The morning was slow. I was dealing with some jet lag, and it was a quiet Sunday morning in Berlin. Our walk from the subway to Neumanns Café was peaceful—the kind of calm that makes you feel like you’re the only people awake except, of course, for those just finishing up their Saturday night partying. On our peaceful walk, a guy was pissing next to a tree as if he were in the privacy of his own bathroom.
Neumanns Café is a popular place. When we arrived and asked for a table, we had to eat outside. Sam and our friends had meals a bit more decadent than mine, but I had eggs and bacon on toast. It was terrific — nothing special — but it highlighted how good the bread in Berlin is and would continue to be throughout the entire trip. It reminded me of our German guide in Nagano, Japan, who told us the one thing he really missed from Germany was bread.
After breakfast, we headed to the Boxhagener Platz Flea Market. I was a little disappointed. It was a flea market in the real sense of the word—a lot of used clothing and other junk that I wasn’t interested in looking at. Probably, if you’re a Berliner, it’s a great way to find an interesting piece of clothing, but nothing jumped out to me. Maybe I’ve grown up, and rummaging through a flea market is not what I’m interested in now, because I passed by all of this quickly. But the antique stores I would pass by? I was glued to their windows. How middle-class of me, ugh.
We also stopped at the Badehaus Berlin market before heading to Mitte for the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is a fantastic way to experience what the Berlin Wall was. I like that they’ve turned it into public art, and it’s just a nice way to walk along and look at a lot of the work that was done. I do wonder what their obsession with preserving the original artworks created when the gallery first opened is about. I would think you’d want the art almost to be alive—changing over time. But now many of the murals are restored versions of the originals, nearly holding the gallery in stasis. It’s kind of an interesting choice. I would think I’d want this to be a space that could change and adapt with the times.
From there, we took the bus to Alexanderplatz. Oktoberfest at Alexanderplatz was completely unplanned. Berlin really isn’t a huge Oktoberfest city, but our friend read about it, and this was its very last day. So we ran over, got beers, and hung out. Right when we got there, the sun broke through, so we actually did get to enjoy our beers outside for a minute. I didn’t eat while I was there, but it was fun, and it’s a lovely plaza—though Oktoberfest isn’t really anything I’m on the hunt for in Germany.
After Oktoberfest, we walked over to the Neptune Fountain and tried to visit the Marx & Engels statue, but it was inaccessible. That was a real disappointment for me. Paul Cooley had given me the assignment to find them, as it is my duty to undertake a pilgrimage to critical Marxist sites around the world.
We made our way to Prenzlauer Berg for dessert and tea at Kimone. We shared a pot of green tea, a Mont Blanc pastry, and a chocolate pastry. The bakers were Japanese or maybe Japanese-German. The Japanese love a Mont Blanc pastry.
We were back in Schöneberg at Wittenbergplatz, and I decided to grab a quick currywurst at Original Berliner Currywurst in front of our hotel. This was my second currywurst of the trip, and it just wasn’t as good. Neither were the fries. The sauce was a touch too sweet, the sausage wasn’t that interesting, and the fries basically seemed frozen and bagged. I had no interest in going back to this place, and I wondered if I should forgo any more currywurst.
Dinner was at Landwirt, an excellent German restaurant. I found the owner to be very helpful in pairing wines throughout the night. We began with a 2022 Von Winning Herrgottsacker, paired Steinpilzsuppe with a 2024 Domaine de Mourchon Soubois, and had Königsberger Klopse with Kräuterkartoffeln alongside a 2021 Domaine de Mourchon Family Grenache. My meal of meatballs with capers was delicious, and it’s actually a recipe I’d like to figure out in the future. I thought the meal was excellent, and I thought the wine pairing was out of this world. We shared apple streusel for dessert. The whole thing came to €75 per person.
Next: Germany – Day 3