Berlin

East.  West.  Burritos.

We enjoyed a nice weekend in history-filled Berlin.  The city is more American feeling than any other European city we've visited, with no pedestrian-only area or cobblestone streets.  The city was decimated during WWII, and since the wall came down in 1989 it has been a constant construction zone (everywhere you look there are cranes, elevated pipes and general construction activity).  We stayed in the trendy Mitte area, formerly part of East Berlin next to Museum Island, which is now full of restaurants and boutique stores.  Since we got in late we went out for a quick dinner at a Mission-style burrito place called Dolores, which is decorated with the map of the San Francisco bus routes on the wall.  There was even the 30X route that runs from the Marina to downtown!

We made reservations to visit the Reichstag dome on Saturday morning.  The Reichstag is the German parliament building and was burned down as part of the Nazi’s rise to power.  After the war the building was rebuilt in its classic style with the addition of a big glass dome on top.  It's hollow inside with a spiral staircase leading to the top (there's a hole in the ceiling to allow for ventilation and a column of mirrors provides light to the main meeting hall).

The Reichstag is located right next to the Brandenburg gate, the icon of Berlin.  The statue on top is a symbol of peace, something that hasn’t quite worked out.

We then hit the holocaust memorial, a city block filled with different sized monoliths evenly spaced throughout the park.  Underneath is a museum dedicated the those killed in the holocaust, focusing on stories from different families from across Europe who were sent to camps.

We also took one of the famous "free" walking tours (a new favorite city activity) learning about the tumultuous past of the city while seeing the corresponding sites (including the location of Hitler’s underground bunker, now a car park).  Surprisingly, there are still a few old buildings standing.

 

Checkpoint Charlie (reproduction)

Throughout the city are parts of the wall - either the actual wall itself or a brick outline where the wall use to be.

"Tear down this wall!"

 

On Sunday the sun came out and we decided to head to Charlottenburg Palace, the largest palace in Berlin and the only surviving royal residence in the city dating back to the 17th century.  The entry fee included a comprehensive audio guide that provided details on the palace, its owners, and the reconstruction efforts following the war.  The palace is located on a big park with flowers, walking paths, various buildings and a lake.  

On the U-Bahn back from the palace there was some sort of issue where the train stopped at the station, they said something in German, and most people exited.  We caught a different line in the attempt to transfer at a different station, but once we get to the station the line we wanted was not working, so we took a third route back.  Lots of running around and not getting anywhere!  We finally made it to our destination and ended up getting another burrito at the second location of Dolores (yes, we got our burrito fix this weekend)!  Yum, and since it was a such a gorgeous day we could sit outside and enjoy our burritos with German beer in the sunshine!

We then made our way back to the hotel via a walk through the Tiergarten, a large park in the center of Berlin.  It must have been one of the first sunny days in some time as the park was full of people playing in the grass. 

For some reason the city is obsessed with their walk / don't walk lights.  There are whole stores devoted to merchandise with the walking man / don't walk man on them  (called "Ampelmännchen = little traffic light man).  The "walking" version looks quite dapper in his little hat!

Cheese & Castles

We had a rare weekend in Basel so we decided to take advantage of a few of the (somewhat) local sights.  On Saturday we headed to the Southern Alsace town of Vieux-Ferrette to visit the famous cheese maître Fromagerie Antony.

Antony is considered one of the best affineurs in France (and perhaps the world).  An affineur is the person that ages cheese. They receive cheeses completely fresh, before they've developed, and take care of the cheeses in such a way that they acquire their own unique characteristics.  Depending on the type of cheese, they may brush, wash, and rotate the wheels.

The only way to sample Antony's cheese is to visit one of the Michelin starred restaurants who he provides cheese to (there are ~19 Michelin three star restaurants with his cheese on the menu) or to visit his shop for a cheese tasting in the ~10 seat tasting room.  Needless to say we choose the latter.  We sampled 8 different goat, sheep and cow cheeses (all unpasteurized) along with a demi bottle of Alsatian wine.  We enjoyed each cheese and even took some home with us (in addition to tastings he also has an extensive cheese store - more people stopped in to buy cheese than to do a formal tasting).

On Sunday we took the tram to Arlesheim, one of the suburban towns outside of Basel.  On the hills overlooking town are two castles - schloss Birseck & schloss Reichenstein.  It was a nice walk up and around the hills, but unfortunately the castles are not open for visitors until May.  Oh well, it was still a nice walk on a Sunday.

Burgundy & Bobovski's

My parents visited us Easter weekend (after their Spain/Portugal trip).  In Switzerland, Thursday thru Monday was a holiday so Matt didn't have to work, yippee!  We walked around Basel and at the big Munster church we ended up attending a small "mittags gebet" which Matt thought was a concert since he had seen some brochures but it was really midday prayer!  We couldn't just get up and walk away, so we stayed (it was 20 minutes in Swiss-German).  Afterward, it was pretty cold and rainy so it didn't take us long to find a nice traditional braurei downtown for some good eats and beer!

The following day we took a little road trip to Dijon through the Burgundy wine region.  We stopped in Beaune, a cute wine town with cobblestone streets, and a lot of delectable looking shops, most of which were unfortunately closed for the holiday.  In the middle of the old town is a splendid medieval charity hospital, Hotel-Dieu (circa 1443).  Why is a hospital called a hotel in French - confusing?  Oh, did I mention it was snowing?  After filling up at a busy bistro we headed to the old candelit cellars of the former Eglise des Cordeliers, now the Marche aux Vins.  It's a self-guided tour with barrels set out with different varieties of wine to try.  Our tasting vessel was the little "tastevin" sommeliers in restaurants use, how fun!  The wine itself wasn't terribly great but it was an exceptional and unique tasting indeed!  I think the Bobo-parentals quite enjoyed it!

Now it was onward to Dijon.  We took the Route des Grands Crus, although the vineyards were in full winter mode with only twigs and it was snowing (slushily)!  Pretty countryside and little wine towns though.  By the time we arrived in Dijon the weather improved so we went on a nice walk around the old town, following the handy "owl trail".  It's quite a picturesque city.

We stayed the night in Dijon and did a bit more walking before heading home on Saturday.  On the way back, we took small roads through more wine towns/French countryside and stopped in Nuits St. Georges for another cavern tasting.  This time the wine was quite nice so we did not leave empty handed!

On Easter we had planned to take the gondola up to to Mt. Pilatus (near Luzern) for a lunch of cheese fondue, but it was so foggy we decided against it.  Instead, we went on a nice long walk around the city, and checked out the monument in the "3-countries corner" where Switerzland, Germany and France meet.  All in all, it was a wonderful weekend with the parentals!  Thanks to Mom & Dad Bobovski for treating us to some tasty meals in Basel, Beaune and Dijon!