Exactly Two Weeks: Belgium and Germany

We will be on a plane to Belgium in fourteen days! I'm trying to plan out a few blog posts before we leave, so my blog isn't dead for a better part of September.*

My planning efforts for our September trip to Belgium and Germany were somewhat derailed this month because of summer school. Yesterday, I had our flight reservations changed,as the airline shifted things around and left us only 30 minutes to catch our connecting flight to Brussels in Dulles airport. Also, until today I hadn't really taken the time to work out some of the details that were left trailing since the end of July. While I had a pretty good idea about the first few days in Belgium, and the tail-end of our Germany excursion in Munich, I hadn't even picked up the guide book to explore Berlin. It seemed like an overwhelming venture and even though I really want to go, I didn't think it would be the most fun part of the trip. I think I may stand corrected.

I looked into a few places to stay in the central (Mitte) section of Berlin, but they didn't seem quite right. A lot of them had giant bars and techno clubs on the basement or first floor, which seems like it would attract the 18-20-somethings that I'm hoping to largely avoid while sleeping (no offense youngsters, but I took that trip already). I will bring along earplugs and noise-canceling headphones just in case.

After visualizing the potential hellish existence, I decided to look in areas adjacent to the Mitte and found Prenzlauer Berg, which seems to be a great compromise -- removed from the center, but not lacking active nightlife and cafes. Prenzlauer Berg is a borough that was part of the former GDR (East Germany) with its west boundary formed by the Berlin Wall. From an architectural historian's perspective, the area will be amazing with its 1950s and 60s communist/Stalinist housing blocks mingling with older tenements from earlier in the century. From the historian's perspective, it's a great part of recent world history to explore. After having Jesse read aloud sections from Stasiland, a compilation of true stories from the former East Germany, I can't wait to walk around the neighborhoods and areas that I didn't get to see very much of when I traveled to Berlin in high school and college.

Another exciting tidbit that I discovered is that most major streets in Berlin have bike lanes or tracks. Having become quite adapted to using a bike as one of my main modes of transportation here in Portland, I can't wait to see how they do it on the other side of the pond. To further my excitement, I also stumbled on an awesome website that allows you to enter any two streets in Berlin and Potsdam for the best route by bike. Given that our hostel rents bikes on site, I think it will be a large part of our three days in the city.

* If I get my act together, you'll be able to tentatively follow along with our travels (but don't hold your breath, as I'm not holding mine).