So I had to take vacation days or I would lose them, and my friend says "I'll be in Berlin for Easter weekend," and I answered with "I want to be in Berlin for Easter weekend!" And so I was.
We had a blast. We both arrived on April 1st and the first order of business was to get us something yummy to eat. Enter Vietnamese Food restauran Hoai Nam, a couple of blocks from our apartment.
The atmosphere was very nice and they helpfully had the menu in English and German. I began the meal with vegetarian dumplings, kimchi, and Saigon beer.
The main course consisted of Tofu Noodles with coconut milk:
It was a great way to begin our visit!!
The next day we went on a walking tour of mostly East Berlin. We saw all the big attractions: Checkpoint Charlie, the Berliner Dom, Museum Island, the TV Tower, a bit of Berlin Wall that's still left, Hitler's Bunker, the new memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe, the German memorial for the victims of War and Tyranny, the Royal Opera House, Bebelplatz and the memorial to the book burning that happened there in 1933. Awesome, and exhausting... some pictures:
After all that walking we were starving! First we took a break at a small café and had a bit of a snack
We did go drinking, which was great and fun. The beer was cheap and of EXCELLENT quality. There are no pictures of debauchery available, however ;-)
The next morning though, we took our time waking up and had brunch at around noon. We had to search but found a little brunch place, practically empty. I had the Chorizo and sweet pepper omelet
The omelet was good, but it made me feel a little queasy later. More sightseeing happened, in the meantime - the weather was perfect and we rode U-Bahns and S-Bahns all over the place. We ended Saturday night by watching the movie "Precious" with German subtitles - yeah, we like to keep it light and sweet during vacation.
Sunday also had a slow start, but in a good sense. Museums were visited, we went up to the TV Tower observatory (not as cool as the Empire State Building, but who's comparing?) and also up to the Berliner Dom roof and had great looks of the city. We didn't make it too far into West Berlin, unfortunately, but I guess that means we'll have to go back. We finished our visit to Berlin by having a delicious meal at a Vegetarian restaurant in Kreuzberg. Some awesome Rose wine and a stuffed aubergine in a bed of a tomato sauce:
The next day I headed back to the States, via London. I made a quick stop at the Brittish Museum.
I made what I believe was a brilliant attempt to actually at the very least walk through the entire museum, which consists of three levels and what seems like countless exhibitions. I failed miserably.
To cheer myself up, I walked to the West End and attempted to find a good show. I ran into Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, with Sanaa Lathan and Phyllicia Rashad. I got super excited.
But then I find out that the show is sold out for the night. Bum-mer. I keep walking and almost inmediately I run into another theater, where Dirty Dancing (Yes, based on the movie) was playing. I figure, what the hell, right? I liked the adaptation of Legally Blonde to the Stage (actually one of my favorite musicals, say what you will,) and the show's been open for years by now, there's no way it would be open for long if it wasn't good. So I got whipped out my student ID (yes, it is expired, but the Brits didn't seem to care) and purchased me a 20 Pound seat, which was on first mezz, second row center. What luck, right?
Before the show I walked around - I found at least three different Thai food restaurants, but this is the one I chose
Thai Square was a GREAT choice. I let the waiter know I had a Show to make and she brought out my Tofu Pad Thai inmediately
It was one of the best Tofu Pad Thai's I've ever tasted. The Tofu had a wonderful scald to it, the noodles had a good consistency, the sauce made me very happy. YUM to the MY.
Quickly though, as I was cutting it close, I ran to The Aldwych Theater thinking that as soon as Dirty Dancing was over I would skip over to the Stage Door on the other theater and get to say hi to the actors of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Dirty Dancing... What... a waste of my time and money. They included EVERY SCENE of the movie. Even though it made the entire thing run choppily and made scenes sometimes less than a minute long. What that means is that it took longer for the actors and the stage to set up for a scene than it got them to actually say the lines. The dancing was not properly Dirty, I'll say that too - severely dissappointed in that respect. AND they added scenes to the whole deal: A bit about Neil the grandson going freedom riding and Baby and her mother having more a rapport, as well as showing Baby's mom and pop talking to each other a bit more. Unnecesary scenes for the movie and certainly unnecesary for the show. These people really needed to get the important scenes together, combined some of the scenes to make the flow better, and they seriously needed to choose a Johnny that had a bit more experience with modern dancing and not a completely ballet trained dancer. The guy was horrible.
The only saving grace of the show was the actress that played Baby's sister. Now, she did almost a carbon copy of what the movie actress did - but it was a good choice. Singing during the talent show and her way of dancing: perfect. What upset me is that the entire theater went crazy when Johnny did his "Nobody puts baby in a corner" bit, which came out rushed and quickly, and done badly. They started cheering and SINGING ALONG AND OUTLOUD when the "I've had the time of my life" number came on, as if: a)they had never seen the movie, and b)as if the actors were any good. Really, I cannot possibly explain how angry I was at my having spent money on this. And then, to boot, by the time I was out, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof had been long over, and there was not even a slight chance to say "hey" to Mrs. Cosby. Feh.
Regardless, I enjoyed the walk back to my hostel, and I had good chamomile tea before bedtime. The next day I checked out early and decided that my last meal in London before heading to the States would be what they call "The full English."
This protein-and-grease fest consists of buttered toast, fried bacon, fried egg, fried sausage, and beans. Topped it with a cup of coffee and off the Airport I went. I felt a little queasy there for a second, but it was well worth it. I'm pretty sure that on this mini vacation I put on all the weight I lost in the month of March. Huzzah.
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