Back in Berlin. Amsterdam was nice, but it feels good to be back in Berlin. Oh Berlin, how I love thee.

I met up with a cool Dutch guy on the train. We are staying at the same hostel, and he is also studying history. Post-Napoleonic France to be specific. So we are just going to hang out in the park and drink today, the traditional German Sunday pasttime.

His name is Maarten and this is his first time in Berlin. I took him to a döner shop late last night. He said he wanted something bigger than "just a döner." I suppose I should have explained to him what Berlin döners were like, and this shop in particular. Oh well. In the end, he managed to roll himself away from the table after eating his döner plate (like a döner sandwhich, but bigger and on a plate) and fries.

If only I had a picture to capture his face upon the first bite. It was a look of pure bliss. The scales had finally fallen from his eyes. He saw for the first time that the Dutch "döners" upon which he had been raised were but a shallow imitation of the one True Döner, which can only be found in Berlin. For dinner tonight, I think we will go to the same place again and have another döner.

Upon finishing the döners, then we took our half-full dinner beers with us from the restaurant, and sipped from them as we strolled up this awesome street filled with bars and cafes, called Simon-Drach Strasse (Strasse = Street). It is sort of like NW 23rd in Portland. But more diverse and less expensive, with more energy and fewer cars.

I went to Sophie Charlotte's Palace and then a concentration camp used by both the Nazis and Stalin (Sachenhausen) before I left Berlin and went to Amsterdam. I shall write about it next time though, as I am now out of time.