I didn’t really know much about Germany’s fourth largest city before I arrived. Without the hip factor of Berlin or the Bavarian beer drinking and lederhosen wearing traditions of Munich, Cologne seems to get talked about a lot less than these more popular German cities. Which is unfortunate because Cologne is actually pretty cool.

What is there to do in Cologne?

The most famous landmark, Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), is an impressive sight, even for someone who is a little “churched out”. Like many German cities, a large part of Cologne was destroyed by Allied bombs during the Second World War which creates for a, uh, very boring architectural style. While the cathedral was hit by bombs, it never collapsed and today the spires of this Gothic cathedral stand tall over the city.

My favorite part of Cologne, though, wasn’t the cathedral or the narrow streets in the old part of the city or napping next to the Rhine River. My favorite part of Cologne was their unique beer drinking culture.

Cologne has a long standing brewing tradition. The city’s brewers association dates back over 600 years and brew their own kind of beer called Kölsch. Kölsch is a bright yellow and is warm fermented and then cold conditioned, kind of hybrid of an ale and a lager. To be called Kölsch, it must be brewed within the city limits. Today there are about two dozen Kölsch breweries in Cologne, about half as many as there were in the early twentieth century but a marked improvement over the two that were still in operation after the war ended.

A little watery and not nearly hoppy enough for me, it’s not the taste of Kölsch that made it interesting to me, it’s the traditional drinking culture that surrounds it.

Kölsch is served in 20 centiliter glasses and if you finish your glass, it doesn’t mean you are done drinking. Waiters walk around the bar carrying filled glasses in a Kranz, a circular tray, and will keep replacing your empty glass with a new one until you place a coaster over the top or leave half the glass filled. They then mark how many you’ve had on a coaster.

On my first night in Cologne Kasey took me to Gaffel, a brewery near the main station and cathedral, for my first taste of Kölsch. Because it was a national holiday, the locals were out in droves and it made for a fun introduction to Kölsch drinking culture. Waiters at Kölsch bars are supposed to speak not German, but the local dialect, also called Kölsch. (According to Julika, the only language you can also drink!) They are also known to be rude, especially to foreigners, but I never found this to be the case. The waiter was even kind enough to stop serving long enough to let me take this photo.

Nothing, though, would be as fun as the next night. Kasey’s coworker had recommended that we eat dinner at a place called Lommerzheim. This tiny pub-restaurant is rather famous in Cologne and we were told to arrive at opening time or we would be waiting all night for a table. When we got there 10 minutes before opening there was already a line.

The doors opened and everyone filed nicely inside and chose a table. This is Germany, after all. The crowd was all local and everyone seemed ready for a Saturday night of Kölsch and traditional German fare. After a few beers and some dinner, two German men asked if they could sit at our table because the rest were full. Like seemingly every other person in the country, they spoke fabulous English and were soon telling us about the nights they spent sleeping in their car outside of Lommerzheim after too many Kölsch and shots of what they described as the “local Jagermeister”.

Then, not surprisingly, some shots of the this local Jagermeister showed up on our table. And more Kölsch kept coming. And finally, after a ridiculous amount of 20 centiliter glasses had been consumed, we decided we needed to leave to meet Kasey’s friends. We both put coasters on our glasses and waited for the waiter to come so we could settle the bill. The waiter came. And stacked more filled Kölsch glasses on top of the coasters. A breach of Kölsch protocol, I think.

So we continued to drink and when we finally absolutely had to leave, we were able to convince the waiter to let us pay and go. We walked outside and realized we had left the box with our leftover food on the table. Not wanting to both go back in and risk not being allowed to leave again, I waited on the sidewalk and Kasey ventured inside. As soon as she entered the restaurant I heard the entire place start to cheer. Almost immediately she came back out the door empty-handed.

“Amanda, I need you. Come back.”

I crossed the street and entered the restaurant. Two shots were sitting on our takeaway box.

“They won’t let us leave with our food without taking these shots.”

So we took our shots, grabbed our box of food, said goodbye to our new friends, and hobbled outside laughing our heads off.

This is the reason I love the culture of Kölsch.

This is a reason I love Germany.

Have you ever had a funny local dining or drinking experience while traveling? 

Drinking Kölsch in Cologne is a post from: Farsickness

Germans, and Berliners in particular, have an interesting way of dealing with their pained history. In the United States we have the tendency to ignore the mistakes we’ve made in the past, to sweep such things under the rug, as though if we don’t face them then it never happened. Berliners seem to have the exact opposite approach.

