Berlin top Ten.

recently a friend asked for some tips for visiting Berlin.  i’ve made a practice of visiting the city every summer for five years now, and while i’m no expert, i do have a few faves to pass on.  without further ado – i present – my top ten.  (and in no particular order)

1.  Ride the 6-man bike at Brandenburg Gate and then tour the dome of the Reichstag:

the bike ride is a bargain, usually 1 euro (about $1.50) and if the driver is a character (they usually are) you’ll take a hair-raising ride around the block in front of the Brandenburg gate, narrowly missing curbs and spectators while screaming and laughing hysterically.  The tour in the dome at the Reichstag (the capital) is free and quite good but be willing to wait in line up to 2 hours!  (unless you’ve got a child with a stroller, then you can cut the line).  free headphones are available in multiple languages which will guide your walk up and around to the top where you’ll take in a panorama of the entire city.  night or day, its a worthwhile visit.

2.  visit the candy display at the Galeria at Alexanderplatz: (oh yeah and check out the tv tower, the shopping mall Alexa and the world clock among other things)

Alexanderplatz is home to the iconic tv tower which once controlled the only broadcasts available to all of East Berlin.  it also boasts the world clock (from ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ film) a shopping mall and a huge department store called the Galeria.  visit the ground-floor of the Galeria to see, smell and taste an eye-popping variety of gummies, chocolates and other goodies.  or ride the escalators to find such quintessential souvenirs as the Berlin bears or ampelmann apparel.

3. head around the corner to Hackescher Markt for bubble tea, artisan shops and the Amplemann store!

Hackescher Markt is just a few blocks from Alexanderplatz and usually boasts an outdoor market as well as a variety of artisan stores where you can window shop for all kinds of expensive and designer goods.  There’s also a starbucks and a bubble tea place – you might have to ask someone to point you in the right direction from the main station.  and in case you didn’t get your fill of the ampelmann at the Galeria there is a licensed ampelmann store here as well.  the ampelmann is a popular icon in east Berlin – he is the little crosswalk man that indicates whether to ‘walk’ or to ‘stop’.  when the wall fell they were going to change all the East Berlin ampelmann into Western ones.  but the people protested and he has stayed to the delight of Berliners and visitors alike.  (you might have noticed him marching across the top of my blog!)

4.  gnosh at Mustafa’s and Curry  36:

Lecker!  this word means ‘delicious’ in German and these two street foods most certainly are!  Two of the very best versions of these foods are found on the same block next to the Mehringdamm bahn (train) station.  Curry 36 makes currywurst – basically a grilled sausage sliced and topped with a tomato curry sauce that goes perfect with pommes, er fries.  and Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap makes a döner kebap (a Turkish sandwich not unlike a gyro) which is worth waiting in the hour-long line for.  in fact, i’d probably wait two!  this particular döner is unique because it is filled with roasted vegetables that make it absolutely scrumptious.  other stands usually serve only raw veggies.  you can opt to add chicken, feta, and as many of the three sauces (scharf – spicy, krauter – herb, or knoblauch – garlic) as you want.

5.  walk Bergmannstrasse for its funky wares, cafes, organic market and photobooth:

Just down the street from Curry 36 and Mustafa’s is Bergmanstrasse, another great place to walk, people watch, shop, or just sit at a cafe and relax.  A few blocks from Mehringdamm on the left is an indoor organic market (with a public restroom!) and on the same side street is an ‘old fashioned’ black and white photo booth.  a little off the beaten path, Bergmanstrasse is the perfect place to capture a less-touristy glimpse of Berlin.

