Guten Tag from Germany!!

I'm currently typing on a German keyboard, so you'll all have to excuse any accidental typos. Berlin was absolutely amazing... I think we're all a little sad that we have to leave tomorrow... though we are happy to be going to Munich to stay with Felix, Beth's friend. We had two very busy days, though we're very proud of ourselves for finally starting to figure out our train passes.

It was about 4 when we got into Berlin yesterday, so we grabbed an early dinner and then headed to the Hard Rock Berlin for some stuff. We decided to forgo a late night outing for an early night in bed... which would have been much more successful had the rowdy boys in the room next to us not decided to have a reenactment of American Idol. That being said, Amber, Beth and I are all ridiculously pleased with our first hostel stay. The staff is really friendly, and our roommates are amazing. One of the guys who stayed in our room last night was traveling from Spain, and there's a super nice couple from Australia, too. Don't worry moms, the bed sheets are clean and they fed us breakfast.

We decided that it would be a good idea for us to take a professional tour of the city this morning, since we wanted to learn a as much as we could about the history of the city. So, we found a brochure in our hostel for Fat Tire Bicycle Tours, and thought a 14K Nazi Germany/Third Reich tour sounded like fun. So, at 10:30 we met up with our guide, Jeff, and 9 other crazies who wanted to hear all about Nazis and headed out on our way. It was pretty funny getting back on a bike again... Beth and I both decided that we want to get new bikes when we get home to use around town. Our tour was great! Again, we met a lot of neat people and were able to see much more of the city than what we would have if we had walked, or decided to do it on our own. A few of the highlights: Hitler's bunker, the memorial for murdered Jews, partially destroyed churches and train stations, military buildings, and a bunch of stops where important buildings used to be. We also rode our bikes past the Hotel Aldon, where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the railing a few years ago. Though the tour was eye opening and educational, we had a lot of fun, too. We stopped all together at a beer garden by the zoo for lunch, and our tour guide, surprisingly enough, was the only person to actually fall off his bike. We did feel partially responsible for this, however, because he was looking behind him waiting for the three of us to catch up to the group, and he hit a metal pole with a bike sign on it. Whoops.

We did do other things today, but I'll have to tell you about it at a later time, as I am about to get kicked off the internet.

Munich tomorrow.... we'll update when we can!

Nicola