Throughout the city there are somber reminders of the war that nearly destroyed the country, a genocide that killed millions, and the divided country and city that stood for 45 years. The prevailing attitude here is one of awareness. An attitude of “Germany has done some screwed up things in the past and we are going to acknowledge them and take responsibility for them and, most importantly, learn from them.”

One of the most obvious of these reminders is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a 4.7 acre site in the city center covered with 2,711 concrete slabs. The slabs are uniform in horizontal dimensions (in a shape that some say resemble coffins), but vary in height creating a somewhat dizzying effect. Designed by American architect Peter Eisenman and opened in 2005, the memorial hasn’t been without controversy.

Some have complained that it doesn’t include the word ‘holocaust’, while others are upset by the fact that it excludes the various other groups who were also targeted by the Nazis. There is also some confusion over the meaning of the memorial, or if there is any meaning at all. Eisenman once stated that the memorial was “designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason”, but the official guidebook states “the design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because Eisenman did not use any symbolism”. What the memorial represents, or doesn’t, and even though it is sometimes filled with teenagers running around and smoking cigarettes, it still remains a somber remembrance to the almost 6 million Jews who were killed by the Nazis.

On August 13, 1961 the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) began constructing a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years. Often referred to by the West German government as the “Wall of Shame”, the Berlin Wall stopped movement between the two parts of the country, separating families and cutting people off from their jobs. In September 1989 East Berliners started staging protests and on November 9 the Wall fell.

Today the wall is almost completely destroyed with only a few key parts still remaining. An 80 meter long piece stands at the Topography of Terror, the site of the former Gestapo headquarters, and the longest section, a 1.3 km stretch along Mühlenstrasse called the East Side Gallery, is covered with paintings from international artists representing hope, peace, and freedom.

The Reichstag building is another, possibly less obvious, reminder of the dark past of the country. The building was home to the German Parliament from 1894 until it was severely damaged in a fire in 1933. Though the fire was officially blamed on Marcus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, by the Nazi party as a way of showing the horrors of Communism to the German people, it is suspected by many that the fire was set by the Nazis themselves. The building was unused until after German reunification when reconstruction began in 1990.

Today a large glass dome, open to the public, sits atop the building. This dome provides a 360 degree view of Berlin, as well as a view into the debating chamber of Parliament below. Norman Foster, the English architect behind the project, built the dome as symbol of a democratic and united Germany.

The reminders are there. And though most of them now carry a message of peace, democracy, hopefulness for the future, it begs the question: can you ever really move on when tragic history is constantly staring you in the face?

It saddened me when I learned that many Germans, both young and old, don’t feel that they can be proud of their country. Germany has a rich history of philosophers, composers, inventors, and scientists. 101 Nobel Prize winners have come from Germany. The country has the world’s oldest universal health care system and the world’s fourth largest economy, which is even more impressive if you take into account that 70 years ago much of the country was completely destroyed.

There are many people who think that the atrocities of the past should never be far behind when speaking about Germany, and while I agree it is important to remember and speak about the harder parts of history, it is unfair to categorize an entire country by the mistakes of past generations. While I can’t speak for the people of a country where I’ve spent less than week total, I do hope that the rest of the world starts to look past the tragedies when Germany’s name is brought up and starts to see more of the triumphs.

What do you think about constant reminders of a troubled past?

Coming to Terms With History in Berlin is a post from: Farsickness

Besides the quality of the food, I enjoyed dining in Berlin for two reasons. The first is that Berlin is cheap. You can get a kebab, currywurst, banh mi, or burger for under 5 euro and can sit down in many restaurants for around 10 euro a person. Compared to most other European capitals, there’s a lot of value in Berlin. The second reason is that it’s really to easy to eat alone in Berlin. A lot of places are self service or snack stands and even in restaurants people didn’t seem to bat an eye when I asked for a table for one. As a sometimes solo traveler, this makes eating out a lot nicer.

Back to the food, if you’re looking for something to eat in Berlin, alone or with someone else, here are a few suggestions.

Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap

Doner kebab is a dish that was brought to Germany by Turkish immigrants and adapted to local tastes. It has become a staple around the country and is an obsession of mine. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that after checking into my hostel I made a beeline straight to Mustafa’s, what is considered to be one of the best kebabs in Berlin.

While it might seem weird to have high expectations for a meal that is meat shaved from spit and stuffed into a pita with some vegetables and sauce, after hearing so much about Mustafa’s, I did.

And somehow, this kebab managed to not just meet my expectations, but to surpass them. Here they go beyond the basic kebab. There’s the meat,  fresh salad, garlic and hot sauces, but there’s also roasted peppers and potatoes, a sprinkle of feta, and a squirt of lemon, which creates an even deeper combination of flavors and some nice variety in texture. This is the way fast food should be done.

