Beach Volleyball in Berlin!!

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I am currently sitting in front of the old Imperial Place of Berlin, bombed and rebuild as the Palast der Republik or of the People or something or the other. Quite an eyesore but unfortunately still there. I am currently actively cheering on the Finnish female beach volleyball team. They are leading the game by 21 points to 16 against the German female team (the finnish girls are prettier). It all seems slightly sureal: there is a relatively large crowd hapily munching away on their bratwursts and drinking their daily allowance of 10 pints of beer (at least it is good beer, unlike in another country which shall remain nameless). There is a disproportionately large amount of pretty girls, leaving little to the imagination, glorious sunshine (I have changed into holiday-stupid tourist gear: shorts, sandals and my very sexy Cambodian straw hat). There is sand everywhere, beach buggies, everyone is in bikinis (not that I am complaining) and there is a definite beach atmosphere (Pimms most certainly lacking), yet when you look above the girls jumping up and down and rolling in the sand, you see the the buildings of the old Berlin, unter der Linden and the tower of the much loved AlexanderPlatz. I am sorry to say that the Belgian team has lost to the Nigerians (they clearly cheated) but I am happy to announce that the French got a sound beating from the Russians. http://www.beachvolleyball2005.de

I arrived ealry this morning in Berlin Ostbahnhof, finally freed from the gossipy yanks. I made my way confidently to the Berlin Licht. Bahnhof, left my bags and went off to complete the first part of my program: bratwurst on AlexanderPlatz. It has not changed much, some buildings have been destroyed and rebuild as modern glass things, there is a big garden, some shops have changed and my soviet buidling is still there. I remember the window of my room, where I spend 6 weeks staring at the Karl Marx Allee... What happy memories. There is a new hotel on the square. It really is quite incredible, there is a huge aquarium thing in the center of the lobby, hard to explain but have a look at the website: http://berlin.radissonsas.com/

Anyway, time for me to grab a beer and pay some serious attention to the superb game being played in front of me. I wonder what the old King would have said if one day someone had told him that barely dressed girls would be joyfully rolling about the sand, throwing a ball about on the site of his old bedroom ? He would probably support Finland, I am sure he is a man of good taste. Earlier, I was even tempted for half a second to go and visit the museum of ancient art but, thankfully, found the volley ball to be more interesting.

Tragic news: Finland lost against the Germans. Am now an ardent supporter of the Australian team.

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