Day 4: Berlin
Today has been a long day, the majority of which spent on a train travelling across Germany.
Once again I had another early start this morning, my first (of two) trains left Luxembourg just after 8 and took me to Koln. From there I had a swift change to a high speed train that would take me to Berlin. Both journeys were spent reading and listening to music. After 8 hours of travelling I finally made it to Berlin (at about 4pm). Thanks to google maps I knew that my hostel (the first privately owned one I have stated in in this trip) was not far from the station, so I made the journey on foot. Berlin is quite an easy city to navigate so I got to the hostel within about 5 minutes. I checked in and headed up to my room (an 8 bed mixed dorm). As I had spent most of the day in a train and I only have just over a day in the city I didn't want I waste any time in my room. I headed back to reception and got directions to a local pub where I could sample some traditional German food. The pub was very close to the hostel and when I went inside I found myself being served by an English landlord (not quite what I was expecting considering I was in Germany). On my English friend's advice I ordered schnitzel and a German draft beer (I couldn't not have a beer in Germany). Of all the food I have tried so far schnitzel is by far my favourite (probably because it's the least healthy). After a very filling lunch I thought I'd try to get a little sightseeing in before I finished for the night, so I headed over to the Bradenburg gate. Here I met a very nice guy dressed in an officers uniform who (for 2€) stamped my passport with all the stamps from the time of the cold war and gave me a visa (with his email address) so I could enter the country. After I was "officially" granted entry I made my way to the holocaust memorial. The memorial is made up of about a hundred (probably more) concreted blocks of different heights that make up 13 passageways that you can walk through. Like most historical sights in Berlin this was very harrowing. After walking through the memorial for a while I went to the Reichstag (capital building). By now it was about 7pm so I made my way back to the hostel.
When I got back to my room I was greeted by 4 Canadian girls who were travelling around north Europe. After talking for a while they invited me to go for a drink and to see the Berlin wall memorial. The memorial was really interesting, especially seeing it at night. Unfortunately the weather turned against us after a bit and we had to make our way back to the hostel. We ended up hanging out in the bar (hence the cover photo) for a bit, playing pool and chatting.
So that about wraps up my first night in Berlin, a few sights seen and some new friends made. Tomorrow is another full day of sightseeing. So on that note its once again time for bed. More tomorrow.
Watch this space.
Lois x