Blogs from Berlin, Germany, Europe - page 12

Hello one and all. So, I had previously written text for this entry, but somehow, as only I can do in all my glorious technical inability, managed to delete it all. I am now left with a blank slate - or Tabula Rasa, as Jean Jacques-Rosseau so eloquently put it, ready to spew some verbal vomit for you all to read. My memory is pretty unreliable at best, so let's see if I can remember all the frolicking gallivanting I did in this wondrous city! My first impressions of Berlin were initially: What a cool fucking TV Tower (excuse the crudeness, but I'm just being honest), as I was coming in on the train to Berlin. My second impressions were: Woohoo, the hotel is so close to the U-Bahn (Train). My friend and I arrived at ... read more

Despite being about 45 mins late, our train did at least get us in to Hamburg in time to catch an, only slighter later than planned, onward train to Berlin. After discussing our plans for the day we both nodded off for the remaining hour of the final leg, making the total night sleep for both of us that night about 2 hours! We picked up some 48 hour 'Welcome Berlin' cards from Hauptbahnhof (the main station) and headed across to our hostel 'Wombats' which was just outside of Alexanderplatz. Check-in wasn't till 14:00 (and it was only 10:00) so we left our bags and used the bathroom to freshen up a bit and change. We caught the tram back across town to the Reichstag and Brandonberg Tor, we did attempt to go into the Reichstag ... read more

Geo: 52.5257, 13.3687Today we had to say goodbye to Berlin, but first we had to pack (well one of us did). We checked out and headed into the centre. First we stopped at the Mall of Berlin for a quick look and then we thought about walking to look again at some sites. But, the weather had other ideas and the the rain was pouring down.We decided instead to stay in the refuge of the mall and grab some food. We looked in a few more shops and then it was time to head back to collect our luggage. After a few navigational hiccups, and a few tubes in the wrong direction, we arrived at the central station. We went to the hotel and collected the luggage. Then we went to the station and had a ... read more

Geo: 52.5236, 13.367We awoke and the sun was once again glorious and warm. So we got dressed and headed to the train station. We had a quick pit stop for some breakfast and coffee. We then hopped on the tube to our first stop (with our hotel we got free transport pass which has come in very handy). For the first sights we had to hop across to Museum Island, which - as the name suggest is an island with a lot of museums on it. First we saw the Old National Gallery which was housed in a beautiful building, and the columns outside housed bullet holes which act as a permenent reminder of the cities recent past. We then wondered up to look at the Pergamon Museum, this looked pretty but was under going a ... read more

Geo: 52.5235, 13.4115Today started with an early start to get to the airport. We did get stuck a little in traffic, but made it in plenty of time. Even had time spare for coffee (we always have time for a coffee!). We arrived at the gate nice and early to get on the plane and then it was announced it was overbooked and they were offering people 200 euros not to fly today & get the next flight. Nicky had to restrain Simon - the offer of 400 euros for us both and the chance to do more work was a big temptation.After the restraints had been lifted we boarded the plane (already delayed at this point) and we were informed that there could be an hour delay! Luckily the pilot managed to get this down ... read more