6.  Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg Concentration Camp:  location 35 km north of Berlin:

while visiting a concentration camp might not be your first choice for a good time it is a place worth visiting both to better understand some of the history that defines the region as well as to simply remember what happened.  Sachsenhausen was a Nazi concentration camp operating mainly from 1936 until 1945. While it was primarily intended for political prisoners of war it also housed people from a variety of backgrounds, lifestyles and nationalities. ‘Arbeit macht frei’, ironically the phrase: ‘Work sets you free’, is built into the main gate. This popular philosophical phrase was adopted by the nazi party and cryptically incorporated into the gates at several camps during world war II. By memorializing such places, we hope to honor the memory of those that suffered so as to never forget, or repeat these horrific events.

7.  if you’re in town on a Sunday head over to the Mauerpark flea market for some bargain shopping and karaoke!

the Mauerpark (or wall park), located in the Prenzlauer Berg district, is distinct among Berlin’s green spaces as a hangout for hipsters, a canvas for graffiti art (along its ample strip of the former wall) and even a spot for nightlife in the summer.  and the Sunday flohmarkt (flea market) is guaranteed to please.  snack on something ethnic or organic and freshly made as you pick your way through aisles of trash and treasure.  hunt for bargains and even barter for that perfect funky vintage or handmade item to remind you of your visit.  or if your pocketbook is pleading take a break and step over to the lawn to watch the karaoke.  you never quite know whom you’ll hear – or what they might be singing – but the crowd always has a good time.  go ahead and you-tube it if you have any doubt!

8. Napol Jonska – ready to rest those aching feet, grab a bite and sneak in a little people watching?

not terribly far from the Mauerpark on kastanienallee you will find the most lovely little cafe, Napol Jonska.  sit in the open window to people watch as you sip an exquisite (trust me i’m a barista) latte macchiato and deliberate over the English ‘Menue’ between sweet and savory crepes, waffles or a gelato.  or select slice of curried pie or a sugary sweet from behind the counter.  whatever you choose you will not be disappointed.  linger quietly in the cafe or make a splash and check out the (working) old fashioned pump out front.

9.  Potsdam – in the mood to explore a neighborhood of palaces and gardens?

Potsdam is a popular day-excursion for Berlin’s visitors.  once known as a home to kings and emperors it offers kilometer after kilometer of scenic lawns, gardens and historically significant sites.  you can get there easily by train from Berlin, a relatively short ride (24 km) outside the city.  you could search out a guided tour or better yet, be your own guide (free!) and inspire your imagination as you take lots of pretty pictures.

10.  Zoologischer Garten – the zoo, shopping and the bombed out church and memorial:  grab a mouth-watering macaroon at a local bake-shop and get your walking shoes on!

see the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, better known as the ‘bombed out church’ as it stands today and visit the monument next door.  light a candle and pray for peace.  peruse some of the shops that line the square.  or head over to the zoo where the animals won’t mind whether or not you ‘sprecht Deutsch’.  and i’ve forgotten the name but if you find the Dunkin’ Doughnuts visit the bakery next door instead and score yourself a luscious macaroon.

I hope you visit Berlin soon, and often!  even if you chance only a short stay i recommend investing in a good map.  for about $10 at most tourist shops you can pick up a smartly folded map of the entire city made by Falk.  its less obtrusive than traditional maps and has a transit page.  with it you can venture most anywhere confidently.  within Berlin, of course.

and finally, here is a slightly ridiculous ‘walking plan’ of the above itinerary.  it isn’t entirely suitable for walking but it made more sense than a driving itinerary:

40 days of gratitude – day 24: when a loved one develops cancer.

i do not mean to imply in any sense of the word that i am grateful for life threatening diseases.  cancer and its trails of havoc have touched up against my life a time or two – but this time it is intensely personal – my mom has been diagnosed with stage two invasive breast cancer.  she waited at first, for a few days, to tell me because we were away and it was my graduation weekend.  and so it was early on a Sunday morning, Mother’s Day actually, that she broke the news.

