Blogs from Berlin, Berlin, Germany, Europe - page 22

It was sad to say "Auf Wiedersehen" to Hamburg and Fanny and Kolja, but off to Berlin. The ride was short and fast with and ICE train, hour and a half. The train was surprisingly full. The trainstation here is also amazing so big! After confusion of trying to get to the hostel it turned out the stop I needed was around the corner from the stop I was at. My goal for today was to see the Public Viewing in Berlin and I accomplished that! Besides being frisked twice to get in it was really fun, there were around 500,000 people I heard, I got to Berlin, to hostel then left right away to public viewing, I got there 2 hrs early and it paid off! I got right up close to the front, about ... read more

Ah, I love this song, “Art School Girlfriend” by Stone Temple Pilots. Perhaps it also helped that I was hanging out with a Scottish bloke who is the number 1 Pearl Jam fan. He literally feels god for days after he goes to a concert. You know, Pearl Jam, STP, they are the same genre. Ok, so I am not a girlfriend or going to art school but this tour evoked this song in my head (Kopf). Alternative tours alternative art tour was the company and name of the tour. The tour guide is a street artist himself and seemed quite knowledgeable and nice, both good qualities in a tour guide. We started outside of the infamous Starbucks at Alexanderplatz. We rode to the art district, Kreuzberg. Our Kiwi guide taught up about how in Germany ... read more

Berlin has been quite beautiful so far. The weather reminds me of San Francisco, overcast with a breeze. So far I have been enjoying the amount of graffiti art that is on the walls. The past several days I have enjoyed this pub called Parkplatz. The building is recycled from old big rig shipment containers. They used the outside of their walls for artist to come and add on their own flair. It’s one of my favorite places right now to hangout and drink cider and enjoy the company of the local people. At night time they create their own food truck festival and the locals come and enjoy watching fussball on the huge television that they have. I am also getting the hang of the walking terrain, and the bike lanes that are on the ... read more

Instead of visiting the popular historical sites that Berlin has to offer, I decided to walk around the city and see what I could find. Ultimately I ended up in Charlottenburg in one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen, it is called Schlossgarten Charlottenburg, with its nicely decorated trees and greenery made it a very peaceful and scenic walk. It had an amazing landscape; little streams of water covered with green algae made it seem as if it was a never ending green road. Parks in the U.S are nothing compared to these.. In the U.S almost every park has a baseball field and a jungle gym for kids to play, where as here in Germany, parks are often referred to as Gartens and they have a more "nature-like" feeling. Also, people ... read more

Upon arrival in Berlin I stayed at St. Christopher's Inn Hostel. This hostel is quite a happening place and a wonderful way to meet fellow travelers here in Germany. The Hostel itself is clean. I stayed in a 6 bed all female dorm. Really it is like a mini apartment- there are two bedrooms, one has the 6-bed dorm and the other a 2-bed dorm, a kitchen fully stocked with dishes and pots and pans, and a bathroom with shower. It is pretty plush really. Unfortunately the beds are not very comfortable-but with jet lag that really isn't an issue because I could sleep almost anywhere. The first few days my schedule was way off! This allowed for some very early mornings where I was able to explore Alexanderplatz- a very happening center for shopping tourists ... read more