August 22, 2014:: First 24 Hours in Berlin

August 22, 2014

Guten Tag –

Arrived in Berlin last night after a somewhat uneventful, long, and exhausting work day + 26 hours of travel. Left the office at 2:30 on Wednesday — took BART to SFO (trying to reduce my carbon footprint!); flew from SF to Frankfurt and was happily upgraded to business class which always makes it a bit easier… Had four-hour wait in Frankfurt and attempted to sit it out at the Star Alliance Lounge given that we arrived Business Class and are Star Alliance Gold but they wouldn’t let us hang out there because we were not “departing” from Frankfurt in Business Class (flying Air Berlin on flight that is one hour and one cabin… ) Anyway, we headed to a café, found rather comfortable seats and decided that would work. .. problem was the seats were just a little too comfortable so we sort of overstayed.. and suddenly realized we really needed to head to the gate.

At about 6:00 we headed to our gate for the plane departing at 6:55. Well turns out we were leaving from another terminal and the walk was more like a half-hour hike.. then train.. then long walk again. And had to go through security all over again; we assumed flying Germany to Germany would be a snap.. and given that we are accustomed to TSA PreCheck we were not prepared to deal with taking things out of our suitcases, taking off shoes, taking out computers, etc.… So we nearly missed the flight… last ones on the plane and they were paging us.. And they had to search Mike’s bag twice — too much gear!..

OK.. made it and off to Berlin we went. Decided to hop a taxi after arriving in Berlin.. tired, luggage, etc. Taxi dropped us off at a corner and said we were “there.” But the hotel building is so nondescript and absolutely no signage and no lit signs — totally understated from outside — that we actually walked around the corner before realizing the corner building was actually the hotel: Soho House Berlin. Soho House hotels is a company founded in London, in the mid-90s.. originally as a private members’ club for professionals in film, media and creative industries, but it has expanded to include hotel rooms. Thus the “hotel” is actually in two parts with some floors requiring key-access (for members) and others being more public floors. The building and the rooms are a strange cross between chintz and hip.. or maybe chintz is now hip– with exposed concrete beams and columns accompanied by rich floral patterns in the carpets! Rooms are large but somehow no desks… making it difficult to take care of the various projects I brought with me to do for the office. Top two floors have very casual but good restaurant, bar and roof bar with great views of the city. Since it’s a “club” — no photos or cell phones in any public spaces… and believe it or not, the rule is followed.

Got to hotel at around 9 pm.. sort of settled in and headed to the rooftop, but it was a bit too chilly for an outdoor drink,… so went to restaurant. Food was good.. and called it a day (up for about 30 hours by then).. Hotel has great views of the Berlin TV Tower

And then it was Friday…

Had breakfast at the hotel and headed out… The hotel is located somewhere between the Prenslauer neighborhood and the Mitte (or at least based on my sense of the city). Having been in Berlin less than two years ago, we didn’t have any real compelling needs to visit or revisit the various things one feels important to take in when seeing a new city. (Actually when we were here in 2012 it had been about 30 years since we had been in Berlin — having come in the 70s by East German boat from Trelleberg, Sweden and then driving ourselves through “East Germany” to reach Berlin.. Now that was quite a trip).

So we headed to the Norman Foster “dome” that is behind/above the Reichstag. Didn’t get there last time. It was about a 2.5 mile walk from the hotel.. and the weather could not be more perfect .. Strolled.. and meandered along the way.

Fortunately, we were warned (advised) that we should make lunch reservations (The Reichstag is the only parliament building in the world with a public restaurant!).. because then you can breeze past the long lines of tourists trying to get in to see the building. And that we did! You take an elevator up about 7 or 8 stories to the base of the dome.. Underneath are offices (I presume). There’s a bit of security coming in and out with double doors capturing you in between the entry areas.. So once you get to the dome you already have a great view of the entire city — 360 degrees.. The Reichstag dome is glass, and is constructed on top of the building which was rebuilt after the war (and once it was decided to move the German capital back to Berlin from Bonn… According to the writings it was meant to symbolize the reunification of Germany. The debating chamber of the German Parliament is just below the dome. Inside, the center of the dome is dominated by a mirrored conical shape which (while they say brings sunlight into the chambers of the Parliament below) is actually a real fun space because you can see yourself and others reflected and fractured numerous times as you look up… I think the floor to ceiling height of the space is probably about 80 feet tall… Once inside you walk the edges of the space through two spiraling ramps… They say that this dome symbolizes that the people are above the government, a statement that things are different from the days of National Socialism. Mmmmm people “above” the government — or government by the people.. I suppose the dome is also a statement that symbolizes the future..

Anyway, we walked to the top.. took lots of fun pictures with all the reflections.. and then had lunch at the restaurant, which was quite good. Mike decided to hop a taxi back to the hotel to catch up on sleep, but I meandered back to the hotel on a leisurely stroll.. taking a different and much longer route back..

And then we headed out for dinner to meet up with Mike’s brother and sister-in-law — the real reason for the trip. For those of you who have not been in previous travel emails… We come every summer to somewhere (generally in Europe) to meet Richard and Elizabeth who live in Geneva and southern France… We generally meet up for about 4 days.. so it’s always a rushed trip. They make the selection as to where to meet — sometimes, like this year, based on where they do their annual house exchange. Last year it was Rome, year before was Provence, etc. Ate at a restaurant about a 20 minute walk from Soho House. Strolled back along the park and totally crashed!