Ich Bin Ein Berliner

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i am not sure how much of my blog is being covered by yusuf who is also writing simultaneously. apologies for revising the same events over and again, should that be the case.

first of all, we are using german keyboards, making things incredibly difficult to write with. they have symbols such as Ä and ß which are obviously redundant in english. furthermore the y and z buttons are in opposite positions and this is succesfully driving me up the wall. no matter.

right, we didnt think we'd make it to berlin last night. the odds were certainly against us. i believe yusuf has documented the epic events of the dash from hradec to prague and so theres no need for me to re-iterate. perhaps i could discuss the hostel saga. having booked our hostel earlier in the day and after considerable confusion on the berlin 'underground' we made it to the district of charlottenberg. the stop coincidently is also called charlottenberg. the hostel, just to inform you now, actually sits a stones throw from the station, its literally a case of turning left. what we decided to do at half eleven at night was to wander the streets of west berlin, round and round the same blocks occasionally phoning the hostel to ask for directions. our searching was such that, we took a break for dinner. having resumed the search, we finally thankfully made it to the hostel where we checked it. our night was not over however.

having gotten our dormitory keys, we ambled upstairs exhausted to unlock the door and awaken our sleeping room mates. this didnt happen either. in fact we never met our room mates last night. the door never opened. after spending the best part of fifteen minutes fighting inanimate objects we resigned to calling the hostess where after much s##ting, decided the best thing to do would be to call a locksmith and realocate us rooms.

our new rooms were lovely and we are spending tonight in them also. they are yellow, have 4 single beds, 4 security lockers, bedside tables and communal lockers. it is very hospitable. we are sharing our room with an assistant to an accountant who has taken a year from her job to travel the world in what she describes as indeed sounds as an incredibly exciting adventure. next she has russia, monglia and china to look forward to. good times indeed.

we actually just finished a conversation with her, prior to our cafe session. she told us how she had been locked into her room for an hour till 1am after some fellow backpackers had locked her in by breaking her lock and having to have a locksmith called out. she was moved to another room.

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