Deutschland

Liz and I have just returned from Berlin. Our first time ever. It was a fantastic, albeit short, trip. Every day the weather was perfect. Jackets optional in the mornings. We carried day-long subway passes, which we used constantly (the subway in Berlin takes you anywhere and everywhere). Best of all, everyone spoke English because of the marathon.

We left Schwäbisch Gmünd at 8:15 am Friday. Liz the tour guide, and me the baggage mule. I packed two randomly selected library books to keep me entertained – partly because our local library has a pitiful English section, and partly because I’m not smart enough to read German – which was plenty for me. Liz used the time to finish off the Codex Alera series, and then was content to watch the scenery pass.

Two trains and a little over seven hours later, we arrived in Berlin. Beautiful city. Even the graffiti was inspiring. But hold the fun - first we had to take care of business. We checked into our AirBnB hotel (we use AirBnB on every trip, and have had great experiences) in a quiet section of Berlin – in Schöneberg. Only five minutes from the subway. Roses were hanging from nearly every balcony. A cute Biergarten, full of trees and cobblestones and enclosed by a rustic metal bar fence, sat at the top of the street. The apartment guy was very nice, and his place was spacious and clean. For me, Liz triple-checked that there’d be a coffee maker (Senseo – the extremely reasonable single-serve coffee that’s common in Europe, at less than 10 cents per cup).

After dropping off our bags, we hopped right back on the subway on route for the marathon packet pickup. As quickly as possible, I got my race bib and t-shirt. Liz and I were hungry, and we have little patience for ploughing through a sea of thousands of people in any case. The race t-shirt fits great! Past races have taught me never to order a medium. It makes me sad. I’m officially a small in those “runner” t-shirts. I have to say, that makes no sense to me. I’m a medium in cotton. If “runner” t-shirts MUST deviate from the norm, they should deviate the OTHER direction, right? For example, if I’m a normal people medium, perhaps I should be a runner people large… considering that people who run 2000 miles per year tend to be smaller overall than those who don’t. But whatever.

Anyway, dinner was planned at Dicke Wirtin (fat landlady). We snuck in just before the evening rush. In other words: we didn’t reserve tables (never), but we promised to eat and run within 90 minutes, before the reservers came. Likely due to having starved ourselves on the trains (we didn’t bring food, and our layover wasn’t long enough for us to buy food at any station), at dinner Liz and I both almost died from overeating. That meal was my first, and probably last, pig knuckle (Eisbein). Holy crap was it tender and tasty. But it’s ginormous – and of course it comes with sides: salad, kraut, potatoes, and mashed potatoes with bacon (Speck). Liz’s plate, too, was epic, but much more sample-y in nature: meatball (Klops), beets, currywurst, more meat, cabbage kraut, potatoes… we’re lucky we made it home alive.



But alive we were.

Our second day in Berlin was, in my opinion, the biggest and the best. Liz and I were both excited to see the city. We bounced out of the AirBnB full of energy. We caught the subway early in the morning to (one of the 3) Berlin downtown, where we met up with a tour group. Surely we had breakfast? Yes! Zeit für Brot. Very busy, very tiny. A tad big for its breeches. But back to the tour.

For five hours, we obediently followed behind John Cleese’s clone, learning about some of Berlin’s history. We saw the wall, the museums, Checkpoint Charlie, the bunker, the imposing Holocaust Memorial. Honestly, we barely scratched the surface, but it was a good crash course. The tour ended at Brandenburg Gate, the massive entryway, and the highlight of the marathon.



Extremely hungry (it was already past 2:00 pm), Liz and I had a late lunch at… lord knows where. I can’t keep up with all of our meals. We took a nap, and then we picked up burritos from Dolores, before going right back to sleep again. We miss our giant burritos. If only we had a Dolores in Schwäbisch Gmünd! Well, no… we’d go every day.

Next was Sunday. Marathon day! The race was great. For me, at least. I can’t say that Liz kept properly busy. There were 40,000 runners from 122 countries, and an unbelievable number of spectators. It makes one feel like they’re in the center of the action at all times. Four or five fire trucks were posted, spraying endless streams of water. Every 20 feet was another form of music – big bands, rock bands, steel bands, Peruvian flute bands – keeping us all entertained as we plodded through Berlin. I passed handmade signs in every language. The best sign that I could read was “If Trump can run, so can you!”



At the finish line, traveling beneath that impressive Gate, I actually saw Liz cheering, which rarely happens. I gave her a big kiss before hobbling the last kilometer. 30 or 40 minutes later, I finally made my way back to her (we kept it nice and American – meeting at the nearby Starbucks). Together we strolled around Berlin a bit, enjoying the race atmosphere and stretching out my legs. But before long I was beat. Back at the AirBnB I took a shower and then we went to that Biergarten. I ate mac & cheese – because I could. And Liz watched, jealous, eating her mouth bags. Nap time again. Then pizza! We didn’t plan anything else interesting for the day. Liz knew from experience to leave marathon day fairly relaxed. Well, that’s actually a lie. We bailed on some dinosaurs (I’m speaking literally of dinosaurs, not derogatorily of elderly people). We didn’t feel bad about it.



Monday was another big day, though I’m afraid neither Liz nor I were particularly up to the challenge. The day started at Flamingos for breakfast. Tasty cakes and sandwiches, really. We toured two museums on our own, with a coffee break in between. It was all we could do to drag our bodies to the end. The museums were quite interesting, though. In the first museum were Egyptian relics. The largest attraction was the bust of Nefertiti. And the second housed brilliant blue reconstructed walls of Babylon.



3:00 pm, famished, we wandered back to Dolores for more burritos. No… wait… first I made Liz sit in a park while I shopped for secondhand English books from a street vendor (rickety tables, blankets, whathaveyou). I walked away with Dresden Files #3. Two Euro, which I was okay with. Then we napped again. You’re seeing the pattern, yes? And then went out for the best vegetable kebab in town. “Vegetable kebab” is a misleading title, considering how much chicken was in it. But there were also so many more vegetables than you’d encounter in any regular kebab. So good.

Tuesday was our trip back, and it’s as you’d expect. It’s always sad, losing the last “vacation” day entirely to travel. Liz and I ate train station breakfast (the breakfast place Liz picked was mysteriously closed) and train station lunch. Our first train was late, which caused us to miss our second train. We waited 45 minutes for our replacement second train, and then our replacement third train was cancelled. Typical train travel.

After nine hours, we were back in our Schwäbisch Gmünd apartment, exhausted but well-read. I finished “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith, and I am currently halfway through “Juliet Naked” by Nick Hornby. Once I’m finished with that, I’ll basically be out of library books that I’m willing to read. Feel free to peruse the Schwäbisch Gmünd library and make recommendations for me (Schlagwort “Englischsprachiger Roman”): http://stb.schwaebisch-gmuend.de/lissy/lissy.ly?pg=login&bnr=guest

Anyway, that’s it! I have a new marathon medal – number 18, if I’m counting correctly. And we’ve crossed another historical European city off of our list. In less than two weeks, we’ll be off again for Budapest. There’s so much to see!

It's not a fantasy novel but might be worth a try: Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. I haven't read it so far but read Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is quite entertaining. And if you haven't read Atonement by Ian McEwan yet, you definetely should.

If you're into thrillers you may want to read the books by Lee Child. You might give the novels Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel a go if you are into history.

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and You must remember this by Joyce Carol Oates might be interesting.