Berlin: ベルリンお土産偏

ドイツには格安航空会社を利用したのであいにく手荷物だけしか持ち込めなかったので液体は買えず固体状のアーモンドペーストも取り上げられてしまった　汗。でもできる限りがんばりましたよ！

 

大半は食べ物、しかもインスタントラーメン笑　というのもスイスは加工食品は恐ろしく高い・・・例えばこのタイラーメン、現地のタイでは２０円ほどなのにスイスでは１０倍の２００円。ドイツでは６０円ほどだったので大量買い！

 ドイツで一番好きなパン：パンプニケル　
ライ麦で作られていてサワーブレッドの酸味があるので好き嫌いは分かれるけど体にはすごくいいし腹持ちがいいんです。ビスケットサイズのは長い講義の間に食べるおやつ用です♪

他にもリヒトクーヘンが大好きなので（シナモンのクッキーっぽいケーキ生地をチョコレートで包んでるケーキクッキー）大小とそろえました。

ドイツは多分世界一を誇るオーガニック大国。ところどころにオーガニック店があって値段も日本のようにバカ高くないので安心して買える。お茶類を何種類か買い込み。あと水に戻すとひき肉の食感になるベジタリアン肉も購入。これで麻婆茄子や野菜炒めに加えるとおいしいんです☆

もちろんお化粧品もそろえましたよ！
オーガニックが大半ですが、マスカラも　笑。スイスではドラッグストア系のマスカラも３０００円するんです！（＞＜）日本でもおなじみのヴェレダも本場では半額。このトリーバーチオイルはセルライトを消す効果もあるんだけど、香りがすっごくいいんです！毎日お風呂上りに足のマッサージに使ってます。

Berlin: Day 4

Luckily on my last day in Berlin, Carina had the afternoon off so we took some time to stroll around the city. The weather's been gloomy the whole time I was there but it's such a vibrant, colorful, and beautiful city never once was I bored of the scenery.

Asian food...finally Pho!!

We were initially going to end the night with some beers at a tradional German style beer garden type bar but somehow ended up buying some beers at a corner store to go up to the watchtower in a park to see the views of the city and then heading to a left-wing punk bar so hang out with the Berliner hipsters. Oh man, what a good night.

Berlin: Day 3

It was another day with me and the city. I went on my very own historical walking tour, starting off with the  most symbolic location: the Brandenburg Gate. I noticed a considerable number of people and media by the gate - at the time, jaded me figured there's always media lurking around in historical tourist sites in big cosmopolitan cities like Berlin. Little did I know at that time was that I just happened to go to Berlin one week before the commemoration of the 25th anniversary since the Berlin Wall came down. So naturally,  media all over the world were flocking over to catch a glimpse of the historical sites just before the ceremonial events.

Brandenburg Gate
Address: Pariser Platz, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Station:

I then walked over to the Memorial of Murdered Jews in Europe which was just behind the Brandenburg Gate. The various sizes of stone figures are impressive - it's magnificent and solemn at the same time. Under the memorial is a free museum. It was notable that a bunch of young Polish students were on field trip. It was interest to see them engaging in the multimedia and reading the photos of the young Polish Jews that were killed just merely a little more than half century ago. Just note of caution that although it is free, there is a comprehensive security process so may line up for a while before getting in so go early.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Address: Cora-Berliner-Straße 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Station: Brandenburg 
Entrace Fee: Free

The historical tour continues to Charlie Checkpoint in which was the gate point between American and Russian occupied areas of the city. Most interesting is that this area is now filtered with German and American franchise chains and nothing resonated of the old Soviet occupation of the area. One more thing to note that the intersection by the checkpoint doesn't have any stoplight, needless to say because none was needed as no cars or people could pass over it. Now being a bustling city, it makes it harder for pedestrians and cars to crossover as it still remains bare on the intersection.

Whew, made myself to dinner. We had a group dinner and as per request of Laura, Indian food :) As I'm usually deprived of eating out (Geneva is notoriously expensive and not good quality when it comes to eating out) this was a great treat. Bonus: local Indian level spiciness of Paneer Makhani! Heaven.

Berlin: Kebab

Kebabs are popular throughout Europe, but it seems to hold special meaning in Berlin where there's about 200,000 (close to 10% of the population!)  Turkish settlers who have moved into Germany starting from the post-war recovery of the 1960s. Hence not only is Kebab an ethnic food amongst the Turkish neighborhoods but has become infused in mainstream Berliner culture, especially during the wee hours after going out drinking. Whether drinking or not, I can have a kebab anytime. Freshly crunchy flat bread with fresh vegetables and thinly sliced fresh halal meat is just what I needed after being meat deprived in Switzerland. Plus it's about $2-4! This is way better than McDonalds for sure. I even had two kebabs one night....oops. Don't regret it at all!

look at this insanely good masterpiece!

I was even lucky enough to eat Mustafa's Kebab which many Berliners claim is THE best. Usually the line is about a 30-45 min wait but because we went there past midnight, a humongous warm kebab was in my hand within 10 minutes!
 
Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap 
Address: Mehringdamm 32, 10961 Berlin, Germany
Station: Mehringdamm 
Price: $ (about 2.7 Euros for a huge kebab) 

too busy eating...sorry it's not a very good picture :P

Berlin: Beer

Of course, I can't leave Berlin without having beer. I had my share of them but not nearly enough, there's so many of them! Here are a few of my favorites!