Berlin 2018 - Saturday 4 August

Another fine day - indicated by the south-easterly view from my top floor room at St Michaels Heim hostel.

Bismarckallee bridge over Hubertussee

With some time to spare before meeting up with Mark and the group at the East Side Gallery, I walked west to Grunewald station, via quiet, tree-lined streets and Hasensprung footpath which crosses Koenigssee by a stone bridge.

Using this S-bahn station gave me an opportunity to visit the Gleis 17 memorial to Berlin Jews who were transported from platform 17 of the freight station to ghettos and camps in Germany and occupied lands between 1941-45.

The discreet memorial, constructed by Deutsche Bahn AG in 1991, consists of latticed steel sections placed on the track bed.

Each section has details of a train's departure date, number of passengers and destination embossed on the edge which lies parallel to the platform.

Berlin Ostbahnhof

I caught the S7 train direct to Berlin Ostbahnhof, a 26 minute journey with 12 stops via Berlin Hauptbahnhof and waited on the platform for Mark and the group to arrive at 10.40am.

La Trabant by Birgit Kinder

We walked the short distance to Mühlenstraße in bright sunshine and passed the murals painted on a 1316 metre long remaining section of the Berlin Wall that makes up the East Side Gallery which is free to view.

We slipped through a gap in the wall to find a cafe by the river Spree where some enjoyed an ice cream or an early beer at outside tables. A paddle steamer called at the pier by the cafe to pick up passengers during our visit.

We could see the double-deck Oberbaumbrücke, with its two distinctive towers, which links Friedrichshain (formerly in East Berlin) and Kreuzberg districts from the cafe.
After this break we continued walking along the river bank and then up the slope of Warschauer Strasse to enter the station for the U1 U-Bahn line.

We caught the westbound U1 over the upper deck of the Oberbaumbrücke and on to Hallesches Tor and changed to U6 southbound and continued to the terminus of the extended line, Alt Mariendorf, built in 1966. 

A short bus ride to the Greinerstrasse stop took us to the entrance to Marienpark, a former gasworks site.

Old water tower (1901), Marienpark

 

Stone Brewing Berlin

We walked to Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens by a less circuitous route than the one cars must follow to the car park and arrived in the spacious, landscaped gardens.

The bistro and bars are in the front area of the massive brick building with the brewery in the rear, visible through an interior glass screen.

We arrived about 1pm and although the bistro and gardens were not busy it took a long time before we were all able to obtain our beers from the bar.

We were able to find several tables close to each other where our group could sit together.
The beers I enjoyed here were Quince-Essential Hazy Ale (0.3l, 4.90 euro) and Stone Tangerine Express IPA (0.5l, 6.90 euro) which was infused with mandarin and pineapple. Free glasses of iced water were also available from the bar.

The 25 draught taps are for beers from Stone Berlin (13), Stone San Diego (9) and Arrogant Brewing (3) including Arrogant Bastard Ale brewed at Stone Berlin.

A smaller second bar area includes a shop for merchandise and a bakery. Bicycles feature as decor here and in the main bistro area.

Decades old American beer cans are also featured as decorative items in one area of the bistro.
Hearing the same instrumental music over the sound system became tedious after a while. My request to staff to change the music only resulted in skipping straight to the next track. Perhaps the record collection at Stone needs expanding?!

 

Berlin Biermeile 

Our group left at 4pm and we travelled to the International Berlin Beer Festival by bus and U-bahn.

The first beer to fill my festival glass today was Herrnbräu Zwickl from Ingolstadt, a Bavarian city on the river Danube.

The meals at Stone Berlin were expensive so I waited until the festival for my main meal - Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle) and sauerkraut served with mustard and bread. Eating this with only a plastic knife and fork had to be done carefully!

My favourite beer at the festival on this evening was suggested by Mark - W.P.A. Westphalian Pale Ale by Brauhaus Zwiebel from Soest, about 20 miles east of Dortmund. The 5.2% ABV beer is described as the Westphalian interpretation of an India Pale Ale with 53 IBU.

 

Protokoll Taproom

The festival was busy and we decided to move to Protokoll taproom, Boxhagener Str. 110, only 300 metres from Frankfurter Tor, the eastern end of the festival's 'beer mile'.

We arrived at 8.45pm and it was still warm enough to be outside but all the pavement tables were taken.

Inside there were 24 taps to choose from. I chose Protocol of Haze brewed by Zagovor Brewery, near Moscow. There were three other beers from Zagovor, two from Weird Beard and one from BrewDog on the list.

This 0.4l glass of 6% ABV New England style Pale Ale cost 5 euros. Some of my favourite tunes were playing on the sound system including: Every day I write the book by Elvis Costello; Pulled Up by Talking Heads and Charlie don't surf by The Clash.

Labor, Berlin

Mark and the group were ready to go back for a drink at a bar near their hotel (Holiday Inn Express - Alexanderplatz) but I wanted to visit Labor Berlin before returning to my hostel.

I had heard about Labor from OoohBerlin.com publishers of free fold up neighbourhood guides, e.g. Oooh! Friedrichshain, with a hand drawn map 'Bezirksplan' showing cafes, shops, restaurants, bars and unusual places.

Labor, Grünberger Str. 83, is only 300 metres away from Protokoll and 200 metres from Hops & Barley. The colourful periodic table style squares are used as distinctive beer identifiers. They appear on the outside of the bar building as well as behind the bar itself.

The white bar is lit by a medical lamp. Mihaly kindly put on his lab coat uniform and accepted a copy of West Berkshire CAMRA's Ullage magazine from me for a photo.

The beer range is from Mad Scientist of Budapest, Hungary.

 I ordered a 0.2l glass of Double Hoperator an 8% ABV New England style Double IPA of 80 IBU which cost 5 euros.

I found a table in the dimly lit room next to the bar and enjoyed my beer while listening to some chilled out music on the sound system that included Time to Begin from Domenic Cappello.
I was relieved that I had not bothered to encourage Mark and the group to join me at Labor as they may not have appreciated the price of the beer or the ambience.

Friedrichshain 'Bezirksplan' by #OOOHBERLIN - Labor = #5