i apologize if i have not done well at contacting folks and sharing this with all the various networks and friends i have collected over the years.  the desire to express this journey is a funny thing – fickle – fleeting.  at times words, they fail us.  but i thank you anyway for your concern and your understanding.  my mom, she is a feisty lady, and they say her prognosis is pretty good.  she certainly hasn’t canceled any plans whether that means visiting a ministry in Brooklyn last weekend or going on a family cruise next month.  she even spent last night baking cupcakes to take to her surgical team!

here’s where the gratitude sets in.  everything is different.  every moment is a gift.  that boring day at home is now an opportunity to be together.  these moments have always been numbered – here on earth – but the reality of this is finally really real.  it is now much harder to take my mom for granted.

tomorrow she is having surgery to remove the lump that all this fuss is about.  we’ll also learn more about her continuing treatment and whether to expect radiation or chemo or both over the coming months.  we are both trusting God to see us through to whatever outcome – but we’d still love to have your ongoing prayers and especially tomorrow during her surgery.  her name is Sue.

thanks and with love.

hometown vivaldi – or – the 23nd day of gratitude: the praxis of poetry

grey dominates the palette here

where deserted and disappointing parking lots

wait vainly for visitors and salt stays

thickly upon their backs, like so many broken-down

skating rinks – pale, and ringed in lights.

~impressions of my hometown in winter

 

upstate the groundhog gave his word

yet breezes flirt and threaten fickle gardens,

grudgingly give way to rains and raise writhing night-crawlers

the hyacinth, forsythia eke hospitable hellos

in relief for noisy spring we shed this winter’s throes.

~impressions of my hometown in spring

 

school out, children shout and play from dawn to dusk

where windows are down, music is loud, and hot pavements radiate

such chlorinated waves are washing bodies drenched in daylight,

til savories and charcoals waft, mingling with the newly mown

while calloused feet chase jingling trucks and beg off bed at home

~impressions of my hometown in summer

 

crisp blues, harvest hues blaze the broadened sky

and sun-kissed days give way to nights and morns imbued

of frosty embraces. brilliant vermillions, kellies

and canaries – these colors now temper dull suburbian perfection.

with indifferent eyes my neighbors rake and take it all away.

~impressions of my hometown in fall

40 days of gratitude – day 22: little children

there’s something about spending time with a small child – it puts everything in a new light.  grown-ups are plagued by the urgency of so many primarily insignificant tasks.  but the little ones – ah they have not yet forgotten the luster of life as it was meant – for wondering, and exploring and enjoying.  their senses are not yet dulled by apathy nor are they weary of hoping or dreaming.

i am blessed, though not yet having children of my own, in knowing several friends well enough to ‘share’ theirs.  the newest one i met only this past weekend and i can tell you that a few moments in his presence and the worries and weights of the world will recede…  suddenly the sweet, powdery-scented, silky-skinned baby world comes into focus and life becomes simpler.  shelter, food, love become prominent agents of satisfaction and fulfillment.  go ahead, chalk it up, but honestly i think its really more than my biological clock of sorts, at work here.

maybe that is what they are for.  to remind us that there are more important things than our momentary troubles.  things to believe in.  and to hope for.  there really is something about the way a child sees the world that hits on what we so easily miss.  and i’m grateful to be ‘auntie’ to these ‘least ones’.

visiting Brayden Timothy Stube

40 days of gratitude – day 21: favor

favor (n):  an attitude of approval or liking; (v):  feel or show approval or preference for

you may have noticed i have taken quite a hiatus from blogging of late.  having my macbook out of commission was a big part of it.  i just couldn’t stomach composing a post on my parents hiccuping pc.  so i let it all by the wayside until things could be remedied.

last year, my computer suffered a power outage.  the cord snapped and i had no way of charging the battery so it simply ran out.  for awhile i would mooch wattage off my friends but eventually i had to breakdown and buy a new one.  i’m a poor college student and power cords are expensive.  so i prayed for favor, walked into an apple store and walked out with a brand new cord.  i was so excited i told anyone who would listen… i got a new cord!  for free!  and out of warranty!  unfortunately i kept forgetting to begin the story with my little prayer – and so the glory went to no one but my excited self.

