…that’s just about how long I’ve been away from Istanbul.  And boy has it been eventful!  My apologies for not being able to keep up with blogging during that time.  Between a go-go-go schedule in NY and lack of (affordable) internet availability in Germany, I think I only posted once.  I did write during this time, just not post.  So here are NY and Berlin, albeit a little late.  Munich to be posted later today… Munich was Oktoberfest though, which without saying, requires pictures.

Our flights both arrived last Tuesday morning in Berlin. Onur from work in Istanbul and me from my week-long visit in NY.  This was our first Bayram (Eid) holiday trip together.  And in true Onur form, he had a surprise waiting for me at the hotel.  Rose petals on the bed, fruit and a bottle of wine greeted us in our hotel room.  What a wonderful hubby.  :) 

Berlin as a city exceeded my expectations, especially in its spaciousness and cleanliness.  It was a wonderfully historic city to visit and explore (all can be done on foot pretty much despite its sprawling expanse), but I was surprised with its lack of busy-ness for a capital city.  In fact, at times it seemed downright deserted.  But again, that is my perspective coming from New York and Istanbul. 

Big wide roads, people that actually pay attention to traffic signs and where honking is not commonplace, and I don’t think one person bumped into me the whole time we were there.  It is definitely a well-organized and well-constructed city, with plenty of nice (for the most part) and tall people.  In fact, even the peepholes in the hotel room doors were slightly too high for us to look through comfortably. 

The city has a wealth of history, of which I think we took in as much as we could in a two and a half day period.  We checked out the Brandenburg Gate, Reischtag, Alexanderplatz, Potsdam Platz, Bellevue Palace, saw remaining erected pieces of the Berlin Wall and visited Checkpoint Charlie, spent time at the Holocaust memorial behind Brandenburg Plaza, and shopped along FriedrischStrasse and Ku’damm. 

When it came to food and drink, we of course did a little tour of some of the pubs and lounges.  We even brought home a couple of Berliner Pilsner “souvenirs” for our beer glass collection.  And being the foodies we are, we enjoyed a fine dining experience at Borschardt, where we celebrated our 47th monthly anniversary.  I can officially say was the best lobster dinner I’ve ever had and one of the best crème brulees we’ve ever tasted.  The dining experience was fantastic and made for a wonderful anniversary dinner; at least once we got over the rude welcome we received by the hostess and maître d.  

There is also a huge Turkish contingency in Berlin (at about 200,000 people), which I was surprised to learn, so we passed by the occasional Turkish-speaking person here and there and saw plenty of doner kabap restaurants.  Although we didn’t eat at any, it was good to know that there were alternatives to pork in this bratwurst / currywurst and pork-dominant cuisine.  

Jet lag – oh I didn’t mention the jet lag.  This trip to/from NY was the first time I tried out the fasting thing.  Colin, a very good friend of ours, had told us about this new study released that if you fast for 16hrs while switching time zones, it is supposed to trump your body clock and get you on schedule with the new time zone asap.  i.e.  no jet-lag.  article here

But let me tell you, fasting for 16hrs is tough – especially when people are eating all around you.  I couldn’t do it from Istanbul to NY.   I broke the fast about 9hrs into it.  We flew on KLM and the food looked and smelled so good (and it actually WAS so good – I got asian beef… I couldn’t believe it was airplane food). But flying from NY to Berlin I was by myself and had already fallen asleep by the time dinner got wheeled around, so fasting the rest of the way was easy.  In fact, I think I fasted a total of 18 or 19hrs, well except for the shot of Baileys they served after dinner.  Of course I drank water though – I made the assumption that the study was talking about food fasting, so I took that liberty. 

Anyway, I think it worked.  The first day that I arrived in Berlin was tough of course, because of lack of sleep, but the 2nd day I only got lethargic around 5p local time (there is a 6hr time difference between NY and Germany.  And today, the 3rd day, I am fine.  Went to be at 1a the night before and woke up at 9a this morning.  I think this fasting thing actually works.  That or it’s mind over matter.  Either way, I’ll be doing this as often as I can when traveling overseas. 

So we left Berlin on Thursday afternoon to head to Munich.  We decided to be a little adventurous, so we took an ICE train, (inter-country fast-train) instead of flying, which got us in Munich in 5.5hrs at a max speed of 228km/hr (143mph).  The German countryside is beautiful – plush, bright green in areas, lots of farms and a few wineries along the way.  I’m glad we did this instead of just another flight – it was a great way to literally see Germany. 

I’m writing this on the train and we arrive in Munich momentarily, just in time for the last few days of Oktoberfest (coincidence, I think not).  So stay tuned for more blogging on that…  We shall see what the tents at Oktoberfest brings!!