Today was Clau's 24th birthday, and as such we were up by 9am to get to a cafe just up the road 'Cafe Krone' (that had rave reviews) as it opened. We got in just before the rush started, and sat down to a nice breakfast of smashed avo, bacon, eggs and very puffy pancakes. Even the coffee was great!
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| Great birthday breakfast at Cafe Krone. |
After breakfast, we did the unthinkable and actually jumped on a tram - hoping to christ that our Deutsche Tickets would be accepted if anyone asked. We've had absolutely no problems with them when catching regional trains so far, and no-one has ever checked them on UBahn or SBahn trips in any city ever, so it was a pretty safe bet.
Anyway, the tram whisked us without incident directly from Prenzlauer Berg to Friedrichshain and our destination - the East Side Gallery. A permanent open-air gallery on the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall, the East Side Gallery runs along Mühlenstraße beside the Spree river between the Berlin Ostbahnhof and the Oberbaumbrücke. We had to walk a few hundred metres from the tram stop to the river, and it only took a few minutes to find out how fucking freezing it was down there. Easily less than zero degC, we started to freeze our nuts off the minute we reached the river.
Despite the cold, (Eb was the worst affected with his under spec'd jacket) we soldiered along the 1.2km of wall admiring the works from a diverse group on international artists. Some were less than spectacular, but others were captivating. A very eclectic collection. There were touristen everywhere, and in some cases it was hard to avoid people and still see some of the pieces. In front of the most popular pieces, influencers were hogging the photo ops. Fuck me those dumb bitches (yes there are dudes too) give me the shits. The lowest form of human life.
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| Some of my favourite pieces from the East Side Gallery. |
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| The gallery stretching its 1.2km along Mühlenstraße. |
When we finally reached Ostbahnhof and the end of the wall, we were frozen solid. Thankfully there's a nice warm cafe (Cafe Martha) conveniently located at its terminus, within the lobby of the Schultz hotel. Here we were able to use the toilet and enjoy a nice warming coffee.
Sufficiently thawed, at least enough to consider venturing out into the cold again, we began the trek back to the start. This time we walked along the back-side of the wall where the gallery allows anyone to spray the wall with their art. In some places, it's just as interesting as the gallery itself.
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| Walking back to the gallery's start, viewing the public graffiti side. |
As we walked back, the imposing form of the Oberbaumbrücke loomed back into view. This amazing bridge across the Spree dates from 1896 in its present North German Gothic form, and during the East German regime, the UBahn was cut and it became one of the pedestrian border crossing points.
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| The Oberbaumbrücke crossing the Spree river. |
Once we'd reached the start of the gallery again, we looked to find some flea markets for Clau to explore as part of our birthday activities. There was meant to be a market every Sunday at RAW-Gelände (an area for street art collectives, rave parties and other youth activities) just north of the bridge. And so to RAW-Gelände we trudged, getting colder and colder as we went. Finally we arrived, but there was no market to be seen. Maybe it was just too damn cold? Who knows, but by this stage Eb was frozen solid, and so we decided that Eb and I should head back to Prenzlauer Berg while Katrina and Clau continued on to our next possible flea market location at Boxhagenerplatz (which they duly located!).
Eb and I jumped back on the tram and in no time we were back in the vicinity of Hotel Oderberger. Wanting lunch, and not having tasted a famed Berlin Donner Kebap yet on the trip, we headed for a high rated establishment not far from the hotel - K'Ups. Here we both purchased a Sharf Gemuse Kebap (spicy vegetable kebab) and it was sooooo damn good. We also tried the local Fritz Cola, and it was so close to Coke we literally couldn't tell the difference.
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| Gemuze Kebap at K'Ups Prenzlauer Berg. |
After satiating our hunger, our brains turned to bier (of course - it was around 2pm) and so we found a bar close by, the "Manifest Taproom" and decided to gave it a try. We ordered a (nameless) hefeweizen from the limited beer menu and took a seat. To make a short story even shorter, the hefeweizen was a totally forgettable, and we had absolutely no mind to stay for another.
Not long after we returned to the hotel, Katrina and Clau appeared back from their flea market expedition and we had a short rest before preparing for our night out to celebrate Clau's 24th birthday. We caught the UBahn out to zoobahnhof (fuck you U2) and walked to the Monkey Bar for pre-dinner drinks. Arriving around 5:30pm, we amazingly got a seat in the crowded bar and ordered a round of drinks. It was a great spot, and we really should have planned to come a few hours earlier to really enjoy it. Despite this we sat with our drinks - Eb and I with bier #34 for the trip - Hacker-Pschor Hefeweizen (totally acceptable!), and Katrina and Clau with a Just Peanuts cocktail - and drank in the atmosphere.
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| Bier #34: Hacker-Pschor Hefeweizen (and a Just Nuts!) |
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| View from the balcony of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church |
Unfortunately we only had time for one drink, but before we left we went out on the balcony to enjoy the view (despite the drizzle). We got a great view of the monkey enclosure at the zoo, as well as the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Soon enough, we headed off for the 20 minute walk to our 7pm dinner reservation - Restaurant Byblos for an amazing Lebanese meal.
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| Restaurant Byblos in Charlottenburg. |
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| More Duckstein at Restaurant Byblos. |
The food at Byblos really was out of this world - an amazing choice if I do say myself. The falafel in particular was the best we've ever had, as were the dips and roasted meats. We ate until we were sick, and still managed to squeeze in some amazing baklava at the end (how could you not?).
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| Absolutely amazing Lebanese food at Restaurant Byblos. |
Totally full, we rolled ourselves back out onto the street and walked to the next U2 UBahn stop for the ride back to Prenzlauer Berg and bed.
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