Blogs from Berlin, Germany, Europe - page 169

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

The day started out with pouring rain, so I was quite thankful that most of Berlin's major museums are rather tightly packed on Museuminsl (literally museum island). I did make the blunder of mistaking the national gallery for Pergammon Museum, and wound up in line for close to 3 hours for the wrong museum! I did get to see what all the fuss was about though: special Goya exhibit, which was quite interesting. The guy had incredibly disparate facets - his portraits and tapestries are a world away from his politically motivated drawings, which show a very active and darkly twisted imagination. My blunder did land me in line with Alexandra though, a local student studying medicine. With someone to talk to, the lineup wasn't so bad. I did finally end up in Pergammon Museum, which ... read more

Now I know why Louie 14th was the so called Sun King. Sunday was the only day left to visit Versailles. Jenee and Paul wanted to check out the Paris flea market prior to heading to the Palace. Turns out they hated the flea market. By the time they returned there was little time to even get to Versailles let alone tour it. I'd waited for Paul from Berlin to visit the castle figuring this would be a highlight to share. When we got to the palace it was crowded and extremely hot. Paul saw the queue and decided he wasnt really interested. Jenee and I had Museum passes so we could go right in. But Jenee said she wasn't interested either! I couldn't believe it. Anyway, they went off to a local cafe while I ... read more

We arrived into Berlin around 2pm after our 5 1/2 trainride in from Amsterdam (Which is the fastest train we could get!) They checked passports every 45 minutes to an hour while on the train, which didn't allow for much sleep, but I'm sure it had to do with the bombings just 2 days prior in London. After checking our passports 4 times, they stopped bothering us everytime they came through. There was a little bit of confusion once we got into the general area, but we figured out the city trains/subway pretty quickly and navigated into the area of Berlin our hostel was at. "Helter Skelter". The quality of accomodations was the lowest of our trip, but the location was decent for us and it was still a private room, which is what we were ... read more

I have to make this one short and sweet. I haven't been able to check my email these last few days. I came to Berlin yesterday morning, and I am leaving this afternoon. Berlin is an awesome city! I have LOTS of pictures. Last night we went pub crawling with this organization thing. It was interesting, to say the least. Well I have to go cause we're going to see more sights. I will write more tomorrow! RHIA :)... read more