Day 28: September 29, 2015 –
Road Trip to Berlin
We got the navigation system up and pointing towards Berlin. Elizabeth was going to be driving, because I wasn’t insured to use the car. However, after what happened when I drove previously, I was scared of even stepping behind the wheel. We traveled on the autobahn and through rural Bavaria. I would occasionally fall asleep for a bit, then wake up, but I sat up most of the time and admired the countryside.
We got hungry and I asked Elizabeth to stop off at a rest stop for some lunch. We saw a few McDonald’s restaurants, every few exits, but I’m not really a fan of McDonald’s. I was hoping that we would come across a Burger King, because I feel like the quality is better than McDonald’s. Eventually, we saw a Burger King in a truck stop. The rest stop also contained a convenience store, and an a la carte baked food counter.
The baked food counter served a salad bar, roasted chicken, pot roast, a couple different types of potatoes, and cooked vegetables. I had never seen such healthy options at a truck stop in the states, and we were out in the middle of nowhere; where you wouldn’t think there would be such a demand for high grade food. I ended up opting out of Burger King, and ordered a roasted chicken breast, a chicken leg, and some actual pan fried potatoes. Elizabeth put together a salad from the salad bar. The food was delicious and healthy, so we were both happy. It’s no wonder that the trucking community in the states, tends to have a poor physique. If they were given healthier options, then they might be slimmer and healthier.
Hours passed and we started getting closer to Berlin. It was Monday in the late afternoon and the Autobahn was a big mess. Traffic had practically come to a stand still. We slowly arrived at our exit and it was just around sunset. We knew that we weren’t going to see much of Berlin since we arrived so late, so I started trying to take photos out the window of the car, of the sun reflecting against the buildings. Berlin looked like an amazing city to live in. It was autumn, so I’m not sure what the winters are like, but Berlin just had that familiar rust belt feel, without looking run down and depressed in the area that we were driving.
We didn’t really know where we were going when we got off the highway, so we tried to follow the navigation system. It wanted us to take a quick turn, but Elizabeth missed it. We turned around at the next safest opportunity, but the navigation system, became confused , and had to reroute its directions. Supposedly, going in the right direction, the navigation told us to turn down a street lined with do not enter signs. There were road barriers that guided us back and forth from one lane to another, and we became very unsure where the navigation system was taking us.
When we had managed to drive to the end of the road, there were cars trying to turn into the street, that we were coming out of. The people in the other cars looked shocked. Even more shocking, there was a car behind us that was honking at us, because they wanted to get passed. We quickly pulled to the side of the road, and waited for the navigation to tell us the right way to go. Clearly, this Fiat didn’t know much about what was happening in Berlin, but neither did we.
We continued driving straight down the street, then took a U-turn, so within a few minutes, we were at our destination. We had ended up making arrangements to stay with a friend of Tim’s, from our ukulele meetup. He had previously worked with her in Germany. Nancy and I had done some email correspondence here and there, but really I only just had her address.
Nancy is a Chinese, Canadian, Lesbian Scientist, with a German partner, named Michi, who is a pharmacist. Their neighborhood was just on the brink of gentrification; so even though there were some questionable youths walking around, there were amazing murals on the sides of buildings. In Germany, we found that drivers will park anywhere that their car will fit, regardless of safety. Luckily, we found a space close by their building.
When we arrived at the building, we pushed the buzzer and Nancy’s partner, Michi answered. We explained who we were and she came down to the first floor to meet us. We followed her up the stairs to the fourth floor, where we met Nancy. As soon as we walked in, the apartment felt huge. It was a fairly old building, but they practically lived on an entire floor, so it was a pretty, good deal. They had a long hallway leading to all the rooms and they guided us to the end, where the living room was. They said that this is where we were going to be sleeping, and we were pleased because they had a large couch, that was double deep, so we could sleep next to each other.
There was lots of art on their walls and from what I could tell, most of themes represented lesbian lovers, if I remember correctly. Michi really liked Klimt, so there were a few Klimt posters also hanging in their apartment. When we went into the living room, there was a Klimt style painting on the wall of two women in bed, which they had commissioned. The women in the painting was totally them, but they insisted that it wasn’t, and that the artist made it up.
Elizabeth was urgent about returning the rental car on time. So she said, we had to leave. The ladies looked at us like, “you are leaving already? You just got here.” They offered to take us out for dinner, when we got back and we said that we would be back shortly. They gave us a key, and down the staircase we went, then down the street to the rental car.
Only a few miles away, the Berlin train station was clearly a major hub, because the traffic around it was insane. Once again, the navigation system was giving us questionable directions. We drove through a long tunnel, under the train station, and the navigation was telling us, that we needed to make a U-turn to get back around to our destination. The parking lot for the train station was all underground and we needed to take the long tunnel back to get there. We drove up the narrow, underground, exit ramp, and into the train station parking garage.
We followed the signs for our rental car company, but there wasn’t one space open in the entire garage. Next to the end spot marked by the rental company, we parked in the zebra stripes. We walked up to the concourse, and when we stepped out, it was like stepping into the future. The Germans have done a lot of things wrong over the years, but transportation isn’t one of them.
The Berlin train station was amazing. I could only imagine what the inside looked like illuminated with daylight. It felt like we were in a gigantic green house, and on a clear night, we might have been able to see the stars. We managed to get the rental car keys turned in, on time, and Elizabeth told me not to mention, that we had gotten the car stuck in an underground parking garage in Munich, if he asked if we had any problems. I guess she feels that sometimes my honesty, does more harm than good.
We purchased some tickets for the metro, then walked down to the proper level platform. We ended up taking two trains, each one stop and then we walked down the street to the apartment. It took us longer than expected, but Nancy and Michi didn’t seem to mind so much. They figured that it was too late to really go anywhere. They decided to order some pizzas from a shop named Happy Pizza. Nancy had been feeling sick and apologized for not having more energy, but she seemed fun and friendly, so she was probably more so, when she was 100%.
We talked about different experiences from our childhood, such as sports and school, and she mentioned her hockey experience in the Gay Games. In the background played the German Version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, which Michi attempted to translate for us, but failed to find the words. I saw their Putin nesting doll collection and then played with the dolls as they talked to me about their origin. It was a really fun, mellow night, and just what we needed after a long exhausting trip. If we are ever in Berlin, I hope that they let us crash on their couch again, because not only was it really comfortable, so was their company.
We went to bed sort of early, because we were still recovering from Oktoberfest and Elizabeth had driven all day. We also found out that Nancy and Michi had also driven back from Bavaria, the night before, after visiting family. We set the alarm early, so we could prepare for our flight to Copenhagen, which departed at 10am.
Places We Bought Food and Drink
Heißt serways AutoBahn Rest Stop Feucht, 90537 Germany While most rest stops have snacks or fast food, this rest stop on the Autobahn was practically a gormet buffet. With potatoes, vegetables, roasted beer, and roasted chicken, paired with a salad bar, this rest stop is on the next level of the game, and should be a road side attraction. Rest stop owners around the world should be making a pilgramage to Feucht and take notes.
Happy Pizza Gerichtstraße 13, 13347 Berlin, Germany Proving that you can make pizza great anywhere, even in a city that was formerly divided by a wall and the capital of Hitler’s empire, Happy Pizza is the shop that keeps the peace in the 00’s. This delicious little pizza joint has great prices and selections, and is single handedly keeping Germany from rising and taking over Europe, through their happy pizzas.