A month in Berlin, 2017

Headed today to Berlin for a few weeks. Any tips for deeper experiences for locals? I've done tourist Berlin a few times.

19 hours later, arrived Berlin. Can't decide if it's one long day or two short ones.

Which country am I in again?

Berlin, Germany of course.

Happiness is a frustrating day in rainy Berlin capped by finding a nice Alsatian restaurant in your new neighborhood.

Hugely frustrating trying to get a local SIM card in Germany. Problem #1: requires ID, stores won't sell to Americans at all.

2: websites, etc in German
3: mobile app not available in US store which my phone is locked to
4: US credit cards not accepted
etc.

Ken is shopping up a storm at the Saturday market in Kollwitzplatz. Check out these Steinpilzen.

Berlin life: trying the tiny euro washer/drier. Wash up to 11lbs of clothes, sorta-half-dry up to 6. America does some things better.

Berlin update: 3 hours to *wash* the 11 pounds of clothes. Another 2.5 hours to dry half of them.

Berlin update: trying to figure out how to turn on the induction stove. (Fish out of water comedy edition.) cookersandovens.co.uk/blog/how-to-unlock-a-neff-induction-hob

Homecooked Berlin dinner success. Kalb Geschnetzeltes not Steinpilzen, salad, French cheese. Ausgezeichnet!

Tourist boat on the Spree.

Prenzlauer Berg near our apartment.

Berlin adventures: laundry service run by an Engliah expat, makes things simple. And pizza on Kastanienallee.

Nearby subway is named Senefelderplatz after the man who invented lithography. Name is backwards on the statue. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alois_Senefelder

Uncle Ben's gone ethnic. Greek, Mexican, Indian, Thai...

Some street art and other Berlin imagery.

Watching 1943 Nazi film of Titanic commissioned by Goebbels. On German TV. #awkward. (Contextualized appropriately) en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1943_film)

Can report that entitled people acting obnoxiously in organic grocery stores is a cultural universal. #BioLife

Berlin signs: Pirat Party, U-Bahn Knorke.

One full week in Berlin. On the edge between "must do all the things" and "sit at home and chill". Current status: Schlomo's Bagels.

Some Berlin snaps: informal monument to terrorism victims, Greek classical art, Rathaus, Kulturbrauerei.

Berlin politics keepin' it real.

More signs in Berlin.

I've gamely tried to drink German red wine and it is all just terrible. Blaufränkish, Zweigelt, a Cabernet. Should I give up?

Had a great time visiting the opening of @UrbanNationBln today, excellent street art museum. somebits.com/weblog/culture/travel/berlin2017/urban-nation.html

It's funny; I think of the Berlin Wall as a wall around East Berlin. But of course it was a wall around the West. google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=19OMZvuXI0bNyCy-tEzsEglB7UmY&hl=en&ll=52.511274228829706%2C13.341912397094688&z=11

Another thing I've gotten used to in Berlin: no mentally ill people menacing people on the street. San Francisco should take notes.

When radio was magic. #Berlin.

Neukölln doors and mosaics.

Neukölln mosaic map, in the Rathaus (sorry for the crappy photo)

Former East Berlin day: giant apartment blocks, Stasi museum, and a restaurant where the only item on offer is a bowl of soup.

The Stasi museum is intense. Lots of specific stories about informers, with names and photos.

Bicyclists have nothing to lose but their chains! (East Berlin protest poster by Henning Wagenbreth, 1989).

Today's Berlin plan: East Side Gallery, Oberbaumbrücke, and a Döner Kebab.

Currywurst may be the Official Berlin Snack but it's still basically a hotdog with ketchup. Ken had a good one though, curry in the meat.

Photos from my street art tour of Friedrichshain today. Some from RAW Gelände, some from the East Side Gallery. flickr.com/photos/nelsonminar/sets/72157686385053800

Sanssouci, the Great Gay King's pleasure palace. Who says all Prussians are stiff?

