Anyways, as far as my Berlin adventures today I was much more adventurous. I went on a mission to find a cheap prepaid German cellphone so I can communicate with my fellow teachers and any friends I make here in Berlin. It really is a cheap phone... Nokia 100 (look it up for a bit of a laugh, especially all of you who have iPhones).
So on this adventure my directions said head out of the hotel and go west down this specific street. Eventually you will hit a roundabout and if you continue through it you'll go down another street that will eventually lead you to Media Markt (Like BestBuy but maybe a tad bit cooler). Ok, I head out and I'm walking... and walking... Did I mention it's a bit cold, and there snow on the ground... and I'm walking... After about twenty minutes or so I start to question that I haven't run into the roundabout I need to go through... I stop and I realize, oops, must have gone the wrong way... Yup Berlin has not improved my sense of direction and I turned east instead of west... The upside to going the wrong way was that I got to see some new sites, I even saw the outside of my new apartment (which I move into tomorrow).
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| Lovely snowy park down the street I wandered down lost. |
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| Woody in the snow (this pic is for Kristy). |
So I eventually got myself turned around and headed back in the direction of my hotel. I stopped into my room to grab something I had forgotten and headed back out in search of my German phone. I wandered WEST this time, and as I passed many different stores I began to realize just how different of a city Berlin is from Seattle, or other US cities...
First off, I swear the bike paths (which run sometimes on the road, but mostly as a special sidewalk thing) may actually be nicer than the sidewalks. They even have lights for when it is safe for them to cross traffic. At times I realized I was being dumb and walking in the bike ways, and not on the sidewalks... oops. Also you have no idea how many people seem to ride bikes here. Obviously enough that they have special mini roads for them!
The next difference about this city is its lack of tall buildings... Well at least in my area (I'm not in the exact center so there may be taller buildings there).Many of the buildings only seem to be like 6 or 7 seven stories high, maybe a bit taller. There are a few taller buildings but they are few and far between, so they seem to command a bit more respect. Another thing about these buildings is that they are some of the oddest assembling of buildings I have ever seen. Some are very modern looking, others look to be an older more traditional setting. Some are a bit rundown, while others are absolutely beautiful. It is very strange. I plan to see more of the city as I go on, just so I can know if this is a common thing in Berlin.
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| My hotel, it is the third building over from the right. |
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| Buildings that are vastly different all built in a row. Not something you really see in our cities any more. |
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| Here was one building that I saw with this beautiful stone work design on top (a little hard to see in the picture but so cool). |
So after I wandered and enjoyed the sites of the different buildings I nearly cried with joy to discover that Berlin has a Mc Donalds AND a Domino's Pizza... Being homesick, I was able to get a Big Mac and it just made me feel so much better (I know that sounds dumb, and a big mac is a pathetic comfort food, but hey that's who I am). After wolfing down my very American food, I got my phone (the store was in the same area as the Mc Donalds) and headed back to the hotel.
I stopped at a grocery store on my way back and was over joyed to find foods that I recognized... I bought myself some Powerade and Frosted flakes (they are called Frosties here). It was such a joy to carry out food that I love from home. I may have looked like an idiot, but holding on to the small joys in life is what will make this time a bit easier being away from home.
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| Woody (who did go with me today) poses with the food that made my day! |
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