Showing posts with label Turkish market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turkish market. Show all posts

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Berlin day 2

Sleep number 7000, extra starch. That was James' description of our firm hostel beds and sheets.
There was a cute antique store next to pur hostel, full of old dishes and linens.
We walked through a beautiful park to get to a former Nazi-era building, tallest still standing in Berlin (much of the area has been rebuilt after bombing and ww2), now it is a US Air Force Base.
Walked thru fun districts, similar to San Francisco and Queen Anne,.old buildings, cute shopping.
We were walking along trying to find a book store for James, when we were told to stop, and.cross.the street. A movie was being filmed, so we stopped to watch... And all of a sudden we saw Vince Vaughn! After we watched a short scene, James yelled "yeah, Vince." Everyone but Vince looked over at us. Ha! We stole some sneaky photos on James' camera that we were told not to take!
On our bike tour, our guide had told.us to check out the Turkish market, which we did today. It was such a fun experience. So much culture, amazing displays of food, wares, and apparently no photos allpwed, oops! A nice man told me kindly that I was supposed to ask each merchant if I could take a photo. Now I know why some of.them looked at me funny... But it was beautiful.
In two days in Berlin, we walked over 25 miles, plus our 8 mile bike ride. we are all exhausted.
We went back to the Memorial to murdered Jews of europe museum, very touching and moving experience.
Walked through Brandenburg gate again, this time there was construction. So much changes in one day in this city!
Walked by the American embassy, and Jeff and James asked if they could go in, out of curiosity. An appointment is required.
We found a Biergarten afterwards to process the memorial/museum, and enjoyed schnitzel, currywurst, apple strudel, Bier, practicing our German, and discussing politics and culture! Wow.
Walked thru Grocery store to get snacks and bier for the night train. Always fun to find new things to try!
Oh, and we always needed to make sure we had .50 or 1 Euro on hand to use the bathroom. Mainly in train station, but on most public places too, unless you were eating somewhere.
Our first Night train. Sat for a while talking, waited for tickets to.get checked.and.drank beer and ate cheese, crakcers salami. A little crowded, woke up stinky and sweaty after walking all day and sleeping in a hot train. Now we are in Munich!
Photos: Turkish market

Monday, September 30, 2013

Day 1: Berlin

We woke up early this morning from jet lag, but all got great rest and were excited to start our first full day in Berlin!

Ate a quick breakfast at the hostel, then walked into the center of town via a pretty park, through some really interesting parts of town. Berlin has a large Turkish population, so there are plenty of Turkish markets, Turkish "pizzeria"and "kebap" places (thus, the choice in food from last night- a surprise, but soooo good). Realized we chose a hostel kind of far from where we spent most of our time today, but we have enjoyed seeing the diversity in the city and getting lots of walking in!

Took a bike tour from Fat Tire Bike Tours today - AWESOME! Hit the majority of the major points in the city, and we had a great tour guide who is originally from California (Most of their guides are native English-speakers). Learned a lot about pre-WWII Berlin, post WWII Berlin and Hitler's rise to power. Here are some highlight photos from our day! Ended with a great meal with traditional German food and bier, and enjoyed some bier from a freshly tapped barrel, signaled by a ringing of a bell!

On the bike tour, in front of The Reichstag

James giving a nice old man a high five

Enjoying the after-dinner walk with a pause in front of the Concert Hall