Berlin inline skate marathon

The Berlin marathon festival runs over the entire weekend, with Saturday featuring races for kinders and also an inline skate championship. I really looked forward to spectate the inline skating and it did not disappoint at all.

These guys finish the marathon distance in less than an hour. I think a new record was set today too (will confirm later).

Berlin Marathon Expo

I I O

Given this is a marathon Major I had high expectations of this Expo. The expo extended over three hangars and it did not disappoint in terms of quantity of products and displays, but with the weak AUD everything there has became super pricy...it's a good thing though given I have so much stuff at home already.

The place was a bit hidden from the outside, so luckily there were guides who will point people to the right direction.

Naive me. I thought this was where we collect our bibs. No way Jose, this was just the entrance. Turns out you have to navigate pass ALL the counters of sports supplies before you reach to the bib collection counter.

Anyways after much pushing and shoving through a sea of people I managed to swim to this mini Bramdenburg Tor. There you get a wristband which get u access through the start area on the day. (I had unwittingly ripped my off after the expo but after reading the booklet properly I realised that was a blonde thing to do...oh well...)

Eventually I made it out of the area. The place had a massive Adidas area and there were so many people...so so so many people....

It was suffocating. I had to get outside.

The outside area was very nice. It has this propeller plane and a hot air balloon. It was cool, and a pleasant relief from the craziness inside. In all honestly I much prefer a smaller but higher quality expo like Amsterdam's. The Berlin one is definitely huge, but it's like a lot of displays of the same things. The hangar and the plane and hot air balloon are the highlights of the expo in my opinion.

Hello Berlin!

Here I am. After spending 24+ hours some 30,000 feet in the clouds I have final arrived at the northern hemisphere, in Berlin.

The check in was not available till 2pm so    I ventured nearby for some snack and sightseeing.

First stop: the Jewish/Holocaust museum.

I haven't done any homework on Berlin yet so ignorant me had no idea what this was. But it felt eerie...anyways after some googling it was the memorial for the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Second stop: Brandenburg Tor

So this is THE landmark of Berlin! I was quite excited when I saw it. And I think i will even be more excited to see it on Sunday...I read the gate to the finish is 200meters.

Stop 3: Ampelmann store

 

This little green traffic man is all that is left of soviet East Berlin. It was designed to improve safety of pedestrian, and after the Wall came down the west wanted to replace these little cute dudes with the normal traffic dude. But after much protest these beloved little guy stayed and became one of the few souvenir left of the Communist East.

Final stop for the day: Backer Wiedemann

By 1pm I was famished. I saw this delicious looking bakery at Hackecher Markt from afar and made a beeline there.

They sell delicious looking pretzels and other bread stuff. I stuffed my face with a sandwich with cheese and salami and some cheese roll.

I was exhausted by the time I made it in my apartment. I think I will leave the expo till the next day.