This celebration to the joys of capitalism is in the Zoo area.ย  It is a fine time to find the finer things to buy.

 

Previously (Part One, Part Two) I covered by day trip to rural Germany and a side trip to Poland. Today’s Germany tale will be more urban.

When I woke up the day after my borderlands gambol, the sky was sleeting with a stiff wind blowing.ย  THIS was much more like a winter day in Germany.ย  I decided I was going to spend the day being more urban.ย  Since I was having dinner with my son’s family I decided to do some shopping at the KaDeWe.ย  This high end department store has been a Berlin fixture since the monarchy.ย  The “Kaufhaus Des Westens” opened in 1907 as a store for the high end market and the German equivalent to Harrods, a function it still accomplishes in scale and scope today.ย  It is a wonder to behold. Extreme luxury goods are on the ground floor and each floor is a shopping paradise with a great return policy, which is so not German.ย  My trip to the store was for the 6th floor* which is the food and alcohol floor, and by that I mean the entire floor and all of high quality edible products, less the American breakfast cereals.

 

Kaufhaus des Westens deli. This is the proper area for all Glibs.ย  Fine food, fine desserts (Very fine), fine alcohols, fine cigars, fine non-alcohol drinks.ย  Let’s just call it fine.

 

While I was in liquor department the Dom Perignon rep was handing out free full size glasses of their champagne as tasters.ย  Because of course, why not?ย  This store is designed for those who buy DP as their casual breakfast champagne and buy the “good stuff” for their parties.ย  (Various bottles available for 300 Euro and up)ย  I was here to buy more cognac to return to the US with.ย  I purchased a bottle my first full day in Berlin, but my son came over one night, I was trying to be a good host and you know how that goes.ย  Anywhooo…..I was buying another bottle for my luggage since we would finish the original bottle before I left.ย  I also stopped by the baked goods department and got various slices of cake for dinner. I got a mix of chocolate decadence, fresh fruit fancifuls, a citrusy delight.ย  (My son was cooking so I was bringing dessert for the family and a slice to stash at my place for later with some Port.)ย  Before leaving the floor I stopped by the Budwar area and got some goulash and a Budwar for lunch.ย  Even the KaDeWe book department would make most US bookstores blush from embarrassment.ย  (Not the Strand or Powell’s Books since they can hold their own against any bookstore on the planet.) I am told by others I know of the “shopping for entertainment” sex that the clothing, housewares, various potions and lotions, and other selections are wonderful.ย  Since KaDeWe has no gun department I visited the 6th floor and nowhere else. If you are in Berlin I highly recommend making the KDW a stop on your itinerary.

 

 

On my way back I stopped at the Alexanderplatz ย to visit the Decathlon.ย  Decathlon is a French sporting goods company that has stores in Germany and Italy as well.ย  They sell pretty good equipment for very good prices.ย  There is a very wide range of sports represented and you can get most “common” items for your sport of choice.ย  If you require specialty items for a sport you probably need to go elsewhere.ย  I stopped by the mountaineering area and they had ropes, harnesses, carabiners, cordage, shoes, basic protection, via ferratta equipment etc.ย  If I required specialty direct aid items I would need to look elsewhere.ย  I wandered over to the sailing area and they had sailing clothing, lifejackets, GPS units etc.ย  There was no boat hardware which was fine.ย  I was looking for sailing gloves since West Marine has been sold out for well over a year.ย  Decathlon had several models, all of which were less expensive than even mail order in the US.ย  Looking around further I ended buying a light weight rain jacket and pants, several pairs deck slippers, and a pair of sailing shorts.ย  All of which in the US A were either out of stock forever, or much more expensive.ย  The sailing shorts are quick drying, have securable pockets on the outside of the legs, and a reinforced bottom so they don’t quickly wear out.ย  In the US they were running for $75-100 a pair and Decathlon had them for 25 Euro.ย  While going to the checkout area I passed the skiing area (nordic, alpine, and ski mountaineering), theย Frisbee golf area and the boules area.ย  Boules sports include bocce (Italian), lawn bowling (UK), petanque (French).ย  All are very similar games.ย  My Italian grandfather taught me bocci when I was a visiting Quarter Eagle and I have owned a petanque set since an earlier vacation in Corsica.ย  It is a great activity to pursue since it is easy to drink while throwing heavy metal balls at objects. ย ย While perusing the petanque stuff I found an immediate impulse purchase- a magnet on a retractable line for picking up your balls without bending over.ย  No more risk of spilling your alcohol. GENIUS!ย  The nifty device and a pair of magnetic target balls went into my basket.ย  The Decathlon had one last surprise for me at the checkout.ย  There was a basket and you just throw in your items one at a time.ย  The system required no scanning but totaled your purchases.ย  I was skeptical but it worked as advertised.ย  ย Now I had multiple shopping bags to deal with.ย  At least the Germans don’t think they’ll save the planet by charging you for them.

 

No this is not the one I visited.ย  For being barbarians they seem to have grokked the concept of a Roman bath pretty well.

