Post dinner with Nina and Frederik

Ok... I apologize, I have been MAJORLY slacking and for that... I will shower you with photos :) Hope you enjoy!!!

The second night that we were in Berlin, Nina and Frederik invited us out to dinner after the wonderful tour that Frederik's brother, Stephan, gave us both by foot and car. We had dinner in Nina and Frederik's neighborhood - Kreuzberg.
Prior to dinner, we stopped by Nina and Freddy's place prior to going to dinner and what a hike we made to get up to their place! It was the top floor - I want to say it was more than 3 stories up. I think almost everyone was out of breath by the time we got in the door... but the hike was worth it! They have two porches and amazing views of the city. It was a bit overcast, but we could get the picture. It was very open, beautiful wood floors, all new appliances. I wanted to move right in.

Then we proceeded to dinner. The restaurant Austria Österreichische Küche was fantastic. Don had the schnizzel and I had some baby pig special... it was absolutely delicious! After Dinner we all walked down the street to a local bar that I also can not recall the name of. It was quiet.... until we walked in :). Below are pictures from the beginning to a wonderful and CRAZY evening...

Parliament building

Day 2....

Frederik's brother, Stephan, took us on a mini guided tour of Berlin on Thursday. Here are some of the sights he took us to. Some of these Don and I explored the day before, but didn't know what they were.
This is Currywurst. Most Berliners eat this after a night of drunken good times... I chose to have it during the day so I could truly remember it's delicious flavors. Basically it's like a bratwurst or some kind of sausage that is cut up into pieces, covered with a curry ketchup and covered in curry and a little bit of chili powder to give it a kick. YUMM!!! I had currywurst 3 times while in Berlin... obviously I didn't like it!


This is Humoldt University in downtown Berlin.

Not sure what this was.... anyone remember?

Another shot of Humboldt University. See the double deckers? So cute.
Buildings in Berlin...
This is my artsy picture of my new shoes. I love them so much! Yea suade hightops!
Walk this way....! Mom, Dad, Don and Stephan on foot in Berlin!


This is a German opera house, if my memory serves me correct.

This is just how the streets of Berlin look. Tiny cars :)


This picture MAY have been taken after the craziness that went down during night #2... but I'm not certain. At any rate, we stayed in Alexanderplatz.
This area is where the memorial for all of the books related to jews is. Basically it is this underground library with empty shelves. There is a piece of glass which allows you to look in from up above, but the way the light was shining on it, a picture was impossible to take and make out what you were looking at.


A church in the same plaza. They were setting up for some sort of ceremony. Those benches did not look very inviting!

Day 1 ...

Ahhhhh so these are the pictures from my beloved iPhone.. some might be a little blurry, but you'll get the idea.
We were walking around Berlin after spending the early afternoon with Nina, the bride to be, and her sister Inga. This is to give you an idea as to what the architecture looks like in Berlin.

Remember the TV tower I wrote about before? This is Don taking a picture of it. In the background you'll see a train going by.
This was not too long after we arrived. We should've taken pictures of the beautiful food we had at this other cafe. At any rate, Don and Inga are looking at the menu and wondering what they should get. A post earlier shows my Latte Macchiatto that I ordered from here.
This was taken at night when we were wandering around finding a place to have a good German beer... this was taken not too far from where we had our first beer.

Day 1 - Polka dancing

Berliners have this odd scene we found out to be very typical for a summer hang out. Along all of the riverways in the city, there are these "beach bars". At this particular one, they set up a platform and there was polka music playing and people dancing to it. It was fun to watch. We didn't join in, we just enjoyed our beers. :) I have been told that the beach bars are because Berliners don't really have a beach anywhere near by, so they created these places where they put down some sand by the river and some beach chairs about and try to simulate them in the city.

More Day 1 fun in Berlin - birds

This was a little water fall kind of structure in a square near our hotel in Berlin. The little birds were pretty cute. Don gets all of the credit for these pictures. Don later took a little bath of his own during our second night out (actually it was morning by that time...)

Let the drinking begin...

I drank like a pro.... and man was I trashed in no time! This is after 24 hours of traveling and no sleep. I'm sure that had NOTHING to do with my getting drunk...
Don't be fooled... he's happier than he appears in this picture... perhaps just getting his buzz on. Two crazy Americans in downtown Berlin enjoying some good Berliner Pilsner and Hefeweizen...

See? He is one happy guy!

Take note that Don's Hef is a little cloudy. They also carry a "crystal Hef" but he said that this one tasted way better.