this year i was a bit more worried.  the computer wouldn’t start.  the display wouldn’t work.  i feared something fatal.  so this time in addition to my own little prayer – i asked several friends to pray for favor on my behalf as well.  still i dreaded the worst.  i walked into apple bravely and learned that the display was shot.  about 300 bucks would fix it.  i debated with the tech over the wisdom of replacing the display on a four-year old model when i could purchase (woe to me) a new pc for that much.  as i debated the options he left to see if the parts were in stock and a manager passed by to check in.  turns out he remembered me from my time working at Starbucks… he asked if i still worked there and i explained that i did but i had graduated and moved to Pennsylvania.  i reiterated my predicament and he listened and then moved on.  a few minutes later the tech returned with ‘good’ news and ‘challenging’ news.  we started with the ‘challenging’… which wasn’t so bad – the repair would take longer than expected.  the ‘good’ news was that since apple wanted to keep me as a customer, they had decided to repair the display at no cost, in good faith that i’d need a new computer down the road, and would be sufficiently pleased at that point to invest in a new one.  free!??  They could take as long as they needed!

i was astounded!  i was ecstatic!  and once again was telling everyone in earshot about this awesome news.  this time however i was sure to give credit where credit was due.

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?…  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”  ~Matthew 7: 9, 11

i am gratefully humbled by such intimate and thoughtful provision.  in the form of a macbook.  because i trusted to ask…

one of mac's various adventures. (this is Twilight the bird, from Turkey) we've been through a lot together!

40 days of gratitude – day 20: ungratitude.

a broken computer.  frustrating finances.  a less-than dream vacation.  and expensive sinusitis.  i guess i haven’t felt all that grateful lately.  my motivation to blog has been less-than.  the limping laptop i have in lieu of my mac that spontaneously restarts…

might be a contributing factor.

we all face ungratefulness from time to time.  actually, if we’re honest, ungratefulness is much more a natural response than anything else.  it is easy to find fault and discontentment in this rushed, rundown, crazy, cranky, needy people-filled world.  there is a lot to focus on that isn’t as it should be.  or at least as we think it should be.  and there never seems to be a shortage of others willing to join in on a pity party.

but isn’t that the whole point of a gratitude journal?  to go against the grain?  to focus on that which it isn’t natural to?  to seek contentment in the things that we can – even when they seem scarce?  sometimes its the simple things – like coming home hungry to an empty house tonight to find leftover meatloaf and potatoes in the fridge – that help us to foster gratitude.  i believe that there are more of these moments than we realize – if only we’d pay attention.

who knew gratefulness could be bourne in a meatloaf?

40 days of gratitude – day 19: Christmas.

the madness of marketing and the pressure of fulfilling various expectations of the season can threaten to overwhelm our ability to savor the true purpose of Christmas.  sure the excitement, the presents, the parties and the peppermint mochas are all fun.  but for me, the magic of Christmas has nothing to do with these things, really.  it’s about love incarnate, the baby Jesus, coming to earth.

i don’t claim to understand everything about this miracle – this tiny child – fully man and fully God, coming to be among us.  but without Jesus it is all vanity.  all meaninglessness.  because the true awe and wonder of Christmas is embodied, designed even, by Him.  i’m grateful for Christmas because it changes everything.  i’m grateful because i’ve been granted the faith to believe it.  and i’m grateful that even in our frenzy numbed, glitz-drunk states’, He still breaks into our hearts with hope… if only we let Him.

hoping yours was a merry one!

love came down at Christmas...

