We had an amazing weekend last weekend. The weather was close to perfect, we explored some new areas and also lazed around in some parks. It was wonderful.
On Saturday we started out taking the subway down to Kreuzberg for some breakfast. I had seen online this restaurant that had lots of vegan breakfast options such as pancakes and tofu scramble and such which is hard to find here. We walked up to the restaurant...and it was closed! A lot of places close for most of August as it is the vacation time here.
We were then like okay now what? We looked across the street and the sign outside said vegan breakfast so we headed over there for some hopefully good foods.
We had a traditional German breakfast which I quite enjoyed. The breakfast was breads, in the middle of the plate there are 4 cups of spreads - 2 were olive based, one was rosemary something and the other one I am not sure what it was but it was tasty. Also there is a small cup of jam at the bottom of the plate, some slices of fruits and veggies, and 3 different house made vegan meats with sauce (normal German breakfast would have meats and cheeses). This was just one serving and we had decided to get one and share and I am glad we did - it was a lot of food.
After breakfast we walked along the river to get down to Treptower Park. I knew that I had read about the park and something was there, but I didn't remember what. When we got there we went in and there was a huge grassy field so we lazed around for a bit. Then there was a lake farther down to we went to check that out and found what the big attraction of the park is.
The top photo is the first thing you see - there is one of those large structures on either side and a statue of a soldier kneeling down. Then you look out and you can see on the far side a huge statue and the walkway is lined with squares that are carved with different scenes depicted on them and quotes on the end.
The large statue at the end of the memorial (which is not the best photo but here is a good one Soviet War Memorial) is a soviet soldier carrying a child he has saved stepping on a crushed swastika. you can see the doorway at the bottom and inside people leave flowers and such and the wall is lined with this mural.
We then went and found the lake with this odd statue in it. The photo is not the best, but it is a lady laying down with this weird water guy peaking over a rock at her. Quite strange, but that is the way it is. We hung out by the lake until we got hungry then went to get ice cream at our favorite ice cream place here.
We were wanting pancakes for breakfast and didn't get them. We were waiting in line for ice cream and I saw a waffle go out and I said to Raymond how I wanted that, but I probably can't eat it. Raymond spied and found that they were vegan! So we each got a waffle and ice cream. Delicious! And very exciting for me as it was so tasty. It is good that we don't live close by as I would go here all the time for waffles and ice cream. After that we went to this place that was supposed to have awesome vegan pizza. We walked in and there was no vegan pizza to be had so again we though okay now what? We looked across the street and there were 6 different veggie burgers listed so we ate there. They were delicious so it was good.
Sunday we went to Mauerpark to hang out for the day. To me Mauerpark on a Sunday is like the embodiment of Berlin. If you wanted to go to one place and get what Berlin is all about I think Mauerpark on Sunday is the place. Along the one edge of the park atop a hill is part of the wall and some swings.
The wall is completely covered with graffiti and if you hang out at the top of the wall you can watch people cover last weeks graffiti with something new.
There is also a large amphitheater where people perform during the day. Behind us in this photos is the wall a ways back and lots of people standing behind us (we were in the last row on top). In the photos above you can also see the tents for the flea market which is huge and packed with people and I have to be in the right mood to walk through it - everyone just stops for no reason and it is very cramped and crowded so it annoys me. There is a vegan burger place which is amazing, one of my favorites I have ever had even though the "burger" patty is just fried tofu. The toppings are amazing. There are also some fresh squeezed orange juice stands which are very popular here, and lots of clothes and old things and furniture and just a ton of stuff. Then between the flea market and the amphitheater there is a large grassy area where people barbecue and hang out and to the right of the photo a ways down is a playground and a climbing wall. On this past Sunday when we showed up there was this lady doing this pantomime routine which was horrible. She was wearing this short red dress with black pants underneath and she did things like oh no if I bend over you will see under my dress...so? You are wearing pants so...who cares? Then she pulled out a different short red dress that looked almost exactly like the one she was wearing and was all should I change? I don't know it was bad. At least pick something different from what you have on if you want me to care at all. As it was you changed and if I had just looked down and back up later I might not have even noticed it looked so much alike. She was going on forever so we left to go get beverages and such.
When we got back there was this juggler just starting. Now I am kind of eh on juggling as a whole. I am usually like okay sure that is good, but I don't usually love it. This guy was amazing! His juggling routine was really different and he was really funny in a dark humor kind of way. He had pulled a kid up to help him the one time and made some joke about hopefully he works better than the lat kid or something and was all no I am just joking I love kids. I have a kids heart also....at home in a jar! It was awesome. Then after that was a band who is playing later this month set up to play a set for us which was pretty fun. I enjoyed them, but they were not really Raymond's kind of music.
After the band the big event - karaoke! They have karaoke every Sunday and a ton of people show up. The photo above was taken during karaoke which was a lot of fun. I still cannot believe how many people show up for it....
Here is a photo from the grassy area looking at the amphitheater. So many people! And here is a short video of the one person who was pretty fun:
He was hilarious. It was a great weekend.
Alright that is all the fun for this week. Tomorrow is out anniversary so Raymond took off and we are going to run a few errands and if it is nice we are going to go on a boat tour of Berlin to check it out as it should be fun. Then we have fancy dinner so it should be fun :)
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