It was the WURST trip ever.

By wurst, I mean best.

The German words that got me through the trip:
Wurst: Sausage
Kunst: Art
Bitte: Please
Danke: Thanks.
Weisswien: White wine.

I just got back from a great 5 or so days in Berlin. A big group of us from school all went to Germany for a gallery weekend taking place in Berlin from Friday to Monday. There were a lot of openings and galleries stayed open on Sunday and Monday. It was mainly an art based trip but you can't avoid history in Berlin, which makes it a charged and really interesting and exciting place.

We spent Friday wandering from opening to opening, drinking beer, chatting, and marveling at the great gallery spaces and cycle lanes on the sidewalks.



Saturday we walked all over and went to around 100000 galleries. Sat in an amazing garden restaurant for lunch.



Sunday Nat, Mark, Carla and I rented bikes for the day and set out to see some Berlin sites- Holocaust Memorial, The Reichstag, etc. The Holocaust Memorial was a highlight (below). As was Natalie on her bike (she was a bit apprehensive since it had been a while and may have crashed into a man within five minutes. That was the only incident :)





Reichstag:


Wiessbiers by the river Spree:




Monday we were on a museum mission and on foot due to rainy weather. Happy couple:



We saw Frida Kahlo and Olifar Eliasson exhibits (both were excellent), had bratwurst and pommes "rot-weiss" (red and white: fries with ketchup and mayo) for lunch, then went to the Guggenheim to see Wangetchi Mutu, down the road to another show, then to the Jewish Museum. It was a long but great day. Natalie and Mark set off to have dinner and Carla and I napped. Our last night in Berlin was a literal snoozefest! But for a good reason at least. Maybe it was the nitrates.



Tuesday was our last day. Natalie and Mark had earlier flights so after a long walk in the park (Tiergarten) we said goodbye and Carla and I headed a little outside the center of the city to see another memorial. It was a former train track were 50,000 Jews were shipped off to concentration camps from. It is small and quiet but worth the trip. The edges have the dates and places that the train went, along with the number of people it carried.



We cheered up with a pint at a local beer garden afterwards. And a last wurst for the road at Curry 36, apparently a Berliner institution. So I only had two official wursts but enough meat to last my pseudo-vegetarianism for quite a while! It was wurst every bite. Okay, no more wurst jokes, I promise.