40 days of gratitude – day 18: lazy days and mondays.

a Monday hike

i might have mentioned that i’m not really a morning person.  one of life’s simplest pleasures for me, is to wake up slowly, no jarring alarm, no time frame for getting up.  most people dislike Mondays at least partially for this reason – the alarm screams at us just far too soon, the workweek still looms large and long and little rest is forcasted.

i guess that’s why we’re supposed to take a sabbath.  i don’t know many people who successfully follow this principle.  our modern lives are too full of pressing and urgent, even good, things to stop for a whole day every week.  but the longer i live the more i’m convinced that taking a resting day wasn’t just a suggestion.  that it really is important and somehow even productive.

i have now, for several years, earmarked Monday as my rest day.  i work in a coffee shop and it seems customers just can’t take a break from their addictions to our sweet, caffeine-laden indulgences.  perhaps it is part of their own resting routine.  i won’t judge.  but taking Sundays off can be difficult, hence the switch.  i can’t say its always been wildly successful, but i’ve at least tried to be intentional about making space on Monday for sabbath.  in many ways, it really is a decent idea.

hairdressers and other businesses do it too.  you see, i can sleep in on Mondays.  ease slowly into the new week – feeling rested and ready to face whatever is ahead.  that’s actually pretty sweet.  it helps me to create a buffer, some space between one week and the next, where i can reflect and prepare on what’s coming and what’s gone.  i may not have a traditional weekend, or a traditional sabbath, but my Mondays make me grateful.

 

40 days of gratitude – day 17: the end of things.

perhaps you’ve noticed i’m a bit behind on my gratitude posts.  seems like a rather large and important holiday and the pursuit of a master’s degree have taken the forefront of late.  no mind.  this is one deadline i can afford to relax.

i’ve come to appreciate the ending of things this week.  i usually would rather avoid transition as it can often involve leaving people and places that i love.  i have to fight not to distance myself to be able to mourn the change properly.  but in this case the transition from being a grad student on campus happened months ago.  somehow though, i didn’t quite notice how these last requirements – a paper and an exam – had weighed on me until yesterday when i checked them off and realized that there was nothing that i absolutely or urgently had to do anymore.

yeah, yeah there’s bills and groceries and a job and all that… that’s normal.  but wrapping up something bigger, finishing it, bringing it to completion is really satisfying.  the end of things is good.  i’m grateful for that.  i’m grateful when a frustrating or difficult day ends.  for joy will come in the morning.  i’m grateful that every good story has an equally good ending.  for it would otherwise grow stale and tiresome.  there may be new chapters, but the scenery and the characters should change from time to time.  and i’m grateful today to say the studying, the deadlines, the stress and the paperwork – it is finished.

at least for now.  no i don’t plan on more school.  but i do plan to learn and to read and to grow.  there may not be exams, but there will be tests.  and there will certainly be other deadlines and responsibilities.  but ahhh for now, i will rest and enjoy the fact, that such things come to an end.

 

40 days of gratitude – day 16: the fridge of despair.

one might chalk this fridge up to the holidays.  sure, its outfitted with cranberries and gravy and lots and lots of butter.  but truth be told, it pretty much always looks this way.  staying at home i’ve had to adjust to sharing a little more than i’m used to.  that means sharing a fridge.  this one.  admittedly it can sometimes be frustrating.  one can hardly get to anything easily.  more than once i’ve been attacked by a flying tupperware.  and i’m forever asking someone where they moved my (insert leftover entree here).

but seriously i’m a jerk if i even think about complaining.  first of all, we have so much food in the first place because my mom loves to feed people.  she is constantly whipping something up for some school/church/ladies group or making dinner for someone in need.  or just passing by.  secondly, shes a terrific bargain shopper.  hence the scads of butter and the blocks of cream cheese.  i can decide to make almost anything at will and the ingredients will be on hand.  and finally, whats a little inconvenience when so many others worry about whats not in their fridges?

according to Feeding America 1 in 8 Americans are now receiving assistance with their groceries.  as many as double that number of children are now facing hunger regularly.  and that’s just here in our own backyard!  so instead of groaning when i open our crazy crammed icebox, i’m using it as a reminder to be thankful.  and an inspiration to help!

how can you help put the hurt on hunger in your neighborhood?