Berlin for Business

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After leaving Belgium I pushed on into Germany for the first time which I must admit I was really looking forward to. What with Oktoberfest just around the corner and the imminent arrival of the JJ's all the way from Australia (ps. that’s my little sister Jules and her boyfriend Jono who is also my best mate for those of you who don't know.. and yes that’s a whole other story for another day!) Germany was shaping up to be a real blast.

So like all sensible travellers I thought I would take the most logical route from Antwerp to Munich where I was going to meet the others … and that was via my email inbox! I know it sounds so boring after all these glamorous travel stories but even I have bills to pay and I had some new potential clients to try and keep happy. So I ended up going via Holland, Dusseldorf and Berlin first…. Because that’s definitely the most direct route to Munich right??.. Get your map out.. you’ll see what I mean…haha.

Anyway as it turned out it was all good and I had a great time. I spent 4 days in Dusseldorf (which is about 3 days to long for the record) and 5 days in Berlin which was great. I managed to set up a number of very interesting meetings along the way and made some great contacts to boot.

As I mentioned above I didn’t really rate Dusseldorf (no offence to any German friends reading this) but the weather was also pretty average so that didn’t help either. In fact I was thinking about the weather thing just the other day and I’ve been so lucky. I’ve managed to pretty much follow the summer now for nearly over a year… and yes in case you’re wondering it’s been great! :-)

So the next stop was Berlin, which was a 5 hours train ride away. I had heard some great things about it from fellow travellers and wanted to check it out myself. From what I have heard previously and what I could actually see when I was there, Berlin is changing… and very fast too I might add. It now appears to be this crazy mix of the new and the old and anything goes. It had great food, good transport, a bustling tourism industry and great nightlife.

Ok so the architecture doesn’t really compare to other major cities around Europe as it’s a bit plain but fair enough, most if it was pretty heavily bombed in the war. The other thing I did which was really stupid was go out on one of the nicest summers/autumn days I’m sure it has seen this year and forget to take my darn camera with me. All the pictures you see in this blog are from my phone so apologies in advance…. They could have been so much better and clearer.. oh well you live and learn.

So instead I just spent the entire afternoon lazing around in the sun watching the world go by which is great medicine for the soul if you ever need it. It was glorious just sitting there for an entire afternoon in a city I didn’t really know with nothing to do and listening to my ipod! I did walk around a bit afterwards and hence the few pictures I have attached.

The other thing I also did whilst I was in town (in fact I only stumbled across it by accident really) was spend a couple of hours in the centre square learning all about the collapse of eastern and western Germany and the Berlin wall. I must admit some the images and scenes were very confronting but at the same time it was amazing to learn about it all more detail. Being a child when it was all happening in the 80’s I only really knew the basics. Now having been there, seen ‘Check Point Charlie’ and this fantastic exhibition it puts a whole different perspective on it all for me. Unfortunately it was an outdoor exhibition and I’m sure it was only temporary by the way it was set up.. but if you ever get there go to the square and check.. just in case.

So all in all, it’s a thumbs up for Berlin. Next stop Munich to meet the JJ’s… so stay tuned cos that’s going to be a whole lot of fun!!!!!!

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