Berlin: a city to catch up my world history

I'm writing this post in Copenhagen's extremely peaceful Botanical Gardens. It's sunny but chill. The day is still long. What a perfect time to stop and smell the roses, literally!

This is the view from my bench. Right around the corner are those famous nude sunbathers commonly see in Germany and Denmark...

Back to the real topic, Berlin.

First impression, Berlin is a very young and vibrant city. Berlin has got history, loads. But it appears in my naive eyes a metropolitan full of energy (because all the old buildings are destroyed already...). 

I have spent two days in Berlin. Two uneventful days- visited the tourist attractions and didn't miss any transportation. Only surprise is that I stepped on my own sunglasses.

Must see: Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, Topography of Terror

If you are interested in history, the landmark in history, the remaining of the Berlin Wall, and the pictures and documentation are Berlin's unique offering. If you are as bad as me in world history, you could learn so much. Join a guided tour to hear the stories. All the exhibitions are free.

Museum Island: brilliant idea for museum goers

So a century ago, Berlin decided to put all the great museums at one place. What a relief for lazy museum goers! And the tickets are very reasonably priced: 18 Euros for a Museumsinsel pass to all the museums on the island, and 9 Euros for students. 

Pergamon Museum houses reconstructed monumental buildings from Turkey. The Ishtar Gate is impressive, and beautiful.

Neues Museum has one treasure which is more than enough to give me a minor heart attack- the painted bust of Nefertiti! I stood in front of the bust for at least 15 min, speechless. Then I started wondering whether any other tourists are thing about the same thing as myself, Japanese manga.

My first and most important history lesson about ancient Egypt is from Japanese manga. I read about the bust of Nefertiti 15 years ago. Here, I still have the books on my kindle.

Sadly, Bode Museum and other museums were closed on Monday. And they don't reduce the ticket price on Mondays. Bummer.

Other places worth visiting

Alexanderolatz has all the buzz. Tiergarten is huge and nice for a leisurely walk. Again, be warned about the nude sunbathers, especially near Victory Column. These people enjoys their great park way too much.

Berlin has the unique pink pipes at construction sites...

... And very cute traffic signal design which has been trade marked by some business genius. (I'm writing a blog post in the style of slide tag line. What?!)

Currywurst

Doner, schnitzel, wurst (sausage)... Every food here seems to involve meat. As a pescatarian, I got asked a lot about what I could eat in Germany. I have to admit that I've had too much bakery and juice than anyone visiting Germany should have. But I did try to taste as many local specialties as possible.

Currywurst, fried and cut sausage dusted with a lot of curry powder and ketchup, is the most famous street food in Berlin. It is said that every politician in this city had a photo taken at a curry wurst stand. There is even a museum dedicated to this food. 

I went to Curry 36, one of the top rated curry wurst stand right at U6 and U7 Mehringdamm station, to have a look and try the fries. It's cheap: 1.5 euro for one wurst, 4.9 euro for a big combo of wursts, fries, ketchup and mayo.

I'm not impressed by their fires. There is nothing wrong, well fried, generous size, good curry powder and ketchup, and only for 1.4 euro. I think people who were eating currywurst enjoyed this place much more.