berlin oh berlin

So the trip to Berlin was great. The first day was "tour" day and after Artur and I arrived exhausted on the 5-11am ICE train, we went and ate an amazing buffet brunch with everything imaginable for only 7,90 euros. Ah berlin is so much cheaper than munich. And then Michael chauffuered us around in his car for a few hours and told us all about berlin, including stops at kreuzberg with its fantastic view and the siegessäule, for its also fantastic view. Unfortunately, the pedestrian tunnel under the racing traffic island was flooded on one side, so it took us a while to get up to the top, but when we did, the views were commanding. The second day was "flea market day" and we took off for the antique markets at kupfergraben. After browsing the array of old DDR paraphenalia, cds, gas masks, babuschkas and china, we sipped some glühwein to thaw out and headed to a cafe to warm up, and then to a chocolate shop to eat chocolate ice cream and cool down.

Monday was then "badeschiff" day and we set off to bathe on the river spree... no, not IN the river, ON the river, on a half sunken barge that has been converted into a retro swimming pool. In the summer, the thing is just open surrounded by wooden docking, but in the winter, it's turned into a white bubbly creation by way of a plastic roof and includes two saunas and a bar. We spent three hours enjoying the mix of warm, cold, naked, dressed, and just plain crazy. An ingenious design.