ich bin ein berliner

It's hard to believe that we've been in Berlin almost a week! We arrived last Sunday with, honestly, little expectations and even less research. Perhaps this is why we were completely smitten with the city from the start. So far we've taken in lots of WWII and Berlin Wall history - did you know that there were actually two walls with a "death strip" in between where East Berlin soldiers had shoot-to-kill orders for any trespassers? We didn't.

We've eaten some good Asian food (lots of ethnic cuisines here), sampled beers and food at some lovely beer gardens, survived a hail storm during our walking tour, lounged around parks, went to a happy hour at the U.S. Embassy (courtesy of our host) with probably the best view in the city, and ended up at an impromptu "open air" electronica party. Apparently there's lots of open air parties that spread virally and are often in fairly industrial parts of the city so that the noise doesn't disrupt anyone. The one we went to was across a bridge by a canal with some factories. About 300 people showed up and the party showed no signs of stopping when we left around 3am. We've having lots of fun in Berlin.

Some things about Berlin that make it really awesome:

• we're staying at a friend's kick-ass place in the heart of the city (thanks, Elizabeth!). this was formerly "no-man's land" and today cobblestones marking the east side of the berlin wall visible from our window
• very artsy - funky graffiti is considered street art, good music scene, lots of world-famous clubs (we haven't made it to one yet, but that's on the agenda)
• great architecture that's modern, unique, and often colorful
• fascinating recent history - ground zero for cold war / Berlin Wall
• good about confronting their past - things are not brushed under the rug. the memorials tend to be abstract and thought-provoking; sometimes the artist has stayed mumm about what he/she was thinking when designing the memorial - up to the viewer to decide
• very eco-conscious: people are pretty fanatic about recycling (e.g. at the open air party beers were sold with a ticket for 0.50 euro that served as your deposit for bringing back the glass), lots of bikers, green roof requirements for new buildings, organic products abound
• beer is fantastic (if you don't trust me, and I wouldn't necessarily, ask Matt!) I particularly like the grapefruit-flavored ones served in champagne-like flutes
• you can drink beer anywhere! in the park, metro, walking down the street...
• beer gardens everywhere, with absurd amounts of people biking to them. speaking of which...
• it's a very bike friendly city, esp. compared to DC. sometimes its seems there are more bikers than pedestrians on the street.
• apparently you can get naked and hang out in the parks - not sure if this is a plus!
• cheaper than Paris :)
• really, really good chocolate!

We're looking forward to a few more days in Berlin before heading off to the Greek islands on Wednesday!!

brandenberg gate at sunset

memorial to murdered jews in europe

the largest remaining section of the berlin wall(s) is about a mile long. over 100 artists from across the world have painted murals on this section - here's one mural

preserved section of berlin wall outside of where we are staying

bike parking for beer garden - located where the string of lights start

beer garden bratwurst in a hamburger bun makes matt very happy!

p.s. check out our "random pictures" page - we'll be adding more pics there