So Many Museums, So Little Time

This here hermit is getting ready to travel to Berlin, Germany, where I will mostly be in charge of entertaining myself while Ganesh is busy doing fancy lectures for his job. I have decided to visit as many museums as I can, but in a city where—according to Google—sports over 180 museums and over 300 art galleries, there's really no way I can even scratch the surface in a five-day visit. How do I prioritize?

There is a Bauhaus design museum and a photography museum that are both a must for me, but other than that, it's all up in the air. Oh yeah, and the Pergamom, and maybe the dinosaurs, and maybe the "not for the faint of heart" Topography of Terror, documenting the atrocities of World War II. There are just too many from which to choose.

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Museum Marathon

I was extra brave today and navigated myself via complex subway system to four museums. Okay, that's not entirely true. Ganesh helped me buy the ticket. He also went on the train with me a few stops to show me how it works. Showing me how to validate my ticket and open the subway doors, for example. And maybe he also looked at the train maps and figured out which trains I needed, where I needed to change trains, and how many stops to travel on each one. His detailed instruction made it super easy and I didn't get lost at all. But I was super independent. Really. There is a labyrinth underground filled with trains and shopping malls and food. Who knew. I got a one-day pass for the U-Bahn system and so I was motivated to see all the museums today. The first one I went to was the Jewish Museum, which I wasn't originally planning to go to, but when I saw the outside of the building from the bus tour a few days ago, I thought it looked really cool so I had to go. I might b...

How to Avoid People

The hotel has a buffet style breakfast each morning for an additional fee to the room. Ganesh's company paid for him to have it, but it would be too expensive for both of us to go. He wants me to have a nutritious and filling breakfast so he lets me have the buffet and he goes to Starbucks. Everyday, including yesterday, I get to completely stuff myself so that I feel like I don't have to eat for many more hours. There is even a fry-cook guy that you can ask to make you stuff and point to the ingredients you want. Twice I have asked for a mushroom and ham omelette, to go along with my bacon, sausage, fruit bowl, smoothie, toast, and yogurt. The yogurt is definitely meant to please all the Scandinavians and other general europeans because it has many optional toppings such as granola, mixed dried fruit, toasted coconut, and other stuff. I have discovered that such "Muesli" is amazing, and everyday I have a bowl of half-plain half-strawberry yogurt, generously topped w...

Walking, Walking, Walking...

Today I looked at a map and navigated myself to a pet store to look for something special for Cheesey. The largest store with the best reviews on google was 4 miles away from my hotel. While looking carefully at the streets on the map, I found that there's another photography museum/gallery very close to the pet store. So now I had to go. I decided to give it a try. I walked further than no tourist dared to go. Slowly, one tourist at a time, they all fell to the wayside as real Germany emerged. Not one street-side restaurant, no signs in english pointing to main attractions, no Starbucks or McDonalds, only worker looking people driving vans, unloading trucks, and carrying briefcases, only german speaking people around me. I eventually asked someone if I was on Shönhauserstraße, of course in minimal words and maximum gestures. He said, "Ja." and indeed I was on the right street and I found the place I was looking for. Even though it was cloudy and drizzling, I was hot a...

Hermit in Germany

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