Shay it, don't S(h)pree it! (Day 5)

Today Guy and I got out of the hotel late and grumpy. We had a nice breakfast at Cafe Blume on Fontanestr., about 3 blocks from our hotel. The breakfast itself was very nice, it included some croissants, cheese, butter, jam, ham and orange juice. Afterward we headed to Schlesisches Tor to rent bikes to start our bike ride day, but alas, things don't always go as planned. We found a few bike rental places that were out of bikes, one that offered crappy bikes, one machine that rented them by the minute, and when we finally got to the bike place that I initially set my heart on - we found out it was closed.

After some mild distress on my part especially, I had the idea of going to rent bikes in the "bike salon" that is not far from where I once lived, and with which I had a very positive experience in the past. We rented two bikes which we had to bring back by 1900. The bikes were very good quality ones, even the one I got (other places often just try to give me shitty kids bikes since I am not a very confident rider and have to be able to reach the ground with my feet). After we got our bikes we headed to Tiki Heart Cafe, which is just across the canal, not far from Goerlizer bhf.

Guy says: I'll take it from here! Note on the title; the Spree (pronounced "shpray") is a river that goes all through Berlin.

We only found a bike at the sixth shop we looked at. The store owner said he would be gone in half an hour to go kayaking, and would be back at 1900 to 1930 for us to return the bikes. That left us a very specific schedule to keep. First we went to Tiki Heart Cafe for burgers. The cafe has unique decor in an islander theme with tiki masks, along with grungy punk-rock-style staff. The menus are also very interestingly designed and we spent a lot of time looking at them. They were mostly in English but with a funny mix of German words in the descriptions. I ordered a bison burger and it was hard and not very good for me (my stomach protested strongly for a couple hours after) but Leia enjoyed her beef burger. Leia forgot her hat there and we returned to pick it up on our way to return our bikes in the evening.

We rode our bikes along a canal towards Treptower park. We tried to enjoy it but we both got bruised a lot by bumping into the metal pedals of the bikes, or when they fell on us. Berlin's roads seem very well-designed for cyclists, with a bike lane on the big roads or wide sidewalks (often with a bike lane on them) elsewhere. The cyclists can go pretty fast but we generally took it easy and enjoyed the shade and the scenery where we could. On the sidewalk we saw a dog walking himself, with the end of his leash in his mouth. His owner (presumably) was walking alongside nearby. The canals mostly smelled like sewage to me, and we passed over them a few times by bridges. Leia was guiding and did not take necessarily the most direct route, but we went through some parks. When crossing the first bridge we saw our bicycle renter and his friend in a kayak below us.

Originally our objective was to go to Spreepark, which is an abandoned amusement park (like Euro-Disney) that was overgrown and Leia wanted to see. Sadly due to time constraints and its position outside the scope of our maps, we did not get there. Instead we ended up in a large grassy park with a huge monument to fallen Soviet soldiers. Since my stomach was hurting from the burger and the bike ride was strenuous, we took a break there to rest on the grass and read a bit. Then we cycled around the monument and made our way back.

We took main roads on our return which put us in the street next to traffic a lot. That was very scary for me, besides having to inhale all the smoke from cars on the street and smokers on the sidewalk. At one point a "VIP tour" bus parked in the middle of the street to offload a lot of fancily-dressed people, while everybody behind him honked and a line of bicycles got stuck. Frustrated, I went onto the sidewalk, but at that point Leia realized we'd gone too far on the wrong road anyway so we had to cross the street and backtrack a short way. Later in the street, she almost ate a bee. She wobbled, braked, and fell out of control in front of me, but she did also ring her little warning bell on her bicycle while she was crashing. Every car should be equipped with those bells instead of horns: they are loud enough to scare pedestrians but they make such a comparatively pleasing sound. The bike fell on her and she hurt the same knee she'd fallen on yesterday... but she was able to keep going.

At 1815 we were 15 minutes late for a date with M', a French friend of Leia from her German class. We had drinks and Belgian waffles with sugar powder (there was no maple syrup for me) and cherries in syrup for Leia. That was our dinner. M' arrived only at 1830 and we invited her to a waffle so she and Leia could catch up. Sadly we had to leave at 1900 to be sure of getting our bikes back in time. Then we picked up the hat Leia'd forgotten at the burger place and returned the bikes. The shopkeeper remarked with disappointment that I didn't look very happy. I was just sweaty from cycling hard and on edge from the traffic. The bikes were actually pretty nice and new.

Back at the hotel we showered and then went to sit in the steam sauna, which must have been the best part of our day. We idled away all the evening and began packing, so when I realized it was 2300 there was no point in trying to find any dinner. We went to bed around midnight to get a good night's sleep before our flight.