My only regret? That I didn’t go back for another.

Mehringdamm 32, 10961. Open everyday 10 am – 2 am. For more information visit their website.

Si An

With a large Vietnamese immigrant population, Berlin is often considered to be the capital of cheap Vietnamese food in Europe. In her post about food in Berlin, Julika challenged me to see if the food in Berlin stood up to the real stuff in Vietnam. As with any food challenge, I took this very seriously.

Located in Prenzlauer Berg, Si An was an easy walk down wide, tree and cafe lined avenues from my hostel. One of my favorite things about Vietnamese cuisine was cold noodle dishes served with an abundance of fresh herbs, so when I saw bun cha gio on the menu I knew immediately that’s what I would order. Bun cha gio is vermicelli noodles with Thai basil, mint, Vietnamese cilantro, and crushed peanuts topped with a fish sauce based dressing and fried spring rolls. The flavors of Si An were fresh and very reminiscent of the good food I had in Vietnam.

When the waiter noticed I was taking photos of my food, he came over and rearranged the setting so the photo would look nicer. Now that’s good service.

Rykestrasse 36, 10405. Open everyday 12 pm – 12 am. For more information visit their website. 

Co Co Banh Mi Deli

Not wanting to end my Vietnam food challenge after one restaurant, I decided to try Co Co Banh Mi Deli, a recommendation from Waegook Tom. In Vietnamese banh mi means bread, but more commonly refers to the sandwiches made on a baguette that are popular throughout the country. The banh mi sandwich is a fusion between Vietnamese and French ingredients with mayonnaise, pate, pickled vegetables, and fish sauce commonly found as toppings.

At Co Co I went with the classic banh mi which came filled with pork, mayonnaise, pate, tomato, pickled vegetables, cilantro, and a fish sauce based dressing. Though the bread wasn’t exact (a little too soft and airy), the flavors were spot on. And at €4.20 for a sandwich, it’s a great deal.

Rosenthaler Strasse 2, 10119. Open everyday 11 am – 10 pm, except Friday and Saturday when they stay open until midnight. For more information visit their website.

Burgermeister

Burgermeister has an aura of cool around it. Located under the U-bahn tracks in a building that used to house a public bathroom, Burgermeister is known for their delicious burgers and long lines. I’m not usually one to jump in line at a restaurant just because of the hip factor, but this place is also consistently written about as one of the best burgers in Berlin, and as a burger super fan, I had to give this place a try.

Unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed. The burgers are uniformly cooked to well-done, an enormous pet peeve of mine, and they had that standard burger-in-continental-Europe taste that I can’t really describe but you would instantly recognize if you’ve ever had a sub-par burger in Europe. The jalapenos I had on my chili cheeseburger added a nice kick, but it’s probably not a burger I’d queue up for again.

Why am I adding Burgermeister to a list of of places to eat in Berlin if I didn’t like it that much? Well, it’s a great place to see Berlin’s hipster cool in action and I heard the chili cheese fries are great- maybe you’ll have better luck with those.

Oberbaumstrasse 8, 10997. Open Monday – Thursday 11 am – 3 am, Friday and Saturday 11 am – 4 am, and Sunday 12 pm – 3 am. For more information visit their website.

Schwarzwaldstuben

I wanted to try some actual German food while in Germany so I headed to Schwarzwaldstuben, a restaurant that specializes in southern German cuisine and that is thought by many to have the best schnitzel in Berlin. My flatmate Claire, who is half German and spent part of her childhood living in Bavaria, sent me some ideas on good dishes to try.

I went with Käsespätzle, a kind of casserole made cheese, browned onion, and spätzle, an kind of egg noodle-dumpling hybrid. This is an extremely rich dish, but washed down with a cold beer, it went down nicely. While it’s not exactly cheap, if you’re looking for some good Swabian food in a sea of Asian takeaway, kebab shops, and currywurst stands then Schwarzwaldstuben is probably one of your best bets.

Tucholskystraße 48, 10117. Open everyday 9 am – 12 am. For more information visit their website.

Imapala Coffee

I spotted this place on my way to the U-bahn one morning and in need of my daily caffeine fix, decided to try it out. I ended up having breakfast and coffee there for the next 3 days. The coffee is phenomenal, I’m pretty sure they roast their own beans, and they have a large selection of pastries and bagel sandwiches. I personally really liked the apfeltasche and pain au chocolat.

Besides great coffee, the ambience is part of the appeal of Impala. There’s a minimalistic shabby chic thing going on- think wood, bright colors, and mismatched pillows. There is also a lot of outdoor seating which made for a lovely place to linger over a cappuccino and a book on a spring morning.

