Would You Like Fries With That?

Today was about slowing down a little bit. I’ve actually been travelling now for just over four weeks having left home on 18th July. I was travelling in Western Australia before starting this blog when I got to Amsterdam, simply because when I was in WA I was travelling with a group of friends and often didn’t have the spare time to bless myself let along keep a blog.

So today was a slow start – I mean for me, not necessarily for Germany as most things here don’t appear to open until 10am. I did a quick tidy of my room – usually I don’t spread out as much as this but being in Berlin a bit longer somehow means my things have managed to occupy all available surfaces instead of simply Beryl and my backpack. I was able to do this the way I clean at home – which is on the phone to my best friend who ‘tolerates my mouth noises’ which is to say will listen patiently while I brush my teeth.

She then accompanied me to my first stop to sit and enjoy a coffee and cake. We can yap for hours and did today while I gave intermittent updates on the pop art gallery, the VW Group Museum, a five-story bookshop, a second coffee and croissant, a shoe shop and a shop that sold trolls but none of them with her husband’s name sadly. When it was time for her to go to bed I remembered that Pat had sent me a message to say there was good shopping in Kreuzberg which I recalled having a section of remaining wall called the East Side Gallery so I put that into Maps and away I went.

The East Side Gallery goes for 1.3kms and at the end is a kind of pub called Pirates of Berlin which Lorraine, Craig and Dave had mentioned to me so naturally I had to check it out. The walk to the East Side Gallery was a different artsy side of Berlin – Brisbane people, think West End. I found a secret package vending machine that for 12 Euro let me select a random piece of abandoned mail. Which I still have not opened. I think the mystery is more fun than whatever trivial online purchase that’s been forgotten. I should probably open it though before I leave the country.

From the Pirates of Berlin, I caught a bus to an English cinema and saw the Odessey – and not an original thought but did end up ruminating on whether Homer chose to call the story the Odessey because of Odysseus or the other way around? Anyways, my other thought was gosh I keep seeing the same actors in everything – Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Tom Holland, and Robert Pattinson. Guess it’s their time now. For the record, it’s either Anne Hathway or Sandra Bullock who I will accept to play me in my biopic although they’ve both clearly had botox so I don’t know how you’re going to get the authentic four lane highway I get going if I frown.

All in all though, I take me on the best dates – coffee, shopping, bit of culture, dinner and a movie.