish. While we were there these cute triplets, which were about two kept coming up to us and trying to talk. We were unsure if we couldn’t understand them because they were speaking baby talk or some other language but there was for sure a language barrier. After a late lunch we walked around the town a shopped a little. It was a really cute place and it was nice to be outside the city.

Streets of Potsdam

One adventure occurred when we were trying to catch the bus back to the train station. Brittany, Stevie, and I ran across traffic to catch it but Laura decided that they did not want to risk their lives and were stranded on the other side. Brittany went on the bus to tell them to wait for a minute for Laura but the bus just ended up leaving with her on it. It wasn’t a big deal but a small adventure none the less.

Stevie, Jen, Brittany

We got back to the hostel and waited for Jen and Stacy to arrive from the airport. They came a day later because Jen’s boyfriend was in and left that morning. Once they got there we primped and went out in search of food. We ended up eating at Der Kartoffelkeller. It was really cute because it was kind of in the basement and had brick walls. They had a lot of potato dishes which isn’t surprising considering the name translates to The Potato Cellar. Laura and I split schnitzel, a German specialty, and fried potatoes with bacon and onions. Yes, it was as good as it sounds. Both Jen and Stacy got beer there because it is literally cheaper than water. Unfortunately they said that the beer they got tasted like Keystone Light. Just like being back in Chambana. Our dinner conversation consisted of Stevie and I elaborating on the long term effects of an affluent childhood and especially attractive physical characteristics on the development of children, especially when your father is the lawyer of the man who murdered your mother's best friend. In case you hadn’t guessed, we talked about the Kardashians, one of my favorite topics.

After we finished all our potatoes we went in search of nightlife but really couldn’t find any. Maybe we were in the wrong part of town and West Berlin has all the bars and clubs but we came up empty handed. Stacy and Stevie decided to continue to search while the rest of us went back to the hostel to clean up. We then did some journaling and budgeting and headed to bed because tomorrow promised to be an adventure filled day.