It's day 2, and we're up and about early. Everyone's excited to see the city and take photos, but I could tell that yesterday's jaunt from the airport to our Airbnb accommodations took the wind out of our sails.
First stop, Brandenburg Tor (German vocabulary lesson #1 - tor = gate). It was empty, but then again, it was 7:30am. We made a mental note to return later at blue hour to do some shooting.
We had timed entry tickets to the Reichstag building (German parliament building), so off to our next location! We were mainly interested in taking photos of the dome area. The inside was filled with mirrors, and we had seen some cool photos of it on the internet. But first...a selfie!
I have photos I took here on my DSLR, and will share those in a later post. The rooftop was amazing, and offered views of Berlin that allowed us to pinpoint other landmarks we wanted to see and take photos of.
It was unintentional, but my main travel camera ended up being my Canon G7X. There were many factors that led up to this, but mainly it was because I got tired of carrying around my DSLR. I anticipated having more energy for this trip, but the sheer amount of walking we had done so far (and this was only day 2!) made me a little concerned about burning out before the trip was over. I made the decision to only bring out the DSLR at night when we were shooting blue hour or long exposures (or basically anything that I may want to print later on). The G7X was awesome. I love this camera. It's technical performance is always going to be less than that of my 5d mark III, but in my opinion, it is good enough for travel photos, and wayyyy better than using my iphone. And best of all? The flip screen allows you to take your own photos! :)
You hear of cycling culture, but in Berlin, I'd call it just a bike culture. There were bikes...everywhere. There is usually a designated bike lane, too - only to be discovered when you almost get run over by a bike. Here, people ride their bikes to get from point A to point B. It is more of a necessity than it is a pass time.
Another thing I was not prepared to see - dogs not on leashes! At first I was concerned, but after seeing so many unleashed dogs and how well trained they all were, it was easy to get used to. I also noticed the lack of stray animals running around. In a large city like Berlin, that is pretty impressive. It made me wonder what we were doing wrong in America when it comes to the care/treatment of animals.
This is where I picked up my Berlin postcards. Correction - this is where I overpaid for my Berlin postcards. I found street vendors elsewhere that were selling them at a fraction of the cost. So if you received a postcard from me, just know that I spared no expense! :)
Brunch... aka the time of day where I realize my German pronunciation is not up to par. I tried to order the Das Herzhafte by just pronouncing it the best I could, but after concluding that the waitress didn't understand what I was saying, I showed her this picture on my camera and pointed to it. #FAIL
Patty's Fuji X-T1 with a fancy strap!
Outdoor seating is a thing in Europe for sure.
Those little cookie things tasted like almonds. They were delicious, and this was the best coffee. EVER.
I could eat meat, cheese, eggs, and bread with butter for breakfast everyday.
Checkpoint Charlie was a let down. I love the historical aspect of it, but when I realized these guys were basically dressed up to take photos with tourists (made evident to me when I saw money exchange hands), it reminded me of places like Hollywood and Highland or Times Square. It was very touristy.
All the walking and navigating the trains is already getting to everyone lol.
Never a dull moment on the train!
Apparently Jeff's camera sensor needed cleaning, so we made this LOOOONNNGGG walk to Calumet. I couldn't believe there was even a Calumet in Berlin. It was much smaller than the one I've been to in SoCal, but they had what he needed to clean his sensor. Calumet may be the "heaven of photography", but it was pure HELL walking there.
I loved the vending machine selections!
Dinner at a biergarten.
My new favorite drink of choice was Coke Light with lemon...mmm. :)
Who knew that sausage with curry and fries could be so good???
Those mounds of cheese on the plate in the middle were delicious. I could eat this everyday.
It's always a while before anyone really gets to eat. Erik wanted the perfect shot of the friend pork knuckle.
Here's my shot of it. :)
Blue hour shots at Brandenburg Tor was not what we expected. Although it was a gorgeous blue hour, apparently everybody and their mother wanted to see this at night. There were people everywhere so it was tough to get an empty shot of it. I have some photos of it from my DSLR coming later. Day 2 completed! :)
