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Hello! It is our last evening in Berlin as we are leaving for Cracow (Poland for those of you that don't know!!!) this evening...another sleeper train!
So, we got the sleeper train to Berlin on Sunday evening. It wasn't quite as we had hoped for...6 of us crammed into a room the size of a public toilet, with triple bunks. As me and Zoe were so slow finding the carriage, we had to sleep right at the top. Good job we're not scared of heights! However, other then the horrifically snoring man, it was far better than having to sit in an uncomfortable seat for 9 hours. They were proper little beds with sheets and pillows. We actually got a fair amount of sleep.
We arrived in Berlin at 8.00am and got a taxi to our hostel. We were told it would take atleast 30 minutes to walk there, and there was absolutley no way I was lugging my rucksack that distance. The taxi driver was CRAZY!! He looked like a tramp with long gray greasy hair, and he proceeded to give us the tour of Berlin with a commentary of everything we were seeing! The hostel was really lovely, and they gave us free breakfast when we arived (this will be a running theme of Berlin!). We then dumped our bags and joined a FREE tour of Berlin. This involved us walking around most of Berlin for 4 hours, but we did see everything of importance. We shall list them for you here:
- Brandenburg Gate
- Berlin Wall (remains of!)
- Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe
- Hitlers Bunker (actually a sign to say that it had been there...it was destroyed)
- SS and Gestapo Headquarters
- Checkpoint Charlie
- A very expensive chocolate shop!
- The book burning square memorial
- Holocaust memorial
- Berlin Cathedral
To be fair though, these were all seen very quickly, but our tour guide was brilliant, and he gave us a very detailed series of Berlin history events!!! However, after 4 hours we were exhausted having had 5 or so hours sleep on the train. Once the tour had ended and the guide was after tips, we crept away quickly and made our way to the Pergamonmuseum. Here we saw lots! The Pergamon altar (a white stone HUGE room with steps in and carvings of Greek Gods, namely Zeus and Athena...very famous!!!) and the Ishtar Gate from Babylon (or as Zoe likes to call it, the big blue room...cultured!!!), built by Nebuchadnezzar II! It was amazing, and we took lots of photos that we shall share with you later. It was also great fun listening to our audio guide Jonathon!!!!!!
After the culture of the museum, we headed towards the television mast, the second tallest structire in Europe (the first is in Cracow so we shall be seeing it shortly)!!!! We got a lift to the top and spent a while enjoying the birdseye views of Berlin (the only time Berlin will ever look attractive!) After this we decided that our feet were killing and we probably smelt having not been able to shower for over 24 hours!!!! We headed back to the hostel, where we had traditional German fare of burger (Zoe) and pasta bolognaise (Becca)! It was then time to shower and sleep!!! The nights sleep would have been great had we not been woken up in the middle of the night due to the hostel providing Zoe with a bed that someone was already meant to be sleeping in. That person then returned, and got a slight surprse when he found Zoe asleep in his bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was relocated!!!!!
The next day we went to the Berlin Cathedral. At only €3 to get in it was a bargain. The altar was prety impressive being all gold with a LOT of stained glass and mosaics. However, Zoe liked to think that the whole cathedral had a "homely feel"!! We then climbed to the top of ther cathedral dome and admired the aerial views of Berlin again.
After a quick sunbathe on the grass outside, we headed to the Brandenburg Gate again, stopping at some shops on the way, to buy traffic light memorabilia. It will all be explained when we return!! At the gate we got icecream and a free balloon saying "Ich bin ein Berliner". As it was JFK's 90th birthday we got into the Kennedy museum for FREE and even better than that, we got FREE champagne! Woohoo!! The museum was actually really interesting, and we feel that we learnt a lot about the Kennedys. Whilst inside, there was a collossal thunder storm, which we managed to avoid. When we left the museum, the sun was shining again, and we made our way to the Reichstag (government building). On route we stopped to take a picture of our feet standing where the wall once stood! Pictures were also taken at the Reichstag, and I lost my camera case. However disaster was averted when I spotted some Germans trying to steal it off the floor where I had dropped it. Cheeky Germans, how dare they try and steal my pink fluffy sock!!!
We then returned to the murdered Jews memorial, where we lovingly released our white balloons! We then entered the FREE exhibition, which gave a personal account by some Jews of the holocaust.
Having spent another LONG but relatively FREE day walking round Berlin, our feet were again hurting, so we decided that it would be nice to get taken back to our hostel in a bike taxi! However, they were trying to charge silly amounts, so we started to walk back thinking that we would come across another taxi that would give us a cheaper price. Oh no!!! 4km later we arrive at the hostel dying inside!! We enjoyed another slap up German dinner of burger (Zoe) and pasta (Becca), and then went to bed, for an uninterrupted nights sleep!!!!!
Today was the most cultural day of all. Following a yummy FREE breakfast we headed off again to...Berlin Zoo!!! This is one of the oldest zoos in Europe and was recently featured on GMTV, due to it's fascinating histoy. During WW2, all but 91 of the animals were killed in a bomb raid. Sad but true. It's been a great day seeing:
- alpacas
- llamas
- monkeys
- elephants
- giraffes
- ostriches
- sea creatures
- polar bears
- hippos
- rhinos
- big cats etc etc etc
It was another long day with lots of walking, but we are now back at the hostel, all packed and ready for our train journey to Cracow. This time we are in a 3 bed carriage, so fingers crossed for a more "Some Like it Hot" experience!!!
Hope everyone is missing us still. We're having a great time being all cultural!!!
Lots of love
Zoe and Rebecca
xxx
Ps. Excuse the photo that is showing. The website makes us have one, and there are none of Germany! Racist computer!!!!
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