Back in high school, my friend Kim and I hung out. A lot. But life happens and we end up taking different routes and sometimes we find ourselves losing touch with people.
It’s that very old tale for the two of us. Fortunately, we live in the digital networked age and we found each other again. So when I arrived in Berlin, Kim – who now lives in Southern Germany with her husband and six children – decided to come see me.
She gathered her friends Yonette and Mike, rented a car and secured an apartment room and made the 7 hour drive to Berlin.
Saturday, we hung out for the first time in 18 years. It looked a bit like this.
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We got an early start to the day. Things were looking good so we decided instead of catching the S-Bahn, we’d walk even though we knew it was quite a long way. I may have under-estimated exactly how long it was. In my defense, the ladies looked gorgeous so maybe I wasn’t concentrating enough on the map.
After an hour or so of walking, the heat was starting to get to us. We stopped to make a decision: continue walking or take a break. That’s when we saw the Water Taxi:
Kim was a good sport despite my continued insistence on taking pictures. I think, though, she (along with the rest of the group) was just happy to not be walking anymore.
Kim and I both agreed: this is something we’d expect to see at Kings Island. Possibly at the water park. But definitely at Kings Island. It’s actually a "Berlin Beach." This one is across the street from the largest train station in Germany.
As we neared the end of the Water Taxi ride, the group spotted a superhero along the river bank.
We survived the hour-long trip. Unfortunately it did little to cure our hunger and thirst. Before we continued our trek to Checkpoint Charlie and Brandenburg Gate, we had to document our time.
On the way to Checkpoint Charlie — and I mean 4 hours into the walk when we’d almost reached our destination — we came across the single greatest car in Berlin. Naturally, I made Kim stand in front of it.
Eventually we made our way to Checkpoint Charlie, Yonette’s first destination. At first, I didn’t want to pay the 2 Euros to get a picture but after the two guys tried to shoo me away when they had Yonette, I changed my mind.
We eventually made our way to Brandenburg Gate (my pictures aren’t very good but Kim and Yonette have some good ones) where we lounged for a bit.
But let’s face it: we were tired. After an hour or so, we hopped on the S-Bahn back to Bornholmer Strasse (a ride that took 10 minutes, far less than our 7 hour walking adventure).
Just in time for the Germany soccer team to knock of Uruguay in the World Cup third place game.
