For the past few years I embark on a trip to explore new places under consideration for future Alumni Trips. We travel by rail, bus and taxi and the average beer consumption is five liters of beer per day, every day. In we targeted several new locations: Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig and Einbeck. Our journey started in Berlin where we all met at the Tegel Airport.
This airport should have long been closed since the Germans have dumped trillions into a new airport BER which has been delayed in opening for several years. So much for German efficiency! Anyway, we had to take a bus to a train and change once more before getting to our hotel. The Berlin transit system is noticeably short on escalators and elevators, so all this was quite a work out with luggage. Just after checking in, we reassembled and headed for lunch.
The dish that Berlin is most famous for is Currywurst and my friends directed me to Konnopke's Imbiss. It was the first Imbiss to sell Currywurst in East-Berlin in and is located under the train platform. The ultimate street junk food. Most of us jumped at the chance to sample a Berliner Weisse. This is a sour wheat beer which can be ordered "red" or "green.
We learned, however, that getting a premix version is not nearly as good as when the barkeep mixes it fresh, right in front of you. After lunch we explored a little of Berlin on foot before having dinner at Brauhaus Georgbraeu - a new brewpub in the former east section of the city. Everyone was a bit more fit for day two in Berlin. We met Ajra, a Berlin tour guide and history major and soon-to-be-published beer author.
I had been in Berlin three times, but not since With the fall of the Wall and the subsequent building frenzy, the city is almost unrecognizable to me. There is a line on the ground where the wall used to be, but in some cases, it's not so accurate. Sadly, the real history will be forgotten in a generation or two. Anja's tour was great and, after our late lunch at the Prater Beer Garden, she met up with us again and showed us two more new breweries on the Berlin scene.