There are multiple locations but I frequented the one at Schönhauser Allee 173, 10119. Open everyday 7 am – 8 pm. For more information visit their website.

Rogacki

Rogacki is a deli-cum-food court that has been around since 1928 and doesn’t seem to have changed much since. Opened by a German-Polish family, Rogacki is filled with counters selling every type of sausage imaginable and a wide variety of cheeses, salads, poultry, and fish among other things. Most of the green clad staff seem to have worked here for decades and are friendly, even amid a language barrier. (This is probably the one place in Berlin where no one speaks flawless English.)

I didn’t come to shop, but for a self-service, cafeteria style lunch. I was planning on sausage, but decided to follow the cue of everyone else in front of me in line and ordered a piece of the fried fish and a side of potato salad filled with tiny pickles. The fish, pounded out and fried like schnitzel, was light but filling and considering the number of people passing through here even after lunch time, it’s a crowd pleaser.

Rogacki may be slightly out of the center, but it’s worth a trip for a glimpse into this old world food paradise.

Wilmersdorfer Strasse 145, 10585. Open Monday – Wednesday 9 am – 6 pm, Thursday 9 am – 7 pm, Friday 8 am – 7 pm, and Saturday 8 am – 4 pm. For more information visit their website. 

Konnopke’s Imbiss

Currywurst, cut up sausage topped with curry ketchup, is an iconic dish in Berlin. Created by Herta Heuwer in in Berlin 1949, it is estimated that 70 million currywursts are sold each year in the city. I tried some at Konnopke’s Imbiss, a stand under the U-bahn tracks next to Eberswalder Strasse Station that is consistently ranked as one of the best places currywurst places in Berlin.

The verdict? The sausage was kind of a strange texture, but you can’t go wrong with curry ketchup. Also, the mayonnaise in Germany is some of the best in the world so I won’t object to anything that serves as a vehicle for more of that. Also, I had my currywurst as an early snack before a bus to Warsaw, but I’m guessing this is best as a late night snack after a couple liters of beer.

Schönhauser Allee 44 B, 10435. Open Monday – Friday 9 am – 8 pm and Saturday 11:30 am – 8 pm.

What dish looks the best to you?

Berlin Bites: Where to Eat in the German Capital is a post from: Farsickness

I’d heard that Berlin was a street art lovers paradise, but it wasn’t until I got there and started walking around that I realized how true it is. You really don’t have to look far or hard to find street art in Berlin. Walk down main streets, duck into alleyways, or look up at the sides of buildings and sooner or later you’ll be sure to spot something.

Street art really took off in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Artists form both East and West Berlin flocked to former areas of the East and began painting. The hot topic of the time? Freedom.

Berlin has remained a political city with alternative leanings and the street art community has continued to thrive.

Like I said before, you don’t have to look far to find street art in Berlin, but if you’re going hunting here are a few places with a high concentration of pieces.

Kreuzberg

Kreuzberg is an area of Berlin located just south of the center. Once part of West Berlin, it used to be one of the poorest areas of the city. Today, though, it is one of the trendiest. Filled with young people, bars, and cafes, Kreuzberg is now considered cultural and cool. Like many hip neighborhoods around the world, Kreuzberg is also full of street art. I got off at the Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn stop for lunch and during a quick walk around the surrounding area after my burger, I found some interesting pieces.

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is 1.3 km section of the Berlin Wall standing next to the River Spree along Mühlenstrasse. Today this piece of the wall is covered by over 100 paintings from different artists and stands as a symbol of freedom around the world. Though the pieces here are a lot more planned than the ones you’ll find around the rest of the city, there are still some great things to be seen at the East Side Gallery.

Prenzlauer Berg/Mitte

Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte are two former districts of East Berlin and both play prominently in Berlin’s art scene, both street and otherwise. Prenzlauer Berg used to be home to much of Berlin’s young bohemian crowd and while it has been gentrified in recent years, there is still a lot of street are to be found. Mitte is a larger district, where you could once find many artists squats, that is still a great place for spotting street art both small and large.

Alley near Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt

Though technically this alley off Rosenthaler Strasse is part of Mitte, it deserves a section of its own because it is that awesome. This alley next to the museum dedicated to a man who helped Jews escape deportation during World War II is a street art haven. The walls are covered with paint, stickers, and stencils done by different artists and is the biggest and best collection of street art in one place that I’ve seen anywhere in the world.

What is your favorite picture? Where’s your favorite place to go street art hunting?

A Guide to Street Art in Berlin is a post from: Farsickness