Shanghai Bob

I prepared for my vigil by sleeping late (which for me still means until 8:00a), then spent the day sight-seeing in Mitte, including Checkpoint Charlie and the wall-related sights.  Bookstores and such are open until midnight, so the evening was pretty normal until then.  From midnight until 3:00 I visited pubs and bars around Orangienburgerstrasse, where more and more colorful people crept out into the streets as the hour got later.  From 3:00-5:00 I walked from Mitte through Kreuzberg and Schöneberg, startling gangs of rabbits.  From 5:00-6:00 I ate breakfast in a 24-hour cafe, then fetched my bags from the previous night’s hotel and did my laundry.  At 8:30 I went to the airport and changed my ticket to Istanbul so I could go back to Freiburg for Imme’s birthday party.  I saw a lot more in that 24-hour period than I had in the previous two days, and I think I’ll make staying up all night a regular feature of future tours, depending on how safe the streets are.

Accommodation in Berlin for the four nights I was there:  €60, €399, €0, €89, which works out to a fairly high average — high enough that I’ll book my accommodation in advance the next time I visit a European capital.

This is the sort of sight that makes me think I would like to learn something about photo composition.  The snapshot gives some sense of how homey and welcoming the little stand at the base of the bombed-out cathedral looked, but the stained-glass rectangles on the modern church to the right are barely visible.

I saw this statue and the word Narr (”jester” or “fool”) popped into my head, though I don’t remember ever learning the word or looking it up in a dictionary.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 9:05 am and is filed under germany, travel.