Berlin or Bust

When in Germany you should have a beer in one hand and a bratwurst in the other- Just incase you were not sure about proper German etiquette.  Our ship docks in Warnemunde, Germany and we are here for a very long 15-hour day so that those who wish to travel into Berlin 3 hours away can do so.  So, after a single 15-hour day in the quaint beach town of Warnemunde you’ve seen it all.  Fortunately there is a train station in the small town to take you to a slightly less quaint neighboring town called Rostock.  I hear there is a nice brewery there.  We shall go.  

We are here during peak strawberry season.  Lucky us.  Have I ever mentioned my undying love for the dark strawberry beers served in these parts.  No, no.  I don’t mean strawberry flavored beer.  I mean dark beer with real strawberries in the bottom and a fancy spoon straw for you to get those bad boys out with after you’ve finished your brew and they’ve been soaking.  It’s just delightful.  I won’t mention how many I have had.  One can find this specialty at the ever so popular unofficial crew bar of Warnemunde known as the “Choo- Choo”.  Conveniently located next to a food cart with enormous bratwursts.  I am soaking in the culture.  

Warnemunde at night.

Berlin!

Okay, okay.  I was fortunate enough on our first trip to Germany to get on an excursion into Berlin.  I had 6 hours of free time to walk around and explore and I spent the entire time doing just that.  

Tiergarten, an enormous public park located in the center of the city was once a fenced in hunting ground for the king but eventually turned into public gardens.  This central stretch of greenery is just what I needed after semi-aimlessly wandering crowded Berlin streets and congested points of interest.  Sometimes it’s just so nice to lay in the grass, stare at the sky and listen to music.  I wish I could have spent more time here but there was lots to see. 
 

Checkpoint Charlie

The topography of terror is a free outdoor museum/memorial located on the site of buildings that were once the headquarters of the Gestapo and SS.  Details the history of repression during under the Nazis.

The Holocaust Memorial consists of 2,711 concrete slabs in a grid pattern.  They were designed to produce an uncomfortable atmosphere representing a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.  It was truly something to sit on top of one of these slabs and have a moment of reflection.  A very uneasy feeling because it felt so much like a cemetery but was somewhat treated like a park by visitors.  Kids are chasing through the hallways of slabs and adults are resting upon the tops where the slabs are at a low enough height to climb on top of.  

Berlin Cathedral

Gotta love some street art.  If only we could fish out giant diamonds from the sea (Karsten Oaks).