Day 4: Berlin

Highlights:

• Fritz Cola – three varieties
• Learning that it's actually Fist to Cuffs and NOT Fistycuffs (thanks Adam and Joe)
• Fireman Sam is Welsh

After staying up until about 3/4am, I vaguely recall Gurk getting up around 8am to go to work, and then later heard a sort of 'Shit, I'm late. It's 8.30am' as I rolled over to go back to sleep. So not really a travelling story, but something I think is amazing; Gurk has a double bed but has two single duvets instead of a double. They're big enough to be able to cross over if necessary, but it basically means that throughout the night, you're never short of duvet, because you've always got your own? I literally think it's one of the best bed ideas ever. 

Anyway, I went back to sleep and got up around 11am and then headed back to Hackesche Markt station in the early afternoon. I got off at Alexanderplatz and tried to walk to Hackesche Markt, but German directions/maps are really really shit, so even though it should have only been a 10minute walk, I ended up turning around and getting back on the U-Bahn. Highlight here was a hot dog guy outside holding his hot dogs in a shelving system around his neck, and because it was raining, he'd put up his umbrella on some sort of contraption high above his head. It looked like a sort of Inspector Gadget thing that had probably extended at the push of a button.

I brought my Kindle with me on this trip and had bought a European travel guide before coming, so used its suggestions of places to go to in Berlin, starting with Hackesche Hoefe which was supposed to be a touristy shopping area, but worth seeing. It was like a network of streets and alleys hidden away behind the main road. The shops were mainly local brand names and looked pretty expensive, but the architecture looked almost Italian, with pale colours and balconies, and there lots of small trees and plants everywhere, so it was worth going for that. 

I mainly spent the day taking photos. It was pretty rainy in the middle of the day so I stopped off in a cafe called Milch Haus. It was a brilliant find; inside it looked like a collection of five or six different 60s living rooms. I'll add my photos later. It also sold Fritz Cola, and so I had my first (of three that day). Turns out their most brand-defining Cola flavour wasn't actually that nice. I also had some Kasekuchen (cheesecake). So I think there are jokes about Germans and their pastries and cakes, and I have seen quite a few people eating HUMUNGOUS cakes, but was still a bit perplexed when the lady served me this mega piece of cake. It was huge. I polished it off though, no probs. 

From here I walked North, taking photos along the way, and found Bernauer Strasse station which had been shut during the Berlin Wall period as it fell completely on the line of the wall. There are some places where the Berlin wall is in tact, though in most places it's crumpled/quite thin because so many people have taken pieces of wall as a souvenir. Here there was no wall, but the Iron poles which the wall was built around were still in place, so I followed the route for a while and read some of the information boards along the way. Next, stopped at a cafe called Ost West Berlin and had my second Fritz cola of the day - Melon Lemonade - delicious. Keep an eye out for it. I bought my third flavour - Cherry and Apple - and took that home to drink in the evening (it was alright, but the Melon Lemonade is hands down the best).

Gurk works pretty long hours, but she came home around 8 with dinner (pasta and pesto. Standard), and we spent the evening drinking German dry red wine (Trucken?), listening to Adam and Joe song wars, and reminiscing over podcasts we'd listened to. She mentioned a Text The Nation they'd done where people sent in sayings they'd been getting wrong for years. She mentioned how one idiot thought Fist to Cuffs was actually Fistycuffs. I had a brief inner battle of shame vs. honesty, before revealing that I'd always thought it was Fistycuffs as well. Apparently not. Adam and Joe, pretty educational. We also watched an episode of Fireman Sam. Apparently Sam, Elvis, Sarah and James, Norman and Dilys are all Welsh. I DON'T REMEMBER THEM BEING WELSH. But they definitely are. And all voiced by the same man. As a kid, I didn't question Sarah and James' pretty grown up, masculine voices. 

The evening ended with Gurk playing me some German rap (Fettes Brot Jein), and me trying to download Bjork's Hyperballad on her dying internet. 

End of day 4.