Berlin July '09 - 4

The next couple of days were spent wandering around. We visited the Sony Center again to sample some sausage. We went to the Gestapo headquarters which is right beside the Walter Gropius Building, the former is a plot of waste land and the Latter was housing the Bauhaus exhibition. We visited an art shop (Boesner on Marienbburgersrasse 16) one of the most impressive art shops I’ve ever been in. A stroll back towards Alexanderplatz brought us through some beautiful side streets with excellent cafes and restaurants, this is where the web-designers and ad-people hang out. The sense of interior décor is wonderfully controlled, cool and calm with a great selection of music. We visited a retro place called ‘Scotch and Soda’ and returned to ‘White Trash…’ this time the welcome was not so warm, we upset a very nervous waiter who objected to practically everything we did – sorry for ruffling your hair, bitch. Checkpoint Charlie had to be ticked off the box, though this is a reconstructed tourist trap with dressed up soldiers charging to get their photo taken. The Currywurst Museum is close-by but was closed – a word to the wise about the famous ‘Berliner Currywurst’, it’s crap. The sausage is fine but the only thing that makes it a currywurst is a sprinkling of common or garden curry powder – Come on! I make a demon Currywurst, see www.thepropersausage.blogspot.com.

Another bone of contention were the various recommended bars which were highlighted on the tourist web-sites. Apart from the aforementioned and closed Currywurstmuseum there is the BierKeller which was a bar in the middle of a block of flats and held no attraction apart from the friendly Bierfrau - Oh, and the fact that they make their own beer. The major disappointment I must reserve for the Oscar Wilde on Freidrikstrasse 112. It was billed as the quintessential Irish Pub which saw it’s hey-day in the construction boom of the 70’s and 80’s when loads of Paddys were busy being Irish abroad. When we got there it was tack and cracked – a few leftovers were watching Snooker on the Plasma. The waitress had a serious attitude problem and contented herself with doodling death masks. When a customer finally tried to get heer attention she muttered ‘Aw, Jesus Christ’ under her breath – Don’t bother going. We had a much better time at the end of the street at a ‘Schnell Imbiss’ eating wurst, chuggin’ beers and people watching-