So we drove up to Berlin after work on Friday. Traffic and construction was not bad, so we got in around midnight. I was a bit wired, even though Andi drove the last hour and I could not get to sleep. At all. An all-nighter, with no energy to try and be productive for work, so this morning was a little rough.
Saturday we got up and drove into Poland. A little over three hours gets you to Wroclaw, what is described as the Venice of Poland. HA.
As you get close to town, you see an Ikea. Near the Ikea is a strip mall, so we had to go check it out. Most of Europe has not discovered the beauty of a good strip mall. They even had a Pizza Hut! This brand-new place was probably the nicest Pizza Hut I have ever seen. And the waitress spoke English and they took plastic (no Euros in Poland) so all was good. Andi loves to see local grocery stores in every country, so we hit one in the strip mall. It was probably the nicest grocery store I have ever seen, with a huge selection of beer and wine. I picked up a few Polish brands to try. We hit a store almost exactly like a Best Buy, but there were maybe four people there on a Saturday.
After we ate and shopped a bit, we went downtown. They had another big modern Mall downtown, but Andi was surprised at how bad the prices were. Food seemed quite reasonable, but prices in the stores were just as bad or worse than Germany. Driving around downtown, we saw a few rivers and bridges, but nothing like Venice.
I must comment on the roads in Poland. For almost two hours after we crossed the border, the roads were awful. In spots in Wroclaw, the roads were awful. Their infrastructure looks terrible, although they have some nice new highway and new shopping centers.
We found a little homestyle restaurant in the middle of nowhere on the way back to berlin. Good food but slow service. One local dark beer, Louny.
The next day we did the Berlin Museums. They have an island near the middle of town with some of the best museums in the world. We now have a new outlook on German hospitality and service.
First we went to the Pergamon. We were there about ten minutes before open, so we got in the line which was about 100 feet long. A few minutes later, a bus full of Germans came and they all rushed to the very front, ignoring the fact that there was an established queue. After we got inside, the lady handing out headsets was quite rude and Andi had troubles with a guard complaining about Drew leaning on a wall. In the first room, I saw tons of people taking photos with flash without reprisal, so I took a couple and a guard came and talked to me. But really, this museum is amazing. Really old stuff from the near east. Some of the oldest stuff we have seen, like artifacts from Uruk dating to 4000 BD. A six-thousand year old mosaic wall and some of the first writing tablets ever. This pre-dates stonehenge.
Next we did the Deutsches Historisches Muesum which seems to have a lot of Hitler stuff. I liked the way they had timelines set up, with a ruler on many exhibits showing what period you were looking at. BTW, our German Museum pass did not cover this one. Not much of a pass.
We tried to go in the Berliner Dom, but our museum pass did not cover this either. And there was a rude lady that tried to go through a doorway when I already had the nose of the stroller in the doorway. And the guard was asinine.
We used our Legoland pass to see the Sea Life aquarium. The aquarium was typical of Sea Life aquariums, but they also had a giant cylindrical aquarium in the middle of a hotel atrium with a two-story glass elevator in the middle. It really was neat to see, as you ride up and down in this aquarium.
We hit the Altes Museum where they have a bust of Nephrititi on display. Andi took a few photos and I did some movies. Since Neprhititi is a big item, I thought I would use the cam corder to get a still. I forgot that Drew had the camcorder. He had managed to turn on the flash, so I took a flash photo of the museum's biggest artifact. The guards were on me and Andi was mortified. HA. Just my luck.
Finally, we did the Bode museum. The guard there was also asinine, she would not let Andi in with our backpack (but let others in with bigger bags and similar backpacks). Crazy. This musuem had a net coin collection.
And we finished the night at a chinese buffet near the house. Not traditional German food, but it was plentiful and good. Good quick service. And all-you-can-eat sushi.
Louny - Dark and good.
Perla - Not good at all. Andi says it tastes like Coor's Light. I think I like Coors better. Polish. DNF
Faxe - Better than Perla, but watery. This was not from Poland, it was Danish. DNF
Louny - Dark and good.
