Wow! It’s amazing how wonderful I feel after a full 8 hours sleep. I don’t honestly remember how long it’s been since that’s happened. With the wear and tear of the last few days my body really needed the rest and time to repair.
We took our time getting ourselves together this AM. I WhatsApp’d with Kenji as he was getting ready to go to bed Sat. night/Sun. AM here. We finally left the room about 9:30 am slowly made our way to our frühstuck place. I decided the müseli was too large for what I wanted today. There was a smaller cup with what looked like yogurt and berries in it. I inquired and was told it was milk rice. Hmmm… ok. I’ll try that along with a French danish which turned out to almond paste inside. Mom had a pasta salad with a yummy sauce/dressing. We both had lattes.
She wanted to find a gift she had seen last week for a friend so we went to the store and got there as the man was bringing items out to the sidewalk, setting up for his day. Mom found the item she wanted and called me inside to see the books. The whole store was full of books in English. This appears to be an alternative bookstore as all the books were about support for feminism, LGBTQIA+ lifestyles as well as resistance against fascism and authoritarianism. It was exciting and we spent a few mins perusing the titles. I took some pictures as I know I do not have any space/weight allowance to bring any of them home with me.
We then inquired back at our hotel about the nearest Post Office to mail our item to Manfred that we had hoped to give him in person. We followed the instructions and then got more detailed directions as we got close. We found the store (think small 7-11) that also had a PO and DHL shop inside. Our first package of a padded envelope believed would be the right size was too small. That’s a package we opened had to pay for that didn’t get to use. We opened another larger package and addressed it, put our item inside and felt relief to have that task off our To Do list.
Returning to the room for a change of clothes was an indication of how much warmer it is today than it has been the last few days. Today is a day of being slow and easy. We went back to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church as I realized there was a picture I wanted from the pictorial history inside that I wanted. Then we hoped on an S-bahn as it’s the only form of public transportation we haven’t been on yet. We’re looking forward to it’s above ground vs. the U-bahn that is like a subway, underground. At the Zoo stop we chose the S7 and rode it all the way to its end. We passed through the city and into a forest, Grunewald, and into the city Potsdam. The S7 stopped in Potsdam. We got off and realized that the same train was the one that would be heading back in 6 mins. So we reboarded and rode it back until a new stop where we changed S-bahns to another headed in a different direction so we could so parts of Berlin we hadn’t yet seen. Our destination this time was a potato-centered restaurant I found online that says it has Reibekuchen (potato pancakes) on its menu. After emerging from the station we found the Memorial to the 3 axis powers soldiers who lost their lives after WWII was over who risked their lives for the air lifts to drop supplies into West Berlin. The Soviets were shooting at the pilots who flew over East Berlin airspace. The Memorial is set in a lovely park. We paused and admired the Memorial and paid our respects as we read the names. We walked momentarily over to the Telgal Airport no longer in operation before walking back through the Memorial park and out towards our potato destination. If you know my Mom, you know she is a potato lover. But, I must confess, this destination and pursuit of the potato pancake is all my doing this time. We found the street and the restaurant. We also found it was closed. Permanently. What??? My research online didn’t give any indication of that! Drat and double drat! This desire would not be fulfilled this trip.
We took the U-bahn to another U-bahn and got back to the hotel. A bottle of cold water later and some more internet research, we decided to go back to the Biergarten wee visited last week and would order different items. I was eager for more German food. We walked there in short time and found the Biergarten side open serving beer and sausages in rolls, but the restaurant side was closed. What??? This was just not my day to accomplish culinary desires ass my time in Berlin winds down! Mom asked at the food counter if the restaurant was closed for the day or would open shortly at 6 pm. It was closed for the day, we were told. *sigh*. The woman behind the counter was very kind and recommended a nearby restaurant that serves German food and gave us directions. We found it in a relatively short amount of time and it was open! We were shown to a table on the sidewalk, which we had hoped for and were asked if we’d like menus in English. That obvious? Yes, please.
They actually had the same items on their menu that we had planned to order at the Biergarten restaurant. Hurrah! Mom ordered goulash which came with rotkohl and potato dumplings. I had boiled meatballs in a caper sauce. While that may not *sound* appetizing, it really was better than it sounded! It came with potatoes and a beet salad. While the potatoes were nothing to write home about (or blog extensively about) when I dragged a forkful through the caper sauce, it was yummy! The beet salad however, was less impressive, canned shoestring beets with a few grates of carrot and a minuscule amount of parsley sprinkled over. Meh. The Berliner Weisse was yummy and Mom said her lemonade with herbs was interesting. The woman serving us was kind and patient with us and our questions.
We stopped for an Eis (ice cream) on the way back. I was rather proud of myself that I ordered without Moms help and the man behind the counter didn’t reply to me in English! I had a small single scoop of dark chocolate raspberry ice cream. Oh my gosh! I wish I had stopped here before! This was one of the best bites of the trip!
We returned to the room to blog, and to practice packing/weighing our luggage. Mom flew out here with KLM and her ticket included a checked bag. I flew out on Lufthansa and we are returning on Lufthansa. To avoid checking a bag (an extra $85) our suitcases must weigh less than 8kg (17.5 lbs.). I did that coming out, but have now made souvenir purchases. My suitcase weighs 19.5 lbs. Oops! But it’s not as much as Mom’s which is 22.5 lbs. Yikes! Some more jockeying and shifting of items will need to take place at the airport hotel tomorrow night.
Mom is researching how to get to the airport hotel where we’ll stay tomorrow night, as well as how to get to the Studentendorf, where she lived her Junior year of college here.
My journey today has been one of being nice to my feet, despite the 17,000 steps we did, of culinary disappointment and preparing to return home.
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