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Published: June 25th 2009
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Well, we finally encountered customs… at midnight. England, France, Belgium didn’t bother to check us, but the Germans have to check at midnight? I wasn’t pleased to be awoken by guards yelling out “PASSPORTSSSSS” haha. Not cool. People joke there's nothing more frightening than being yelled at in German, and I would have to concur. Again, I didn’t get a single question (what is up with that?) and the only person they questioned was a guy from Malaysia. Ok, “questioned” is the nice way of putting it - let’s just say we spent a good 40min in control while they sorted things out.
I managed to sleep for a few hours before our next stop. I grudgingly got out of the bus to grab breakfast. The guy that had been sitting behind me in the bus started talking to me in French which I found bizarre… we were in Germany, on a bus coming from London. Nevertheless, we started talking and had a pretty good chat. It started with the usual, “you’re from Canada and speak French? You’re from Quebec then” I explained we do bilingualism in Ottawa (which coincidently he never heard of but knew Montreal, sigh). He went
Pelicans
For you, Mom. on to tell me his niece was studying in some city, “British Colombie”… I was like, uh, yeah. That’s about as far away from me as Spain is from here haha.
We started talking about Germany after that. He’s originally from the Congo, but moved to Berlin at a young age. He told me all about the former divide, and pointed out that where we had stopped was actually an old checkpoint between East and West Germany. (Something that was super obvious as we left - there were buildings, after buildings, for old checkpoints. It was creepy)
Upon arriving in Berlin (around 10am) he showed me where the U-Bahn (metro) was, and helped me buy my “tagesticken” or something like that... a dayticket. I def did an epic fail and grabbed a pound instead of a euro and jammed the machine. The metro worked rolled his eyes when he saw it haha. Yay for the silly Canadian girl!
I found my hotel, dropped my crap off and cursed them for my key. No joke, it had a 5-lb metal weight thing on it. I def managed to detach it from the key and left it in my
A jerboa!!!
It was in the nocturnal area, so I couldn't get a shot of the actual animal, but I saw it! room - I had enough crap to carry without that.
The plan was to go on a walking tour, but I was supremely tired, so I headed off to the Berlin Zoo instead. It's pretty world-renowned since it's one of the oldest zoos, so I must admit I was slightly disappointed - Toronto’s is better in my opinion - but it was still nice. The location is superb though, it’s smack dab in the middle of the city which is neat. I was happy that the animals had nice big “cages” though, the exhibits are well done.
I got to see the ever famous Knut, although he has grown a lot. I love polar bears. He was chilling in the water, playing with some fabric-covered toy. He's still cute.
For supper I decided I needed to try some of their currywurst, which is essentially a glorified hot dog - there are about a bajillion stands all over the place. They take a sausage (much bigger than a hot dog, and much tastier too) and put it through a machine to cut it into bits. They then put of globs and globs of some sauce all over it,
and sprinkle it with, what I would imagine is, curry(?) I don't know, they sprinkle it with something. It was surprisingly good though.
I tried a Berliner Pilsner (beer) which was decent, and then headed back to the hotel for much needed sleep. It took me a good 10min to open my door b/c I jammed the lock on the inside by accident. I have no sweet clue how I did it, or how I managed to undo it, but considering how tired I was it's pretty miraculous that I got back in. Needless to say, I was very happy to find my bed.
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dalia taylor
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walking tour in Berlin
Hi Julie, Bill and I met up with Rosalie in Germany (a few years ago) after she had been travelling by herself for a few weeks in Europe. She wanted to see the zoo because she was tired so off to the zoo which required few grey cells. I agree, I prefer Toronto Zoo over the Berlin one but it was still relaxing to wander around the place. It also helped since we were staying in a hotel that was just around the corner so we could leave at any time if we didn't enjoy it. Did you notice the sex shop on your way in? We never did go in although I was rather curious to see what "no man has ever been able to perform" meant. If you are still there when you get this, try a walking tour. We met with a fellow, trained in architecture and history (originally from Korea, then US) who was very thorough in explaining the history of Berlin, plus all the little details you don't get from the larger companies. For $10/euro we had a very nformative 21.5 hour tour. We saw the brochure in some shops so you shouldn't have too much a problem finding someone who can direct you to them if you are interested; there is always your hostel which is awealth of information. I always check out the walking tours no matter where I go as the perspective is very different from the bus tours. If you make it to Czech, take the Jewish cemetary tour. Enjoy all the delights of travel and remember, everything that happens, sound better when you're home.