Germany trip report from 26 October - 02 November 2023.
Touchdown at Brandenburg airport; train into the city; figuring out how the S-bahn works; seeing an old friend; walking, walking, and more walking; Brandenburg Gate; Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe; obesity; early bedtimes (for me).
Solo lox bagel and espresso breakfast; Return of the Cows; present unwrapping; Humboldthain Flak Tower; Indian food; real-time German debt counter; "dem Deutschen volke"; Carillon; mengenlehreuhr; Urban Nation, complete with an excellent authoritarian-libertarian economic left-right meme matrix that encompassed everything possible and then some; S-bahn home; chocolate; alone with my thoughts.
Wake up, go back to sleep, repeat at least thrice; breakfast at corner cafe; meet friend at Alexanderplatz; Checkpoint Charlie; four pieces of cake to share at Konditorei-Buchwald; living room design and decor consideration; ResearchGate; phở; unseen restroom layouts; dry-erase cupboards; the Chart Game; vocabulary tests.
Uber to Berlin Hbf; sittin' on the train; transfer in Mannheim; hotel check-in; German dinner and beers; rainy city scene; chocolate; restless sleep.
River Cafe; Heidelberg Castle; world's largest wine barrel; garden views; steep forest hikes; Thingstatte; closed biergarten; hotel relaxation; aimless wandering waiting for restaurants to open at 6:00pm; trick-or-treaters galore; riverside walking; university trespassing.
River Cafe; long way to the train station; Mannheim park; tram from Berlin Hbf to friend's apartment; döner; chocolate gifts; four hours of straight talking; 75 minutes of sleep; Uber to the airport; BER to LHR to home airport; passing customs in less than 20 seconds (literally); drive home; melatonin; bed.
I learned the term biodeutsch, defined as "non-immigrant-background German", when I commented to my friend in Berlin that there were just a lot of people who looked German. He responded by teaching me the term and telling me to wait until I see what Heidelberg looks like. It did not disappoint. There were German-looking people all over. What constitutes a German-looking person? I don't have a good answer, and I'm sure I was confounded by being in Germany and knowing these people were German.
There were so many tourists in Heidelberg. Chinese, Korean, Russian, French, Dutch, Danes, and Indians (and probably others I'm forgetting). A few things here:
The smalltowniness of Heidelberg was palpable. The streets were narrow and lined with cafe tables and chairs; cyclists casually rode alongside cars, baskets full of groceries; children frolicked in the streets with their parents (and trick-or-treated on Halloween); people waved at each other with airs of familiarity and love. It was a beautiful feeling and sight I had never seen before. A few more things here: