** Guten Morgen from Berlin. Just starting out on my first days exploration, and for me that means walking the 2k to the closest laundromat. Traveling on the cheap often means that basic hotels offer basic amenities . My Ibis hotel although very central, does not have either washing machines or have laundromats close at hand. They also do not offer facilities to dry items of clothing that you can wash by hand. On the other hand I have found a nice place for a morning coffee & chocolate pastry for €4. That's a great price especially after Copenhagen where it would have cost twice as much. And the Caffe Americano I normally have does not require sugar, like in Spain.
** I have barely walked 500 metres from my hotel when I suddenly came across a sign that brought me to a dead stop. There, across the road, was a yellow sign that simply said The Bunker. Most would walk by without giving it a moment's thought but this building and the sign that was pointing toit, was a defining element of the end of the 3rd Reich in 1945. The Bunker, was the location where amongst many other things, Hitler commanded his troops towards the end,and eventually committed suicide together with his mistress/ wife/ cousin, Eva Braun.
It seems that everywhere I will go I will be faced with artefacts of one of the most vile human directed events that ever took place
It seems so incongruous that today, slightly further down the road ( about 50m) is a children's play park.
** As I often say to people I may be slow but generally I do get there in the end. I just realised that given that I have been walking next to the Bunker, I must now be walking in what was, for about 40 years, the Soviet controlled East Berlin. That also means the Betlin Wall was around here somewhere. I'm sure I will come across remnants of it real soon.
** An example of a relatively new block of flats. Quite beautiful and well designed at least on the outside. And very different from the post war reconstruction buildings around here.
A lovely children's park/play area. All made of wood. Makes me think of Perth and how we over protect our kids nowadays.
** Even before I knew or understood the concept of juxtaposition, I loved taking photos of objects that appeared in opposition to each other.
Here is a building from the 19th century, a post war appartment block, and a very old church, all on top of each other.
** Not that I have never used a laundromat before but this one is quite interesting. It is all automated. one just had to set and pay from a control board and it does the rest in luding the soap. Runs for about 47 minutes. One issue is that you either need cash (notes or coins) or download an app. Problem here is that a phone number is required to validate your credit card and AU is not an option choice and it does not want to accept my UK phone number. So I put in a €20 notes and got coin change. The cost, btw, for a small load up to 8kg, is €6.50 which converts to AU$9.36. The cost for drying is €1 for 10 minutes in a small dryer. Unlike my washing machine at home that seems to object to the slightest bit of 'out of balance' these machines just seem to plow through, bouncing around as if it is a ball game at the beach.
There is a warning sign on the glass door of each machine, obviously in German, saying 'Achtung, nicht überladen' I thought it was telling me not to put in delicate items. Again, was I wrong. Google AI translated it as ' warning, do not overload'
** A really weird looking local gentleman, short, overweight, body studs, tattoos and all, helped me work out the drying operation when I was having a few understanding issues. When I asked him where I can get a three day museum card he informed me that I might be able to get it at a Metro station that they call here the u-bahn or the s-bahn. Not too sure of the difference but at this stage I am not too concerned.
However, and what surprised me, he suddenly pulled out a monthly Metro ticket with two days still left on it, for anywhere in Germany, and just gave it to me. What a Mensch. Just goes to show that outward appearance honestly should not count for much in this world.
So I am off to find a Metro to get a 3 day museum card.
** This is most intriguing. Running water pipes above city streets
** Just seen one of the local ambulances scream by. Its colours are very similar to PPE orange we are all used to. The colour stands out easily anywhere. I will try and get a photo, and here is the promised shot
** From this point onwards my day went off in some unexpected directions. I went off to find a Metro that ended up being quite a walk. Berlin is definately not London in this respect. Metro stations are quite far apart and given that I decided to walk to the closest one I ended up having a really long walk today. In fact, by the end of the day, given that all I ended up doing was getting my washing done and eventually buying a three day museum card I walked, according to my phone, just on 9 kilometres.
As a stranger in a strange land and where the language is constantly a barrier to local knowledge I often find people willing to help but rarely are willing to spend more than 15 seconds to help a stranger.
Today I stopped a person who got off the train at the ZoologicaGarden metro stop, just ahead of me, and they were so helpful in so many ways. They tracked down where we had to go to buy the three day museum pass, then found the bank that sold the pass, translated everything in order for me to get the tickets, and then sat and chatted with me for quite a few hours over a peach drink on ice from a Starbucks.
I was so greatful for the effort they put in for an absolute stranger, and the time they spent with me. And it was so nice to just chat with someone. Solo travelling has been great but after six weeks it is occasionally satisfying to have some attentive company, and they ended up having some similar background and interest in the same 'boring' stuff as myself.
And then they left, and my phone ran out of battery on my way home, and I got lost - quite badly, but finally made it home
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