Bike tour of Berlin

Our final full day in Berlin was spent riding around town on possibly the least comfortable bikes ever. We headed in the direction of the Reichstag again and rode down the Unter den Linden, which was quite clean considering the madness that had occurred just 12 hours prior. From here, we headed into the Alexanderplatz/Museum Island area. While walking to the restaurant, we passed this gem. The Germans appear to be quite fond of JFK (there is also a Kennedy museum in Pariser Platz). We grabbed lunch right next to the Berliner Dom, a beautiful church that we decided to tour after eating. This area of the city is dominated by stunning architecture, open air plazas, and a wide array of art and historical museums.

Upon entering the Berliner Dom, we walked into the congregation area and found our gaze being drawn to the ornate dome sculptures and stained glass. After exploring the main room, we headed up a series of steps to the "dome walk", an outdoor walkway affording a 360-degree view of downtown Berlin. Before exiting the church, we walked through a crypt located in the basement which is the final resting place of many prominent German folk (not sure of the actual title held by these people).

After leaving the Berliner Dom and walking around the museum area for a bit longer, we hopped back on our beach cruisers and headed east. Our destination was the East side Gallery, home of the longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall. Not wanting to miss a once in a lifetime opportunity, we each carved our names into the wall. Before you judge our behavior, know that we carved our names on the other side of the memorial which was covered in random German graffiti art. We walked along and took in each artist's interpretation of the wall's demise before finding a little beach bar for respite along the riverside. We headed back to our bikes and made our way back to Alexanderplatz for a quick Doner, and then we headed back to the hostel for much needed rest and showers.

Drained from our bike tour, we hung around the hostel and watched the Spain/Croatia match in our room. We were surprised to see so many Croates, and couldn't help but feel bad when Spain scored near the end of full time to steal a victory. Soon after the match ended, we started watching a movie of Mike's iPad and fell asleep. We just finished an underwhelming breakfast at our hostel (came with the bike rental) and have some time to kill before heading to the airport and Amsterdam. My goal is to eat one more brat before leaving Germany behind, a feat that should not be difficult to accomplish.





























More from Matthew J. Murphy

My best memory from our time in Berlin is pushing Tim into a thorn bush. Every time he complains about the two thorns still stuck in his leg it makes me smile. Two things I have learned during my time in Germany: it is difficult to get normal water in a restaurant, everything is sparkling, and it is impossible to open a bottle of soda without having the plastic ring come off with the cap. I got some chicken fingers at a KFC ("crispys" over here) and the woman was surprised that I asked for honey mustard, apparently that's only used as a salad dressing over here. Although it may not seem like it, I have eaten a lot of real German food, not just German-American food.

Auf Wiedersehen