Germany's election is Sunday and it seems so calm and orderly. They do an interesting variant of proportional voting lisacharlotterost.github.io/2017/09/20/German-elections

All over Berlin I find Bionade, a bottled soda pop. Organic, naturally fermented, not too sweet. German kombucha? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionade

First time I've seen an AfD poster in Berlin. High on a pole in Prenzl'berg. They are the deplorable far right party. /cc @nickstenning

Starting to understand the cult of Döner Kebap. One perfect bite of spicy sauce, meat, and grease soaked into bread. Just fantastic.

Current status: watching the Berlin Marathon on the Internet because I couldn't be bothered to travel 20 minutes in the rain to see it live.

German polls closed; early exit polls suggest a strong showing for AfD, the far right wing deplorable party. dw.com/en/german-election-exit-polls-angela-merkels-cdu-csu-325-spd-20-afd-135-fdp-105-greens-95-left-party-9/a-40660750

DDR museum by the German state at the Kulturbrauerei. More critical and less nostalgic about East Germany than the private DDR museum.

Some objects from the German Historical Museum.

Ken enjoying some fine dining at Konnopke's. (I still say currywurst is basically a hot dog with ketchup).

Some Berlin street art from around Eberswalder Ecke.

@fischkai I learned a new German word this week. Altweibersommer!

Render ghosts, Bärlin style. (Flussbad Spree).

@mwichary not all odd typewriter keys are happy symbology.

Some Berlin photos near the Märkische Museum.

Anti-Google sticker, ubiquitous in Berlin. From @saschalobo

Ken and Evelyne cleaning mushrooms.

Theft ATM in Berlin subway. 5€ fee, 200€ max withdrawal, dark UI patterns to trick you into 0.78 exchange rate to USD. (Should be 0.85).

Me. Also me.

A currywurst flammkuchen. It's an even worse idea than it sounds.

Engagement on currywurst pizza! Good: the sauce tastes like tikka masala. Bad: sauce is sweet, french fries don't belong, not enough curry.

@japh44 Berliner Republik, a fairly touristy Berlin wirtshaus near Friedrichstrasse U-bahn. I like the place. die-berliner-republik.de

More from the Alte Nationalgalerei.

Pergamon museum, near east antiquities.

Pergamon museum, art from the Islamic world.

More fine Berlin dining. Hoppel-Poppel, a sort of omelette analog. Egg, potato, pork. With a pickle natürlich.

Monument to Murdered Jews. Extraordinary landscape architecture, very upsetting.

At that point of a trip where I'm looking forward to being home. Berlin is still great, but seeing the end of our stay.

Fancy pants dinner at FACIL for Ken's birthday.

Bibimbap at the Memory Cafe, a funky little hole in the wall at Senefelderplatz.

German refrigerators have a feature where if you leave the door open for more than a minute, an alarm shrieks at you.

Remarkably good Kalbshaxe at Luther & Wegner. Slow cooked veal knuckle like barbeque, rich demiglace flavored with keffir lime leaf (!).

Gemäldegalerei paintings: Caravaggio Cupid, Therbusch self portrait, mousetrap, flute.

Gemäldegalerei paintings. Various scenes with many small figures.

Gemäldegalerei paintings. Expressive faces.

Fellow map nerds of the #GISTribe: have you been to the Berlin city model museum? Is it at least mildly interesting? stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/planen/stadtmodelle/index_en.shtml

The Berlin city models were, indeed, mildly interesting. Nice depiction of post-reunification construction.

Some snaps from the (kinda boring) Bode Museum.

Bought tickets for Blade Runner 2049 in Berlin! $19, but that's a reserved seat in IMAX/3d and in English. cinestar.de/de/kino/berlin-cinestar-original-im-sony-center/kinoprogramm/blade-runner-2049

Feeling nauseated at the Topography of Terror museum. It is a difficult place, but important and well done. The US needs one about slavery.

More Berlin street art. CAZ.L, BeastieStylez, Kamlaurene

Lachsschinken. Like lox, only made from ham instead of salmon. cooksinfo.com/lachsschinken-ham

That thing where you pack up after a five week trip and realize you never used a quarter of the stuff you brought.

Last dinner in Berlin at Pasternak, a Russian/Ukrainian/Jewish restaurant in the Kiez we like. Sad to be leaving.

17 hour travel day but I'm back from Berlin and have a cocktail in my hand and a trashy American pizza on the way. Mexi breakfast planned.

Man San Francisco is a dump