The fucking coolest city ever

Berlin is a fucking cool city. I will forever refer to it as such to make the distinction between it and regular cool cities. I'm staying in Kreutzberg which is dirty, graffiti covered and has an edge that makes you want to stay out and about all night. The people are grungy, tattoo covered and walk around the street with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. No pics as that would have been uncool.

I promise not to show to many pictures of food, but this was the "small" breakfast, which is about 4 times the size of breakfast in Belgium. This was at about 11:00 and my food intake the day before (travel day) had consisted of a peanut butter sandwich, 2 pieces of chocolate (Belgique, bien sûr), yogurt, an apple and 2 beers so breakfast was unceremoniously wolfed down.

Inside of Saint Hedwig's cathedral. It was rebuilt in the 60s after being bombed by the British so it has a much more modern design than the other cathedrals in town (there are a few). I spent about an hour just sitting and reading because it was quiet and cool and peaceful.

Gargoyle storage on the way to the top of the Berlin Dom (above) and view from the top (below).

Berlin is a huge city and there are tons of bikes - everyone uses them to get around so I hired one from the hostel and set out for the day. There are bike lanes which have you going on and off sidewalk and drivers and pedestrians alike are very conscious of the bikes being part of the traffic population, but it is still a bit insane...and a serious amount of fun!

Garden Fairy in Charlottenburg Gardens

I ended up at Schlosse Charlottenburg in the northwest part of town - the palace of the former Prussian rulers of Germany. The building tour was forgettable, but the gardens are beautiful and was my reading spot for a couple hours in the afternoon.

 

Reading spot for the afternoon

For being the capital of Germany, there is an amazing lack of German food. Lots of kabob stands, Greek restaurants, Thai places. Stopped at a cafe during my bike ride and had a delicious brick oven Margherita pie. Best food on the trip so far!

 

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