friedrichshain

thursday - it was an interesting day my many accounts. robin and i had decided to part ways, she to do some shopping about prenz'lberg and i to take a stroll over to friedrichshain. friedrichshain neighbors prenzlauer berg to the south east, and is maybe a few miles away. i had heard about an abandoned factory that was located near there as well as some pretty cool spots for street art which were located a bit further down where friedrichshain boarders the train tracks, the river and kreuzberg. the walk was pretty cool, as it really encompassed a lot of east berlin. starting with the monumental socialist boulevard, karl marx allee which showcased a lot of the former gdr style architecture. after that i checked out a former brewery for a couple of minutes and then knowing that i was running out of time headed down into the less industrial part of friedrichshain. while on the way, i stopped to look at some buildings that had been bombed during the war (which is where the above photograph comes from)
the area by the train station reminded me a lot of the williamsburg section of brooklyn. at least what i envision it probably looked like a few years back before its current state of hyper-gentrification. as i was running low on time, i wandered around for a bit and saw some interesting abandoned industrial buildings that had been taken over by graffiti artists and turned into make shift galleries as well as a solar powered trailer park. i think that the next time i come to berlin, i'll be staying in this part of town. afterwards, i caught the u-bahn back to the apartment and headed back to weinsteins to try their four couse austrian tasting menu. it was by far and away the best meal that we had the entire trip. it stated with a spring onion soup, followed by a salad of raw, shaved white asparagus with raw scallops. the main course was a rabbit dish served with a veal demi-glace and turnips. lastly we had a rhubarb soup served with a buttermilk sorbet. oh, and there were wine pairings with each of the courses. and for 40 euros a person, not a bad deal either.