The bus is your friend

Unlike in many cities I've been to where you more or less have to memorize the full bus schedule if you want to know where you should get off, Berlin - and other cities in Germany - has buses that include a visual display and a clear audible announcement in German. By the time you get to the terminal stop there will be an accompanying announcement in English along the lines of "this line terminates here". There are also English announcments when you are approaching a stop where you can connect with buses and trains to the airports. Moreover, the city transit authority also has a very nice website that you can use that tells you exactly what you have to do to get to where you want to go.

With an extensive and much faster subway system, buses seemed unnecessary, but one definite advantage of the bus is the ability to enjoy the scenery, and a lot of it. Berlin is flat enough that rarely do under- and overpasses enter the equation, and while the U- and S-bahns can run over or under, unless you're on the S-lines that run east to west through the center you probably won't see much.

But of course, an even better reason to get on the bus is that since it makes such frequent stops on less traveled routes, it is worth the wait if it allows you to avoid the undesirable terrain in those hard-to-reach places. Moreover, the winter is not only depressing but cold as well, and what better means of traveling a short distance quickly is there than the bus? Ok, yes, there are bikes, but as bike-friendly as Berlin is on the whole, the winter is not.

That previous paragraph may seem a strange juxtaposition, but allow me to explain:

Last semester I was taking courses at the TU Sport building on Dovestrasse, and I was coming from the area near the Zoologischer Garten station. The route I took lead me into Ernst-Reuter-Platz where branches out to Otto-Suhr-Allee, where in the winter the creepies come out to play. No, that's not their official name, and quite frankly I'm not that curious to find out what is. Then on the intersection of Otto-Suhr-Allee and Cauerstrasse (which then becomes Dovestrasse and then Helmholzstrasse without giving much of a warning) is the Scientology Church, whose building actually reminds me of a really big Barnes & Noble. You get an idea of what Germany thinks of Scientology, as every other big church in the city is marked on the maps, but this one isn't.

Whether the creepies and the "church" are related, I'm not sure, for I try to cover this stretch as quickly as I can with the least amount of incidence. My hunch is that they are, for I've walked along other streets branching from Ernst-Reuter-Platz, and they're all just fine. In addition, my most recent encounters with them were in front of said establishment. Eeeee!

The creepies I refer to are these people (or really, just this one woman) with a clipboard who comes up to you, and rather than asking you to take a survey, donate money, or test out a product, ominously inquire, "Haben Sie Angst?" ("Are you afraid?!) By the way, the correct answer is 'no', even if it's not the truth (for which I can't blame you).

Perhaps now that it's nice and sunny nearly almost everyday and not past sunset the way it was in winter from the 17:30-19:30 stretch when I would be out, I could just take the bus when I'm feeling too lazy for a 15-minute walk, and I usually am. But boy do I wish I knew about the bus I take now way back when.

So remember, the bus is your friend. The BVG is, too, even if it doesn't always act like it.