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Europe » Germany » Berlin » Berlin
June 10th 2008
Published: June 12th 2008
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Neil and I successfully met up in Berlin, in what may very well be the largest train station in Europe. It's not that we planned it that well, it's more that I figured out which train he was probably arriving on and tried to stand in a place where I could see people coming down the stairs off of the platform, and we got kind of lucky.

We stayed at Jetpak City Hostel. With a name like that, how could we say no? Actually, it may be the best hostel we stayed at so far. And it's won a bunch of awards for being the best hostel in Europe. So a good place to stay if you're heading to Berlin.

Berlin is not expensive either. I think it's the cheapest city we've stayed in so far. It is fairly well touristed, but the sights are quite spread out and Berlin functions independent of tourism, so there really isn't any room for a tourist trap type area where they can gouge. So I think that helps keep prices reasonable. Especially beer prices.

On our first full day we decided to sleep in a bit and caught the walking tour
Five StarsFive StarsFive Stars

Michael Jackson dangled a kid out of this hotel. Remember?
in the afternoon. Did I mention it was a free walking tour? I can honestly say it was really good value...

Seriously though, they work for tips, and the tour was really good. We hit a lot of the major sights and got told some good history behind everything, including the story of how the Berlin wall fell accidently. Apparently someone made a speach they didn't prepare for, and said some things he wasn't supposed to. So the system works. We hadn't really done any tours this trip, but we are really glad that we did this one. Berlin is a city that seems to have a lot of depth, culture, and a lot of history, so being told some of it definitley added to the Berlin experience.

That night, Germany played Poland in the Euro Cup. We headed to a beer gardens, drank beer we bought at a grocery store, and took in the electric atmosphere as everyone watched the game on a giant screen. It was pretty cool, and Germany won, so there was lot's of celebration and car horns in the streets. Actually, there was a lot of that before the game too.

The next day took it easy. We went around town with another guy from our hostel that had also done the walking tour the previous day. We went up the dome at the Reichstag and got a good view of Berlin. Then we wandered the Tiergarten (a big park) before heading back to the hostel.

We'd decided to go on the pub crawl as suggested by the tour guide, so we needed to eat a good meal. Our hostel recommended a good place for German cuisine, and they were not lying. Huge portions of delicious and greasy meat, sausage, potatoes, saurkraut, and beer. And it was not expensive at all.

Back a the hostel we met up with our new Texas friend, grabbed an Aussie who had arrived exactly 20 seconds earlier (with an enourmous bag. I seriously think he could fit Neil's bag, my bag, and another bag inside his bag. It was pretty funny, and I think he realises his mistake) and headed out on a pub crawl with dozens of other young travellers. Some of the bars were pretty cool. One was a beach patio, and the last one was an old bunker. And there were free shots between bars. Outside. Yeah, you can do that here. We met a few Swiss people who we talked to for a couple of bars who were pretty funny, and a random mix of other people that I can't really remember (for good reason).

And the next thing we knew it was 3:30 in the morning. Luckily our hostel has no lockout or curfew, so you can pretty much come and go as you please, and sleep in as long as you want. This is essential in Berlin, which is pretty famous for its nightlife. But, since we had planned to go on a tour the next morning at 11am, we had to cut our sleep short.

The next morning was difficult, but funny. By some miracle, we didn't have hangovers. But we were extremely tired, and it showed. At the metro station, I dropped my breakfast strudel (to my dismay, and Neil's pleasure), and seconds later a train entered the station causing a wind that blew Neil's napkin out of his hand and around the corner at a blistering rate of speed. We couldn't have caught up to it if we tried. It's probably travelling around Berlin right now, free, as nature intended...

To lift our fatigued spirits, we took a tour out to Sachsenhausen, which was a large concentration camp located just outside of Berlin... It's tough to write about. It's really something you'd have to see and experience to understand the nature and scale of these camps. The tour was very informative, and was probably the best way to see the camp. It's not as large as Auschwitz, and was a working camp, not a death camp. However an estimated 53,000 people died in the camp due to the conditions and the brutality of the SS guards. That's unreal.

That evening, we closed out our Berlin experience by eating another German meal (at the same restaurant), doing laundry, and going to bed early. The travel trifecta.

I hadn't really planned on going to Berlin at the start of this trip, but I'm really gald that we did. It's a city I would probably go back to. There's a lot to see and do, lot's of culture, great people, lot's of bars, cheap beer, cheap beer, and cheap beer.


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Can't remember what this isCan't remember what this is
Can't remember what this is

It looks nice though
East Germany's TV TowerEast Germany's TV Tower
East Germany's TV Tower

East Berliner's weren't happy when the communists decided to build this tower. But they joked that if it did fall over, they could ride the elevator into West Berlin...
Another building...Another building...
Another building...

... again, I can't remember what this is.


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