Berlin! My Favorite Thing!

by Esack

I’m reminded of a fake diary entry I read recently. The entry was “written” by a dog, detailing its daily routine. Example: Food! My favorite thing! A walk! My favorite thing! (a link, my favorite thing!) I could easily write this post regarding Berlin in a similar fashion:

Cheap hostel in a great location! My favorite thing! Easy metro system! My favorite thing! Cheap amazing beer! My favorite thing!

Aaaaand you get it, I loved Berlin. Ever since the first day in Australia, I found that most travelers I met were from Germany. Knowing I would soon be in their home country, I always asked for their advice on which city would be the best to visit. I’d estimate 90% of them answered Berlin immediately. From my point of view as a young person, I understand why. It’s a great feeling to be able to go into a grocery store, pick any random beer off the shelf (because every German beer is great), and open the bottle up AS YOU PAY FOR IT, take it outside and drink! They often provide bottle openers in checkout lines. But I DID get to cut my hand several times trying to use my hostel key to MacGyver the bottles open. I used to think I understood why drinking wasn’t tolerated on the street back home, but now I have no idea. It wouldn’t work because we have different drinking cultures, blah blah blah. It’s an awesome idea! You don’t see drunken idiots wandering everywhere, discarding empty bottles and cans here and there. It happens more at home where it ISN’T legal on the street. Go figure. Germans can drink on the street, Americans can buy 30 cans of beer for ten bucks. Both have their advantages.

I reject the notion that enjoying oneself in Europe needs to be an expensive affair. Hostels are key. Street food is key. I don’t think we spent more than 5 euros on any single dish while we were in Berlin, and oh goodness was it delicious. Famous for currywurst (a German sausage covered in curried ketchup sauce, usually served with fries [get mayo on the fries]), the street-gastronomy of Berlin has much more to offer. BUT, currywurst IS incredible. To avoid turning this into a food blog, I’ll just give honorable mention to Mustafa’s. It’s a little food stall serving up what Europeans call the doner kebab. It would probably be called a gyro or something like that back home, because it’s a similar idea. Meat and toppings inside a flatbread or a tortilla [note from Julia: but these were not your typical veggies, it was peppers and eggplant that was amaaaazing, cooked perfectly, and the whole thing topped off with fresh lemon juice… I could eat Mustafa’s every day]. You see doner kebab places quite literally everywhere in Europe. In my limited experience, Mustafa’s gets my vote for number one. If you go to Berlin, you must try this. Oh, they have a vegetarian option too for you veggie people out there (like you Mom).

We received great advice on a few must-visit areas of town from Jeanette, the partner of Julia’s father. Her advice led us to many things, but for some reason my favorite was called a Turkish pizza. It was only 1 euro, and so tasty that Julia and I hunted them down in the Netherlands. We found it in one of these areas of town Jeanette recommended, actually while we were looking for a taco truck I looked up online. We didn’t find the tacos, but the Turkish pizza was an excellent consolation prize.

We did a bit of sightseeing: the Berlin wall, and the Jewish museum. I give Julia credit for the Jewish museum, apparently she had heard of it in an architecture class [note from J: it’s the Daniel Libeskind one, the museum itself is better than the exhibits]. Not surprisingly, the design of the building made me feel like I should study it in an architecture class. A very interesting and informative museum about the holocaust and the history of Jewish people in Germany, as well. We also saw Checkpoint Charlie, but didn’t visit the museum. Our hostel was just a few blocks away, but we never got around to the museum. I did get some pictures of the area, and I also grabbed some perspective. In high school I though the West side of town was hostile, because they were the “other” high school. Silly high school me. But still, go Little Hawks, you know who you are.

The hostel itself was nice. Great location, but otherwise unspectacular. The most notable experience came in the form of our four Lithuanian roommates. They were two couples traveling together, and I’d be hard-pressed to think of nicer people we’ve met so far. Equally nice people, yes. I hadn’t hardly put my bags down when one of the men introduced himself in what I considered very passable English. He humbly insisted his English was not so good. On that subject many Europeans are embarrassingly humble. Not embarrassing for them, but embarrassing for myself. Man, if they think their English isn’t so good, what did the Germans and Italians think of my attempts at “I would like the… [word in English]… Uh… that one? No, uh… [points and smiles] yes, thank you.” Ugh. I digress, the point is that I now plan to visit Lithuania someday.  Thanks to these fantastically nice people.

I will return to Berlin someday soon, to eat my bodyweight in currywurst and Mustafa’s. Oh, and this roasted chicken place we found, also on the street, also for 5 euros. Okay… must remember this isn’t a food blog.

A very effective and haunting installation at the Jewish Museum to commemorate victims of violence

At Checkpoint Charlie, just down the street from our hostel.  

Attacking my Mustafa's with gusto!