Ich bin Berliner...

...maybe not quite a Berliner but I am here in Berlin but I am no dounut. I was able to get a second ticket on the train out of Amsterdam; Deutsche Bahn says that they will refund the first ticket after I send them a copy of the second ticket and a copy of the police report. Anyway, I arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, big pretty building, completed in 2005. From there I switched over to the S Bahn and took it a couple of stops to the Savignyplatz Station and came across my hosts, Manuela and Regina, in a restaurant called the 12 Apostles.

As they were looking in one direction for my arrival, I came up behind them because I had taken a side exit and came out a block or so west from where they assumed I would exit. Waliking along the sidewalk I approached one woman who stepped out of the shop she was working in and mumbled something about 12 apostles and she gave me a funny look and replied S-Bahn? and proceeded inside still with her funny look. I can only imagine how I must have looked.

Proceeding down the sidewalk some more I took a different approcah to a woman who was digging flowers , "Bitte, ich muss meine Freunde an 12 Apostles finden. Wissen Sie wo es ist?" She was much more forthcoming and pointed me in the right direction, "Um die Ecke rechts. Savyngplatey, links." Big grin from me, "Danke, sehr." Very soon after that I was walking up behind Manuela and Regina.

We had something to eat and then a nice walking tour a couple of blocks over to the area where the other Manuela is letting me stay in her apartment for 8 weeks. Her place is in an area known as Charlottenburg. Having a very restful sleep I got up the next morning, ready to go.

I first went around the corner and ordered ein Kaffee mit Milch und ein Buttercrossaint from a very nice man behind the counter. Sitting out in front of the place I saw that across the street in the Karl August Platz, the Wochenmarkt was going on in this sqaure within which there was also a church. I bought some Erdbeere (strawberries) und Käse und Äpfel.



While purchasing the strawberries, one Berliner welcomed me here and said, I think, we Berliners may have big snouts (mouths/noses?) but we also have big hearts. I thanked her. Maybe I will see her next Saturday at the market. Latter in the day I returned to this area as the market was breaking down and went to a near grocery and picked up some brot und anschnitt und bier.




During most of the day I walked a short distance to the Kufürstendamm, a main business center, marked by the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche. On the way I came across a street vender, name Peter, selling leather wristbands that were nice. I bought one from him that had naked greek soldiers battling etched into one side...on the other, the image of of a Minoan catapulting over a bull.

From there I shopped for some books on German language to replace my collection that was stolen. I had some Currywurst and a Becks Pilsner under the shade of a street vender. I started heading back toward the Kantstrasse but took a long time doing it.

In the evening, I searched out this Internet cafe...although I don't think they serve any food or drink. This internet cafe is just around the corner (um die Ecke) but it took me some time to find it because I walked in the opposite direction for awhile. The addresses are not numbered like in the states. Here, they run like 1 to 100 up one side and then 100 up to 200 on the other. I'm assuming that sort of pattern repeats itself at greater increments the further one goes. It was a nice walk.