 

Since it was still nasty weather outside I decided to drop my new stuff off at my AirBnb and take a sauna in a neighborhood establishment. Be careful when booking your walkup Airbnb is all I am saying.ย  I have enjoyed saunas for decades and have been using German saunas since the 1980s so I knew what I was getting into.ย  For those of you who haven’t been to a German sauna there are a few rules to follow: no clothes, sit/lie on a sauna towel, no speaking, and in most places only the staff may water down the sauna stones. Very in ordnung.ย  After paying admission and an additional 1 Euro for a second towel I went to the changing room and found a locker and prepped.ย  Strip, hang your clothes up, lock your locker and shower.ย  Do not try getting past a German sauna attendant without thoroughly showering.ย  The sauna was very traditional with no glass front and was kept around 88/90 Euro degrees. I spread out my towel in an open space and started my time.ย  One nice feature in this sauna was that there were several 15 minute sandglasses so you didn’t have to estimate your time from repeated turns of a single sandglass.ย  The other sauna bathers with me were of both sexes and equally nude.ย  Several gave me a slight head nod which I returned but there was no conversation inside.ย  I was a bit out of practice (saunas are not popular in Hawaii) so the 15 minutes seemed long.ย  When the sand ran out I got up steeled my nerves for the cold water plunge.ย  The water was refreshing but I did not submerge my head.ย  There was a constant water flow, but this was in public so no, danke.ย  I spread my other towel on a cool down recliner, got on, laid back and let my body steam.ย  As I returned to normal temps my 15 minute cool down readily extended to 20 minutes.ย  I showered, and did another cycle in the sauna.ย  Midway through this cycle the sauna worker came said something in not English and dipped a single portion of eucalyptus water onto the stones.ย  She quickly retreated and when the steam hit my skin my sweat rate shot up.ย  Those last 5-6 minutes were a challenge until I retreated out the door.ย  After my second cycle I felt very relaxed and rejuvenated.ย  This was a smaller neighborhood sauna so the facility only had two saunas- one dry and one damp and a small bar.ย  Large saunas are much more complex, featuring one or several pools, dining options, indoor and outdoor cooling off areas, and often petanque/table tennis areas and chess areas. It is very easy to spend all day there.ย  All in all it was a 12 Euros well spent.ย  If I was spending longer in Berlin I could have purchased a pass for a week/month/year and brought the cost per visit down.ย  Later in my trip I had time during my Helsinki layover to visit a Finnish sauna.ย  The biggest difference was the locals asked me in Finnish, then in English, where I was from.ย  When I told them Hawaii it started a fun conversation and a woman offered me some champagne she kept in a special Finnish coozy.ย  Cold champagne while in a sauna is a delight.

 

The surrounding fence is gone and yes, I most certainly did flip off Stalin’s memory here.

 

With my energy restored I decided to explore the neighborhood more.ย  I bundled up, grabbed an umbrella and headed out.ย  First I walked through the large park nearby.ย  I circled up the Grosser Bunkerberg then across the Kleiner Bunkerberg to take the views in from the top. The skies were gay and dropping icy rain but the bare trees afforded some nice views of the central city area.ย  Then I wandered down past some DDR era monument to the USSR and south to the large eastern road leading into the Alexanderplatz- the Karl-Marx Allee.ย  The K-M, nee the Stalin Allee, figures prominently in several scenes from the comedy “Goodbye Lenin”.ย  The road was the center of life in East Berlin during the DDR.ย  It is very broad (89 meters) and a bit over two kilometers long. The Allee featured shopping, restaurants, a huge cinema, and apartments for favored people of the DDR.ย  The best apartments were towards the Alexanderplatz end and the quality and size fell off the farther east you went.ย  Until destalinization the then Stalin Allee featured a 5 meter tall bronze statue of the “Man of Steel” on top of a 3 meter tall plinth.ย  In 1961 the USSR decided Uncle Joe needed to go so in one night he was removed and every sign in East Berlin that referred to “Stalin Allee” was replaced by “Karl-Marx Allee”.ย  The statue was cut up under Stasi supervision and melted down for new statues.ย  However part of the moustache and his left ear were spirited away and now are displayed in a nearby cafรฉ. The plinth border remains, and I made sure to flip it off as I went past.ย  Since the city reunified a great deal of money has gone into stabilizing the fronts of the buildings along the K-M since DDR construction standards were much more USSR than German.ย  All along the K-M there are a number of Soviet Realism buildings that remind the passerby of the Socialist vision of paradise.ย  Farther along this road, after it reverts from Allee back to Strasse, there lies the museum in the former Stasi headquarters.ย  Maybe a source of another story on another day.

 

There was no way I was going to miss seeing his ear.ย  The cafe was Berlin “meh” so it was decent, but really I went to see the Man of Steel’s bronze ear.

 

Since it getting to midafternoon the sun was setting, though with the clouds and sleet the daylight was just being snuffed out. After all who needs daylight at 4pm?ย  I dropped down into a nearby U-Bahn (subway) station.ย  Soon I was back at my home base and it was time to prepare for dinner. The next day I had a different adventure on tap a bit north of Berlin.ย  That will be in the next episode.