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Published: February 12th 2007
Berlin, in fact the whole of Germany, was not in our original itineray, but we are so glad we went! Having realised in Vilnius that we hadn't left enough time to use the Interrail card before meeting our Mum (Claire and Michelle) we decided to postpone it and make a detour into Germany. We arrived in Berlin on a broken train from Warsaw, so for half of the seven hour journey our carriage had no heating and no emergency brake (!) When we crossed the border we were told to move into a working carriage because it was against Germany safety restrictions to stay in the carriage (the Poles hadn't minded!)
We shared an eight bed dorm room with a crazy Italian and a bitchy Italian, who made our stay memorable. The crazy Italian turned out to be a harmless, mumbling, snoring, broke weirdo. However the bitchy Italian turned out to be a bitch. She gave us our own special curfew, as she would turn the lights out whenever she decided she was tired. However, on occasion she was nice enough to give us a torch which we shone into her boudoir (she had encased her bunk bed with sleeping bags and blankets!)
We took a free guided tour of the city on our first day, with a Fellow of archaeology from the University of Berlin- a really excitable and enthusiastic Londoner who didn't even wear gloves in the sub-zero temperatures. He gave us a background to the history of Berlin, giving us a greater understanding of what we were seeing. At times it was freezing cold standing in the snow, but it offered an important context to some of the sights including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler's Bunker, the Dom, the East Berlin TV tower and the monument for the Nazis book burning. After a few hours, when the tour was finished, we did our own tour of the West of the city centre, getting the S-Bahn to Charlottenberg and strolling down Kurfurstendamm (the Champs Elysee of Berlin). We went into the shell of a church which had been more or less destroyed in the Second World War and left as an historical monument. We then got the U-Bahn to Potsdammer Platz and went into the outdoors Sony centre and walked from there to the Brandenburg gate and down the Unter Den Linden to Museum Island, where there was free entry to all of the National museums from 6-10pm. We visited the Egyptian museum (got shouted at for getting too close to the exhibits!) and walked around in circles for hours looking for the National Gallery. We eventually gave up and went back to the hostel where we got ready in the dark because Bitch Italian had already turned the light off! We headed out to Prenzlauer Berg a district just north of the Mitte and found a bar at 1:00am just in time for last orders!
The next morning we got up early to make the most of our 24-hour rail pass and got the S-Bahn to the Tiergarten, a big park in the centre of the city. We wandered through the gardens and as we were standing on a bridge over a frozen pond it started to snow a blizzard! It was beautiful! We wandered out of the park and down towards the Reichstag, passing a huge memorial to the Russian soldiers killed in Berlin during the Second World War. We gradually wandered down the Unter Den Linden to Alexanderplatz (visiting the local C&A briefly for some skiing hats to combat the blizzard), and stopped for some ice cream and tea.
On our last day we walked to Kreuzberg, the Turkish District of Berlin South-East of the centre. It had small winding streets littered with small bakeries and cafes and a very distinct feel from the rest of the city.
We really enjoyed our stay in Berlin it was a beautiful city, especially in the snow. The Brandenburg Gate is a sight not to be missed and the city has a real vibrance which we haven't seen in any other city so far.
Next stop Dresden...
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Del, Debi & Dylan
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Great log, but were are the pictures of Berlin
Hi Girls Great log, but Dylan was not happy, he wanted to see more pictures of his Auntie Ciara and her travel buddies.... Glad your having such a great time... We are all missing you.. Dylans wants to see you everytime we go up to club... I keep telling him your on holiday!!! Now he won't shut saying "Ciara's on Holiday, Ciara's on holiday".... I'll drop you an e-mail later today and send you some news pictures of Dylan!!