Do You Have Tap Water? (Berlin Adventures)

cre: Do You Have Tap Water? (Berlin Adventures)

“Do you have tap water?” »

“Well, we have to wash things sometimes so…”

That’s the sassy and hilarious response we got from the waitress when we tried to get free water on our first meal in Germany, if that’s any indication of our overall competence in Europe. My friends and I affectionately named our experiment and our future group “The Struggle Bikes”. It’s a play on the phrase ‘get on the wrestling bus’, but since we cycle in Amsterdam, the wrestling bike seems more appropriate.

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to Berlin with the program. I really liked Berlin. It’s such a cool mix of cozy and familiar city and history, that you could feel so strongly while walking around the city. We left Thursday after class and did the 6 hour train ride. When we arrived Kelsey, Cassie, Barb and I were extremely hungry so we dropped our things off at the hostel and immediately went to get some food. After walking back and forth on the same street several times and bumping into the same guys each time who probably thought we were so lost, we finally settled on a little Middle Eastern place that turned out to be absolutely delicious. And our waitress, although sassy, ​​was super nice. Plus, we never mind a little sass! And so began our weekend in Berlin, in other words the weekend where we ate as many different types of food as possible.

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On Friday, we started the morning by going to the Gemäldegalerie museum. It was a beautiful museum with tons of paintings by different artists, although I don’t know how long I can look at depictions of the birth of Jesus before I get a bit bored. But overall there was a lot of beautiful artwork and I obviously made sure to get photos of the paintings with strong female subjects, because you know, what else could I care ?

After the museum, we went for lunch to this small restaurant specializing in healthy foods. That was delicious. We then had free time so obviously we went to what is known as one of Berlin’s most famous chocolate shops, Fassbender & Rausch. Of course I bought some, and yes, it was delicious. Then the whole group went on a 5 hour bike tour of the city. Even though it was pouring rain for half of the bike ride, it was still so cool to be able to explore the city on the vehicles we had come to love. It was a great way to see various important Berlin artifacts and places, although I wish I could have spent more time in some of them. Highlights include the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, Hitler’s Bunker, the Luftwaffe Ministry, and the Reichstag. One of the places we stopped that really stood out for me was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. When it was originally built it was criticized for being too ugly a memorial to honor those murdered in the Holocaust, but the depth of the memorial (literally and figuratively) is truly astounding. The memorial is made up of a pile of concrete blocks, all of different heights, and although it all looks symmetrical from a distance, as you walk around and head towards the center you find yourself sinking deeper and deeper. as the blocks begin to rise unexpectedly. on you. It doesn’t feel claustrophobic or hopeless because you can still see through or see the light shining through. It’s a wonderful place to get you thinking and thinking. Halfway through the bike tour, we stopped at the famous beer garden, Tiergarten Park, for some traditional German food, which definitely made cycling in the rain a little more bearable.

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The next day, we started the morning with a visit to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Of course, it was incredibly emotional and emotional, but it was a very good experience. Even though I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable about the Holocaust (as a Jew we talk about it a lot growing up), I still feel like I learned a lot about groups that aren’t usually talked about as much, like prisoners of war and homosexuals also imprisoned. I discovered that Martin Niemöller, the author of my favorite Holocaust poem, was imprisoned in this camp, which was interesting information to learn. Although it is an extremely famous poem, the exact words are unknown and have been debated many times. Below is a version, taken from a plaque at the New Jersey County Human Relations Commission. As someone who wants to work in the field of social justice one day, this poem is incredibly poignant to me and reminds us that we need to speak out against injustices, even if those injustices don’t affect us directly.

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After the concentration camp, we took the time to recuperate and recharge our batteries, before going to dinner at this cute little French restaurant we found. The restaurant was owned by a Frenchman and the menu changed daily. Each day there was a choice of 3 menus, each with 3 courses. You had to choose one of the menus and you couldn’t mix and match. It was definitely an interesting experience as we sampled authentic French cuisine, enjoyed the praise from the owner who kept calling us “beautiful women” and had fun with my (awful) French communication with the owner.

The next day was our last day in Berlin. We went to the Mauerpark flea market where, surprisingly, the only money I spent was on food. But to be honest, it was a vegetarian paradise that never happens. Almost all of the stalls had vegetarian or vegan options, and half of the stalls were only vegetarian or vegan. And there were so many different types of food present! I had never had so many options in my life (since becoming a vegetarian) and I was ecstatic. I ended up having Indian food for lunch and Korean food for dinner on the train. It was also a really cool place because right above the flea market was a hill overlooking the city with swings and graffiti that was just beautiful and felt like the perfect end to my weekend in Berlin. And so ended my trip to Berlin and a weekend of culinary bliss.

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