Since Soenke & I were not together for Valentine’s Day, he decided to make it up to me later with a road trip to Berlin ! We hit the road on a very snowy night at about 10:30pm (we like to get an early start as you can see) and headed out across the German countryside, across the old border into East Germany. A highlight of our drive was a stop for a midnight meal at an authentic German truckstop. Let’s just say that I have not seen any truckstop like this in the States. It was impeccably clean, with linen tablecloths & napkins, candles on the table, & nice silverware. The restrooms had full-time attendants to keep them clean. There was a wine list (?!). It was a little surreal! (lucky German truckdrivers!)

We arrived in Berlin at about 2:30am, and scouted out the Hotel Berlin (of course). It was tasteful and modern. The next day, since it was very cold, we decided to tour around the city by car (this was my idea); we did stop at the Brandenburg Gate & enjoyed the view of the Gate from a fine American establishment nearby called Starbucks. We then strolled up the grand boulevard there, passed the famous old East Berlin hotel Adlon, the Russian Aeroflot office (do their planes really fly?!), and the Bentley car dealership which seemed a little out of place.

Over the course of the weekend we checked out Checkpoint Charlie, shopped along Ku’Damm (the main shopping street), drove by some awesome modern buildings including the Jewish Museum and the Berlin Philharmonic. We also saw the venerable Berlin Staatsoper (opera house), the Reichstag (where the German President & lawmakers meet), and went to the top of the giant TV tower which Berliners call ‘The Toothpick’ for spectacular views of the city. Soenke was nice enough to recognize that I might be due for a guacamole fix, so we also scouted out a Mexican restaurant which proved to be quite good !

Soenke let me drive back to Hamburg from Berlin, so that was my first experience on the German autobahn. NICE!!! Wish we could crank up LA freeway speeds like that.

Here is the Brandenburg Gate:

And Checkpoint Charlie:

Soenke looking COLD:

The Jewish Museum:

The ever-present cranes of Berlin: