Berlin Day 11 - 9/3

I miss you all.  It's been several days and a long journey from Berlin to Ithaca.  Not necessarily in distance, but more of a time (culture/weather/energy) warp.  Before we get to that, I must bring you up to speed on our last day in Berlin.

Thankfully, we are both able to get up and out the door by 10am!!  Victory!!  We head straight for the Pergamon Museum and are transported back into time 2,500 years.  But it isn't just knick-knacks from the ancient Grecians, Romans, and Babylonians; there are huge two story fronts of palaces and marketplaces...reconstructed so that you feel like you are actually there.  Really interesting, a sneak peak at what is to come for us.  

We then take an hour boat ride along the Spree which takes us past so many of the buildings I'd seen in the past week.  It is kind of irritating, though, because we sit right in front of the speaker spouting out the historical Information in the German language, while we hold a low volume hand-held radio up our ears to hear the English version.  The boat drops us off near Tiergarten (remember, this is "Central Park").  Promptly, (Its 1:30pm by now) I open my book to the beer garden section and we find a favorite (though its obvious that the season's over because there are hundreds of picnic tables and about 20 people).  The waiter instructs us to get the white sausage and wheat beer.  We listen...Delicious!!!!

Happily refreshed (and yes according to the Germans: hydrated...someone ought to tell them...) we continue a walk through a new section of Tiergarten (I get to use the little bit of German I know when a kid loses his ball over a school fence and Marc throws it back...kid says, "Danke Shon" and I say, "Bitte Shon"!!!  Very exciting).  We stroll leisurely though the park (well, sort of.  We're on a time schedule here. people!) and head to a second beer garden that is in the middle of the park (beautiful...I wished that I had time to go there and write!). We have our second beer for the day and head home.  Dinner and a dance performance (this one was VERY Berlin experimental!) and our day is done...

When we leave the next morning, I'm really not too sad...but I think it was either because I tried not to think about it or because I know I'll be back.  I wasn't quite ready to leave...there was still so much of BEING there that I enjoyed...but onto the next adventure...Greece!!

To be continued...

Love,

Alicia (and Marc)