Some eat to live. I live to eat.: Doner in Berlin

The morning of my first full day in Berlin, my cousin asks me if I like Doner Kebabs and if I even knew what that was. I mean, who did he think he was talking to?! Of course I did! First of all, they're all over NYC, and second of all, there was a place right across the street from where I lived in Firenze - unfortunately, I did not take advantage of it as much as I should/could have (shoulda woulda coulda!). But for some reason, there are Doner places everywhere in Europe? Can someone please explain that one to me?

Moving on.

So he takes us to what he has deemed the best Doner stand around Berlin, which was a tad bit out of the way from where we were going to join the Starbucks tour - I forget what the actual tour was called, but it started at Starbucks and must have been sponsored by them because their maps had all Starbucks locations - best part was, the tour was free! But again, I'm getting sidetracked (story of my life).

Focus! Doner stand. So we get there, and there is a rather long line, as all good things tend to have, but luckily, my cousin has a plan. He tells us to wait in line, and runs off to pick up some sausage and fries. What he comes back with, is some sausage and fries drowned in ketchup with a generous dollop of mayonnaise. One might be concerned that this excess of condiments might cause the fries to be soggy, but we ate them so quickly, this was not a problem at all.

It is finally our turn to order. And by our turn, I mean, my cousin ordered for us in German. For all I know, he ordered us cow gut or something. What I do know, is that it was delicious, and super filling. I couldn't even finish my entire sandwich! The leftovers did come in handy later though after the exhausting 4 hour tour.

Doner Stand

The sandwich

Munching on the sidewalk like hobos

Pwnd by the sandwich -
came in handy later when I was hungry again

Man in overalls passing by
I was amused.

And now just because, below are some of the pictures from the actual tour that was fueled by my doner sandwich above. And at the end of the day, after the tour, and after some rock climbing (a most interesting experience as I have a slight fear of heights and am not very flexible at all), we ended our evening with some more fries and burgers! All in all, a super long, but pretty awesome day.

**For all groups of 2-3 photos, the captions after each group follow the pictures in clockwise order

Traffic Light from the War Inside of a bank?!?! Infamous hotel where MJ dangled his baby

Sunlight Brandenburg Gate (to all my music nerds - Bach?) Segway tour?!?! Willing to bet they're American...

Holocaust Memorial

This poster amused me... Berlin Bear! PF commercial anyone?

View of part of the Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie

Found a heart! (I think) So I hugged it...though I really would have liked to hug the overalls man...or maybe the giant chocolate bear in the window...