April 19-28 Munich and Berlin

I probably should have written my Germany chronicles is small batches. Tonight is the evening of the 27th and I’m getting ready by packing my stuff for an early train back to Amsterdam. So we left Zermatt for Munich back on the 19th. We took the Eurorail and the shortest train was about 6 hours with at least four train changes. We were getting the hang of train travel and looking for platforms with five minutes to transfer. Everything worked out and we got to Munich around 3pm and we checked into the Europaisher hotel across the street from the Muensch HBF. A total gamble but one of the best priced and clean hotels ever. It was a pleasant experience so centrally located we checked in and then went to look for food. We found a Turkish restaurant nearby and had some good food. This turned out to be a trend cross Europe. Not sure that I will have a kebab or anything like it for a bit. Munich was surprisingly diverse with lots of north and sub Saharan Africans abound. We then showered and went to bed ready for our 7am train ride to Berlin. This was truly a travel day. I can’t remember if we did anything else but I do remember that it was cold and rainy. A theme that continued during our stay in Berlin until the last two days. We get to the Berlin train station and I thought we would take an Uber but my husband said we would take the train to our hotel. It turned out to be a valuable experience that helped us get comfortable with our neighborhood, near the east gallery wall in Kreuzburg/Friedrichshine. We checked into the NHow music hotel and my husband picked up a piano and we headed up to our pink themed room. We immediately dropped our bags and looked for food. We found some kebab food stalls nearby and picked the worst one. We don’t speak German and the guy that was in the hall didn’t speak English was told us what we should have and when we tried to change one element of our order he slammed the bread down and was going to throw it all out. It was like a Seinfeld scene with the food nazi. We ate what we could and left making a point to avoid these kebab joints alone. We rested for a bit then went out for dinner. All we wanted at this point was a good salad. We found this chain called Peter Pane and they had salads and burgers. We would eat there for three consecutive days. We also mapped out where our music venues were located then we turned in. On Sunday the 21st we enjoyed our wonderful free breakfast and then we went into Friedrichshain to a wash box to do our laundry. We ate lunch near the laundromat and then went home and enjoyed drinks at our hotel. That evening we made our way to the Beeghain to see Lime Garden. When we arrived I saw this long meandering line and thought it was to our show but learned a bit about the Berghains three night party where people waited days and all things go down at this club. Our show was at the Canteen near a smaller and more intimate portion on the property. We ate at Peter Pane before the show. The next day we had our breakfast went back to the room and rest for an for then left to see the East side Gallery. We had lunch at Deans and David and went to check out YAAM a multicultural African and Jamaican center. It was at the spree and had little shacks they designed like we were at the beach. We went to Cassiopeia that night to see Bier Babes. They were not as great as Lime Garden but it was nice now the less. The 23rd was quiet and we rested, drank, ate great Vietnamese food at the mall and had a terrible dinner at the Italian restaurant called L’Osteria. We went to Astra Hause and spent 85 euros to see Declan McKenna- the guy at the door kindly asked us if we knew what we were signing up for. Yes, the most syrupy singer that we kept waiting for nd don’t realize he was the one performing all along. That night I get an email from my colleagues that they filed a complaint about our boss… this was bringing me back into the mess of work. The next day on the 24th we went to the national gallery to see a really great exhibition on Josephine Baker. We took the train and got familiar with other parts of Berlin. We had tickets to see a post punk band called Dry cleaning. This was back at the Berghain- the main building and it was a good show and they prohibited use of cameras. Everyone smokes in these venues so washing my locs everyday and my clothes are so Smokey and I forgot what it was like to be in venues that allowed cigarette smoking inside. On the 25th we kept it quiet had dinner of food ribs at Tony Romas and stayed at our hotel and saw local artists performing. I should say that Berlin was so cold up until this point with rain, clouds and hail. The next day on the 26th we went to the Berlinische gallery- we walked 4 miles to get there and enjoyed a small museum in Kreuzeberg and found a great Vietnamese lunch spot called Mama Heart where I had some great dim sum. It was a great meal which has been tricky but we have figured out how to find veg options. That night we took an Uber to Clash to hear some ska and rock. This was the smokiest of all the venues but was a nice venue similar to our old haunts like TT the Bear in Cambridge of old. Prior to the show we killed some time and had snacks at a Tibetan restaurant- guess that part of town was called old Tibet- also lots of Nepalese food options were around. Our final full day was the best weather day hitting 70 degrees so we walked the spree, went back for salads at Dean and David and walked the east side gallery sat at the YAAM beach lol and went back to our hotel for free drinks. We had our final dinner at a good Italian restaurant La Cesta where we had margarita pizza, tiramisu, minestrone and arugula salad. Not in that order but very delicious. We did not go out that night. But got ready for our 8am train where I’m finite this blog.