Berlin baby, Berlin

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  Berlin, Germany
Thursday, June 15, 2006

--The Day in Superminimalist Summary Style (SMSS)--

Departure time from Munich: 23.05
Woke Up on the train: 6.30
Arrival time in Berlin: 7.15
Time spent wandering around Hautbaunhof Train Station, figuring out where to go: .30
Travel time to hostel: .25
Time spent waiting on/haggling with the clerk at the hostel: .35
Amount of Water collected from bathroom sink to quench parched throat: 1.0L
Amount of water poured out in the street upon realization it was rather yellow: 0.85 L
Time spent in Pergamonmuseum: 4.00
Time Matt wanted to spend in the Pergamonmuseum: .30
Time Jon wanted to spend in the Pergamonmuseum: 13.00
Final score in the Spain-Ukraine World Cup match: 4-0
Time to write a normal entry: .10

--OK, so we got in pretty early this morning and were immediately, incredibly confused about how to get to Warshaurstraat, our stop

amazing portrait of Jesus

. Fortunately, I dont bide much by Tim Allen standup, and had no masculine qualms about asking the tourist lady how to get where we were going, and we got there. So, our hostel--there was some trouble getting it as we booked it only a few days ago, and its world cup, so it is kinda in the far east part of Berlin, but thats fine cuz its all subway accessible--anyway, our hostel is overrun with little high school kids decked out with German flags and singing songs and being boisterous, and we all decided it made us feel very old (you know, like 35 or something), cuz well, we were annoyed by it all. But Im sure Germanys victory over Poland will quiet them down for the night.

So after we got set up(and it is a good thing we managed to get a room for all four of us for tonight--tomorrow i think we move into a bunk room for 8--since we got a private bath, and the alternative is the community Y shower scenario with 0 privacy in the shared showers. The girls had a moral objection to this, but Jon and I said we could bare it. (I thought that up myself [yeah it was a pun (haha)]). Anyway, after we dropped our stuff off at the hostel, we couldnt check in yet, we headed to the center of the city, and went to "Museum Island", which is where there are like 3 or 4 museums tucked on this bit of land between two arms of the Spree. Jon really had to go to this Pergamonmuseum, with tons of stolen artifacts from antiquity

ball and arch

. Stuff from Assyria, Mesopotamia, and the Acropolis, specifically the museum's namesake piece, the Pergamon Altar. I admit that it is pretty cool seeing all these multithousand year old objects in one place is cool, but I just dont get the same kick out of it Jon does. What I did get a kick out of was the fact that there were about 3 security guards in every room and they were intent on keeping absolute, efficient, German order in every facet of your visit. For instance, when I tried to sit on the stairs, I was directed to sit on a bench in another part of the room. When Jill and I sat on the bench, we were directed not to cross our legs and to keep both feet on the floor. Yeah.

--Now I'd like to interrupt myself to address an issue I'm not sure I've covered. You may have noticed from the photo coverage that this little yellow Pokemon character keeps showing up. This was a little gift slipped into my luggage by my youngest sister, Anna, and we've been treating him to our globetrotting shennanigans--

So, for my final offense, I decided to take a picture of Pikachu looking out from atop the reconstructed Pergamon Altar, at the masterpiece Greek mythology frieze and crowd below. But an ever vigilant German security guard intercepted me quickly

Bode Museum jumpers

. I told him that I merely placed Pikachu on the altar column for a second to take a picture. And he looked at me with the most incredulous, disdaining stare I have ever been faced with and just walked away. So I got the pic, and I hope you enjoy it. My pride shrunk 3 sizes that day.

So after the museuming, we were all museumed out, and we went for some delicious, high-tech, low-fat, new-age chinese fusion grub. It was good. Then we walked about and headed to the famous Brandenburg Arch, and the Tiergarten (another HUUUUGE German park). What we didnt count on is this area had been turned into a fair, with kiosks and beerstands and tons of huge plasma TVs showing the matches. We watched half of the Spain-Ukraine match, and since the US was a dissappointment I was really happy to see Spain trounce Ukraine. And basically that's the major points for today. It's almost midnight, and it's been a long day, but we really like Berlin, although it lacks a lot of Munich's small-town charm. I dont think we're sure what we're doing tomorrow, but we'll probably see the remainder of the Berlin wall and maybe another museum.

Auf wiedersehen,

Matt

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

In the Tiergarten	Jon and Jill and a FANTASTIC Indian place	Jon underlines da museum title	Lady Liberty peace bear
Lady Nike	Pikachu helps me finish my beer	Pikachu studies the Pergamon Mosaic	The library
Wilhelm	World Cup peace bears

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