Tuna-fish Pizza

Today was our first day on our own after two days with Katrin as tour-guide-extraordinaire. We went to a couple of bookstores, visited Käthe-Kollwitz-Platz, found a comics bookstore, took the U-Bahn (subway) back after a long day of walking, went to a grocery store, ate tuna pizza, and drank Berliner Weiße (grün).

I'm glad I remembered the thing about tuna-fish pizza today. We were passing by one of the many omnipresent pizzerias today when I was reminded that Germans have a funny thing about their pizzas. Some of them like it was tuna on top. Like tuna-out-of-a-can tuna. I'd never tried it all the times I'd been here before, so I ordered it tonight for a late dinner. It was actually okay. Weird because, well, it tastes like pizza with tuna on top, but not half bad actually.

At the pizzeria, Ryan tried his first (and probably only) Berliner Weiße, which is the most disgusting drink I can think of. It's a beer (probably very cheap) flavored with a shot of sweet syrup in either green or red. Ryan chose green. I tasted it, too. We agreed that it should be renamed an apple-beertini. It is seriously disturbing. Luckily, it comes with a straw so that you can feel prissy while drinking it.

Ryan has been enjoying the crazy cheap cost for beer. At the supermarket, we bought a couple bottles for less than the cheapest, nastiest Natty Light or Budweiser that you could buy in the U.S. And, as Ryan can tell you, it's damn good beer. They are not joking around. The pilsners are excellent. We had a couple for late lunch at a cafe K & C recommended. It was an outdoor cafe with umbrellas to shade the sun. I had fish (again--I'm on some kind of weird fish thing lately) and a wonderful carrot-ginger soup. Ryan had this arugula salad with a wonderful baked cheese side that you eat together for this peppery/warm/crunchy/soft combination. Also, our waitress was nice. Most of our interactions with Germans are actually quite good. They bear with me and my halting German, answer questions, give directions, etc.

We got directions from the shopkeeper at the first bookstore we visited to a comics store on Weinmeisterstraße. We talked to a shopkeeper in a fancy designer clothing store about her beautiful wares. We chatted with the shopkeeper at the comic book store about German comics. Along the way, I flirted with every baby and dog owner that crossed my path. There are lots of babies. I think this neighborhood (Prenzlauer Berg) is very young, hence the babies. Also, people walk a lot more, so they walk with their babies in carriages. It's really amazing. Also, some people put their babies on their stomachs in the carriages so that the baby can work on their back muscles (?) -- this is clearly my interpretation. I've never seen anything like it. I like talking briefly with the various young moms about their beautiful children, all of whom seem to wear the most adorable clothing, all very German of course. Also, we visited the absolute best paper/stationery store I've ever seen. I wanted to buy everything. Germans are obsessed with good design, and therefore, stationery is everything you could wish for. Sadly, my budget does not allow me to purchase all the beautiful paper and blank journals I wish for. We did pick up a nice new Moleskine in red. That will make for excellent note-taking as I prepare for Autumn quarter and my exams.

Tomorrow is Katrin and Christian's wedding at Schloss Ziethen, so we will be checking out of our lovely little fifth-floor-walk-up apartment (no elevator!) on Paul-Robeson-Straße and taking our bags to Katrin and Christian's apartment on Gleimstraße, where we will meet their friends Rebecca and Samuel and their little son, who will take us via car to Schloss Ziethen, which is outside of Berlin about 50 kilometers. Apparently German weddings are all about staying up late to celebrate. Katrin was disappointed when the manor house owner told her that the party needs to end at 3 a.m. She told me that celebrations often go on until 5 or 6 in the morning! We are going to be dead tired because we have to leave the hotel at 11 a.m. to catch the train back to Berlin.

Lots more pictures and stories to follow.