First Night in Berlin

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We took a taxi from the Berlin Tegel Airport to Hotel Otto in the Charlottenburg neighborhood. We immediately noticed that there was something unusual in the air. It almost seemed to be snowing, yet it was actually quite warm. I soon realized what it was when my eyes started itching. There was simply a ton of pollen in Berlin at this time of year. Fortunately, I brought some Claritin with me to help ease my allergies. After quickly settling in, we took a walk to the Kurfürstendamm shopping district. We had a few hours before the shops were scheduled to close and thought we would look for some clothing to tide us over until our luggage arrived. We passed block after block of swanky and expensive boutiques. Finally, we stumbled onto C&A. Their clothing was super affordable and casual. Scott and I each picked out a couple t-shirts and some socks for rock bottom prices. Lost luggage? C&A to the rescue!

From here we passed the famous bombed church of Berlin -- Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. The church was partially destroyed during World War II and the ruins were left in place as a memorial and reminder of that dark time. (Note: I had to borrow a few pictures from the web. As we'll discuss later, my camera was lost (stolen?) in Prague and with it, many pictures from Frankfurt and Berlin. Fortunately, we had a second camera with us so it wasn't a total loss).

We continued down Ku'Damm until we reached KaDaWe, a mega-department store. I picked up a notebook that I could use to jot notes about our trip and inspire this travelogue. The best part about KaDaWe was the rooftop food concession. The seating area had panoramic views of the city and there were numerous food choices. Do you want to know what impressed me the most? Customers could pour themselves a decanter of wine or tap out a liter of beer and pay at the checkout counter. It's too bad that we were tired, jet-lagged, and not at all hungry, so we didn't partake of the selbstbedinung (self-service) culinary delights.

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