Day 1 - Berlin

Berlin Day 1 
After working our way through the airport customs and security gates, we consult our guide books and learn that, in order to reach our hotel, we need to hop a bus to the train station. Being that this is my first time in Germany, I'm a little lost and nervous, but paired with Clint, we have the confidence and wherewithal to get things figured out. We buy or AB ticket from the vending machine, hop the bus and we're on our way.
We get to the train station, which is surprisingly easy to navigate. We easily find our train, grab a seat, stash our bags in the overhead racks, and wobble our way into downtown Berlin.
We arrive at Rosenthalerplatz, exit the train station, and our hotel is RIGHT on the corner. We're on the 4th floor on the inside, overlooking the dining patio. Outside our room window we have a perfect view of the TV tower. It's not that exciting to look at architecturally, but at least it's a view of something neat.
We get recommendations from the front desk for a place to eat. We have appetizers and beers at a Russian restaurant called Gorki Park that was just a few blocks away. We sat outside on the sidewalk, and saw lots of smokers, people riding bikes wearing high heels and NO HELMETS on the sidewalk, people walking by just holding bottles of beers and wine, some open. I guess it's OK to drink on the streets here?
After consulting our guidebooks, we have dinner at a place called Pratergarten, which is just several more blocks up the street. This felt like what I imagine a traditional German style food hall would be like. Heavy wooden tables, loud atmosphere, and people talking all throughout the room. We ordered Pilsner mixed with Sprite, called a Radler. On the drink menu were several variations of Pilsner mixed with different sodas. It was weird, and I won't be ordering one again. So then we ordered grosse blackbiers, which were much better. 
Our hotel is very modern and basic, minimalist. Two twin beds pushed together with lime green vinyl headboards on a pumpkin orange wall. A bathroom with clear shower doors and tile floors. Perfect view of the TV tower in downtown Berlin. Two small sitting chairs and a coffee table at the foot of the bed. TV mounted on the wall. We both want to watch some German TV while we're here.

For dinner, we shared our meals of a half a roasted duck with red cabbage (Clint's favorite) and potato dumplings, which are kind of like a cross between potato pudding and jello, quite odd, really. We also ate lamb with a pumpkin puree and green beans. OMG, everything was so delicious and we absolutely cleaned our plates!
There was a French speaking couple next to us, we took their picture and they ours. The whole restaurant had a very friendly atmosphere. We had a nice walk back to the hotel. We stopped for gelato on the way from a hole-in-the-wall storefront. Cafe mocha crunch; a little dish of it for 90 cents. The perfect sweet ending to our day. Went to bed about 10 and slept right through to 6:45. We were bushed!