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Is back in Berlin and remembering why I LOVE this city...
So from Bruges it's about an 8 hour trek by train... so I sleep a little and watch a couple of movies... no funny train stories to report this time... I get to Berlin and it starts bucketing down... I love this city but why is it always bloody raining... isn't it meant to be summer???? Anyway I change trains the metro line and follow the directions to the hostel... now my dates worked out perfectly with my friend back home miss Carly Hulls that I used to work with and went to Fiji with last year... she is now a guide for topdeck over in Europe and her tour is arriving in Berlin today and the crazy part is we randomly are staying at the same hostel.....
Anyway I get off the train and follow the directions to the hostel... as I approach the hostel I see a topdeck bus and think no way... not only do our dates match up, our hostel is the same but have we arrived at the same time to???? I walk into the lobby and there she is and all of her blonde curls... I look like a drowned rat myself... I say look who it is and then she was like drop your bags now... we hug it out as I am the first person from home she has seen since she left for Europe in March... we check into our rooms and meet back up in the bar for a catch up... we sit at the bar and talk, talk, talk and talk.. we catch up on each other's lives and laugh about how ridiculous our lives really are right now... her job is travelling Europe, talking about history, art and culture, drinking and meeting new people every day and I am trekking round the world doing much the same although I am learning about the history, art and culture.. we talk about all the goss back home and every 10 mins just laugh and have a mind blowing moment that were drinking in Berlin together.. She goes and has dinner with her group and I go and have dinner also and then we meet back up at the stools along the bar... it is here we stay until we get kicked out of the bar at close... we drink shots, cocktails, beers and weird mixes the bar staff make up.. We chat to each other and people from her tour and Matt behind the bar... we laugh, drink and catch up... her tour would come and make comments of how we have not moved and literally for the whole night we don't.. From 8pm to 2am we did not move off the stools... we talk about what's next for the both of us... and it is just so good to see her... was a perfect first night back in Berlin.. We call it a night when the bar packs it up.
The next day I wake up, have some breakfast and head back to my room where I meet my roomies... they are 2 American girls and an English girl... the English girl Rosie is heading off today for Brussels but the 2 Americans, Olivia and Alicia are still around.. I go and catch up with Carly for lunch. We go to Lowenbrau (no idea on the spelling) but it's a German beer and they have a beer garden right alongside the east side gallery. We have a schnitzel and coke and it is prob the best thing ever... we get attacked by bees so decide to head into town as Carly needs a white t-shirt for that night.. We walk along the east side gallery and get our geek on talking about our favourite pieces... for those of you that remember the East side gallery is the part of the Berlin wall that has paintings all over it that are expressions of the artists feelings about the war and the wall... I raved about it in my last berlin blog :) we catch the train into checkpoint Charlie where the shopping is and of course head into h&m... Carly gets her top and we then head for a bit of a walk... We go into a museum and also the typography of terrors exhibition that has all the history from pre Hitler to the wall coming down... Carly fills me in on bits that are a little blank and it amazing me how much she knows... we make our way back to the hostel. Carly finds out that another girl from home, Karen that we used to work with is getting to berlin tonight as well... she gives me her number and vice versa and as Carly has a pub crawl with her tour we decide to try and all meet up around midnight at the Matrix night club.
I go back to my room where Alicia is packing up her stuff and decide its prob a good idea... we chat about work and things and she has been living and teaching English in Spain... Olivia comes in and we decide to hit the hostel bar whilst Alicia washes her clothes... we order a bottle of wine and have some dinner... we order another bottle of wine, followed by a couple more bottles... we chat away about everything and it's like we have known each other for years. We get each other's back stories and Matt behind the bar continues to laugh at us and our drunkenness... I hear from Karen and I tell her to come for a drink then we will meet Carly... me and the girls continue to drink. Olivia is starting to lag behind a little and decides that it is a great idea to make a wine slushy... Matt behind the bar amuses us by pouring her wine in the blender with some ice and pouring her a wine slushy... by the look on her face after the first sip it becomes pretty clear that wine slushy may not have been the world's best idea... the bar closes again and Karen shows up... it takes a tiny bit of convincing but I get Alicia and Olivia to join us at Matrix.. We walk down as it is stumbling distance from the hostel and go inside... I run into some of Carly's topdeck group from the night before but no sign of Carly. We get a drink and hit the dance floor... then all of a sudden Karen spots the curls and there is Carly in all of her drunken glory. We get a "how bloody crazy is this" photo together and have a dance... Carly in true Carly fashion does a Houdini about 2am and vanishes and the Americans call it a night as well and Karen and I stick it out a little longer... we run into one of the guys on Carly's tour.. Daniel I think his name is and we party with him for a bit and then at about 3 am we to call it a night...
I get back to the room and the girls are sitting up eating kebabs... we chat for a bit and then head to sleep. In the morning we get up and Alicia and I check out. Olivia still has a couple of nights so we leave all of our stuff in the room... we come back shower and head off to get some food... we go to a little cafe and order some breakfast.. Alicia tells us about the boy she is kind of seeing and is flying to Spain to meet up with... it's fast approaching 2pm and Alicia needs to catch a flight and I need to get a train to Leipzig.. We head back get our stuff and Olivia walks us to the train station... we say our goodbyes and again it's crazy... we only spent a small amount of time together but was like we had known each other for years.. I hop on my train and Alicia hops on hers... Berlin chapter is closed and I hope it's not to many years before I make it back to that amazing city... great friends new and old and amazing history and memories... but now it's off the Leipzig for a quiet night and then to meet up with Maggie and hit up Highfield music festival. FYI plus Berlin is a wicked hostel right by the East Side Gallery... highly recommend it!
Berlin- 14th to the 16th August 2011
- comments
Glenn Emslie Great you learnt a bit more about the history of Berlin only need to check your spelling now and all will be fine Cheers
Rhonda Glenn you so mean lol....