Blogs from Berlin, Berlin, Germany, Europe - page 149

Bye bye Prague and Hello Berlin! We got the mid morning express train to Berlin and arrived in the German capital around 3pm. Took the bus and arrived at the Odyssee hostel, the best hostel in the world IMO!! This is my 4th time at this hostel and my 4th visit to the Berlin International Beerfestival. Same dorm, same bed but always a different crowd here. We did a bit of a walking tour of Berlin taking in all the sights. Alexanderplatz, Unter Der Linen, Tiergarten, Potzdamer Platz, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the preparation of the Beer fest on Karl Marx Allee. Wunderbar!! After all that walking it was beer and dinner time. The next morning we were awaiting the arrival of Martin, Dave and the Groom Patrick. They arrived around 11am so a perfect ... read more

I arrived in Berlin last night. After a detour on the wrong train from the airport I found my way to the hostel an hour later then expected ;) Found two guys from Norway who knew this alternative place, it's a community driven café/bar/club where the alternative people gather. Artists, punk-people, homo community, just everyone "else" :) This night they had live performances by a few different Sing & Songwriters and as main artist "Kitty". Small time singer mixing the voice of Elin Sigvardsson with an electric guitarr and drums. All in all I found the place and the people to be more interesting then the music. Didn't bring the camera there unfortunately. Today I walked around in Berlin for hours, went to Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror exhibition. I'm kind of tired of ... read more

Today we went on a walking tour led by a Canadian/Berliner named Brian. It was just mind-blowing! Brian really new his stuff and had many stories to tell. I can't possibly narrow six hours down but I will mention some highlights. One thing Matt and I were blown away with was standing on the site above Hitler's bunker where he was brought above ground after he killed himself. We also saw the sight of the book burnings where there was an arty memorial underground. We walked through a controversial memorial to the Jews that consisted of different levelled cement blocks. As well we looked at a memorial for the 96 men who voted against Hitler and in one way or another under Nazi rule lost their lives. Of course we saw the exsisting part of the ... read more

We awoke early to make sure we could get from the houseboat to the bus in time. Matt skilfully read the map to get us there by two trams, gotta love those things! We spent another day on the bus to arrive in Berlin at five thirty pm. We were a little upset because we had to share an eight bed dorm room (cooties!), but it turned out the rooms were immaculate and our room mates respectful! Tonight we had a cheap meal at the hostel, a snitzel and a beer and then went for a stroll to Brandenburg gate. We grabbed an ice-cream on the way yum! On the way back we found a spot of lovely green grass and looked up at the amazing surrounding buildings. We know one of them is the National ... read more

The morning got off to a stellar start with me waking up at noon, thus missing the 11am bike tour, as well as being forced to do some fashion experimentation (details reserved for friends). I did get quite a bit done though, visiting Brandenburg Tor and the Reichstag before rushing back for the 4pm bike tour. The tour was well worth the money, as history lessons in the classroom never quite impressed upon me as much as when I'm literally staring right at it. Berlin really is living history in so many ways. Some of the buildings in the Jewish corner still have their original (bullet-hole ridden) facades preserved, while an incredible amount of building is at the same time still ongoing. It actually took a moment of reflection for me to realize that where I'm ... read more