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By the end of an epic delay-laden 30 hour journey from Melbourne to Frankfurt, the intrepid Aussie's had composed several nasty letters for Qantas in their clouded heads. But alas, the heady heights of jetlag have so far saved the national airline from any rational points of criticism. Today, all was forgotten as we cycled our way through the streets of Berlin on a gorgeous Spring day. Not only was the weather in our favor but Sundays are the perfect day for a bike tour in Germany - all the shops are closed and the roads are relatively devoid of high powered german engineering. Not only that, the tour was FREE - thankyou budget touring! Our tour guide, Mike, was brilliant, extremely knowledgeable and most importantly, funny (so yes, we tipped him). It was just the cruisey afternoon we needed to break us out of the twilight zone and into the time zone.
With all the upheaval, war, destruction & division its not surprising that Berlin has quite a fresh and unique feel about it. Many buildings still bare the scares of a war-ravaged city, with bullet holes sprayed across the facade. More than 80% of the city was destroyed during
WWII but amazingly the Brandenberg Gate remained relatively untouched. Even after the crowning Quadriga statue took a brief holiday in Paris with Napoleon (apparently he's a bit of a souvenir collector), the original gate stands as it was built in 1791.
As slightly fussy gourmet veg-aquarian types, Germany can be a little tricky. Its hard to believe that with a diet largely composed of beer, sausage & bread, that these people aren't hideously obese. Forget the no carb diet, quench your thirst with some wurst (or in Australia we say - put some pork on your fork)! The menu options for us have been pretty limited, but thanks to some local knowledge we managed to find a yummy lebanese place with lots of vegie fare.
We're staying in a "backpackers" (aka Brazilian guy's apartment who rents his spare rooms out to travellers) which we found on hostelworld.com (I'll expect a cheque in the mail for that Hostelworld - thanks). Its a bit like crashing at someone's house but the host Arthur is really nice, the place is clean and we're within walking distance of the main drag. There are nine people squeezed into 3 rooms with beds for two more!!!
And I thought the Japanese knew how to pack em in.
We're here in Berlin until Tuesday morning then we take the train to Leipzig, the home town of Bach, Wagner and Mendelssohn. Lets hope the musical genius rubs off on me a little so I can re-acquaint myself with my new antique piano from Germany - its gotta be fate :-) (Thankyou Karen). So for now, its auf wiedersehen.
Footnote - German toilet paper is very thick - no folding (or scrunching) required!
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caleb g
non-member comment
howdy
nice photos love Mum Fleur and Caleb!