After the tour of the Jewish Museum this past Thursday, part of the group and I headed towards the borough of Mitte to see the TV tower built by the GDR. Once we arrived at the TV tower, we had to wait in a long line to buy tickets so that we could go up to the observatory deck within the tower. Once tickets were purchased, we were instructed to wait about two hours until we could finally head up into the tower. While we waited, we sat at a small café at the base of the tower and munched on some breakfast food. We sat next to two middle aged men who were puffing away on cigarettes and a father who was procuring some delicious looking ice cream sundaes for his two children and himself. As I ate my bruschetta toast, I noticed that the people walking past us were mostly young families and large groups of people, detectable as a group because they walked in a herd and wore matching outfits (one group of men wore green sweatshirts and red berets, and I wondered what their purpose was– were they an elderly sports team or musicians?). The people walking around the base of the tower were clearly tourists coming to see the major Berlin landmark. I Could not really tell where most of the people came from, however it was obvious that that they were all waiting around to do the same thing as us, which indicated to me that they were tourists. Many people wore shorts and lighter clothing because it was quite hot that day– many people were also coming to the café where the group of us sat eating to get an ice cream cone to go. Once we finished our food we headed to the tower and again waited in a long line so that we could finally head up to the observatory deck. The observatory deck was quite crowded, and full of people of all ages looking out into the city of Berlin and reading about the buildings we could see from that height. One thing that I found interesting while looking out over the city was that if I looked into the distance at the horizon, I could see many wind turbines making up large windfarms, just like the ones we had seen at the energetically sustainable village. We looked out over the city of Berlin for a while, and after an hour headed back down the tower. We walked down the busy street of Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse, over the bridge above the spree river, and into museum island. There we took many pictures of all of the beautiful museums outer architecture but did not enter any of them. We hoped to just get a feel for the island and then come back to it again another day. As we walked through the island, we stumbled upon a small art market full of people selling jewelry, paintings, photographs, and many other beautiful artifacts that the vendors had made themselves. Once we had gotten our fill of the art market, we headed back towards the spree river to a small Italian restaurant to munch on some pasta and pizza.

This Sunday, May 26th Laura and I decided to hop on the S bahn and head toward the borough of Pankow and into the neighborhood called Prenzlauerberg. We headed in this direction because earlier in the week May suggested that this neighborhood be one in which we visited because it is known as a hipster neighborhood full of life and people we might enjoy. Little did we know that on Sundays in Mauerpark in this neighborhood was a hustling flea market full of street vendors and food carts selling anything from vintage t-shirts, handmade jewelry, pierogies , and crepes. As we walked down Bernauerstrasse toward the park, we heard the sounds of beating drums and singing, and were drawn in the direction of the flea market. The market was packed full of people both young and old. Some were young children hitching rides on their fathers shoulders, while others had long gray beards. Everyone was walking and snacking on delicious street food from the vendors– Laura snagged a Nutella crepe from one stand. We also spent some time deciding which pieces of jewelry we wanted to buy from one vender in the market; Laura went with a pair of earrings that fit the hipster vibe completely, and I went with a small white and silver ring that had caught my eye. We then decided to exit the market and into the open grassy field full of people sitting, eating, and drinking. A lot of people were just hanging out and soaking up the day, while others were banging on drums, singing, dancing, blowing bubbles with a giant piece of string, and flinging hula hoops in the air. We sat high up on the hilly part of the park for a while just soaking everything around us in, and then decided to get up and walk down to an area full of people dancing to the sound of large drums being played. We sat down on a rocky bench and watched as people danced around and cheered along to the beats of the music. Everyone around us, whether they were sitting, dancing, singing, drinking, eating, were smiling and encouraging those around them to join in on the celebration. As I sat on the rocky bench and watched the young children no older than three years old dance with the young twenty-year olds with dread locks in their hair, baggy pants, and puffing away on a funny cigarette, I felt completely content with life. Everyone around me was happy and smiling and enjoying this Sunday celebration, all the while living up to their reputations as ‘hipsters’. The crowd of people surrounding me did not have a common theme– some were old and young, playing instruments and drinking beer, wearing some of the oddest outfits I have ever seen in my life, and dancing as if they had no worries at all in the world. It was an amazing experience and an amazing place. After a few hours we decided to leave the park and head across the street to a Thai restaurant and feast on rice and curry while discussing the market and park we just left.

This past week I explored the neighborhood of Friedrichshain with Laura. We were looking for a new place to explore while also scoping for restaurants. We decided to hop on the subway and get off at Warschauer Straße. This station was near a large river and I later discovered it was the Spree river, the same one in which our class will take a boat tour down in a couple weeks. Next to the river and the subway station is just a large bridge and highway, so we had to walk a little ways to find some shops, cafés, and restaurants. While on our journey towards the restaurants and cafés, we walked past the large East Side Mall which reminded me more of a sporting center or company building rather than a mall. Further on our walk down Warschauer Straße we passed by many interesting food stands serving various types of food from the classic German doner to vegan middle eastern cuisine. Every small food stand we passed seemed like a great place to stop and eat, however Laura and I were tired and it was most definitely about to rain, so we decided to further explore the neighborhood in search of the first in-door restaurant we could find. As we were walking and passing the large buildings of the area, I saw a large mural of a bear sitting on a school bus with his head enveloped in a purple and orange ski mask. A bit further past the mural was where we spotted Lang Xua Restaurant. We instantly recognized that this place was a Thai and sushi restaurant and headed inside for one of the best Thai meals I have ever had. That restaurant was one of the only ones on that long strip of road that resembled the large restaurants I am use to at home.

This neighborhood of Friedrichshain was definitely full of life and culture, however the section of Warschauer Straße we observed was definitely more of a place to walk and grab a quick drink and street food, rather than a full sit down dinner. The area lacked the multiple restaurants and bars that most streets of Berlin I have discovered contain, and was definitely one of the least appealing ones as well. The neighborhood clearly sat in former GDR territory based upon its lack of color and captivating architecture. This neighborhood was gray and just had rows of tall buildings all composed of the same gray concrete slabs. Another indication that this was indeed not part of West Berlin was that once we again entered a subway station one of the signs inside pointed in the direction of Karl Marx Allee.

When comparing this section of Berlin to the other areas I have seen, I would definitely mark it an area less appealing in most ways. Other sections of Berlin I have seen are crawling with beautiful buildings with interesting architecture and design and have more vibrancy than this neighborhood. However, I believe this neighborhood gains its appeal from its location on the Spree River and the many famous night clubs within it.

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