The Lions Den....

As the train arrived into Berlin HBF we couldnt have been more relieved to be there. This was an exciting destination as it was the only stop on our adventure that hadnt been predetermined. Once we realized how expensive Switzerland was we dropped Zurich and added Berlin.

Our hostel was located in the artistic part of east Berlin. As we wondered the streets looking for the Lettem Sleep 7 we couldnt stop thinking about how nice it was to finally see the sun. We arrived to a very friendly staff and quickly met our roommates as usual. At this point we had made the transformation to seasonsed travel vets. Soon, we were in the typical conversation you have after arriving at every hostel ie where you are from, where you have been, what are your feelings of president Bush, etc. You know just the basic information when meeting new people. Let it be known Mallory could care less if i ever talk politics with another european again as she has heard it in 13 cities now. This go around our roommates were from Sweden, Finland, Austrailia, Japan,and finally South Carolina.

The question of the night for us usually starts with so what do you feel like eating.... After 5 foreign countries you would of thought we would figure this out. We had oven baked pizza, the flavors were western and BBQ chicken. A meal for the ages to say the least. Prior to going out our roommates had invited us to a local club called Watergate, having traveled all day we did our best to avoid having to go at all cost. The oven in the guest kitchen reluctantly wasnt working and the front desk attendant was nice enough to let Mal and I use one of the apartments. We dined on fine frozen pizza and a lovely bottle of white wine. For the first time in a long while we had nothing to listen to but ourselves, and it was nice.

The next morning we had planned on taking the free berlin tour. At this point in the trip Mal's cold had shifted to my cold, which wasnt going to put a damper in our adventure. We set out in hopes of making it to Brandenberg Gate by 1pm. We got lost, and we didnt just get a little lost, we got real lost. For the first time in more than 12 thousand miles traveling we didnt make it where we wanted to when we wanted to. Instead we took the free guided tour from Mike and Mal, we figured it worked well in the previous 11 cities who was going to teach us anything we didnt already know.

The tour started at the famous TV tower Berlin located at Alexander Platz. Next, we made our way over to Museum island. For any of you history buffs out there museum island is where all the famous Nazi rallies were held. We took in the ambience for a while trying to think of how much history this city had really seen. As usual our peaceful experience was ruined by gypsie beggers asking if we spoke english. Once again we replied in perfect english 'no we dont speak english' it always seems to do the trick. After the island we made our way to berlins version of the tomb of the unknown soldier as well as the University of Berlin. This portion of the tour ended at checkpoint charlie in front of the Brandenberg Gate. We took in the sights, the sounds, and the street performers for a good half hour. We made our way through the lobby of the Kennedy museum as well as the US embassy. The next stop was the Reichstag, German parliament, followed by the white crosses of the river spree. Finally, we made our way to the berlin wall memorial.

As two twenty somethings the berlin wall memorial might be the closest thing to history we could see. For hours we walked the length of whats left of the wall reading anything we could see. The tour ended and the night began as we arrived back at our hostel. the sweed invited us to see a side of Berlin we never would have without him. He took us to his favorite restaurant in Berlin, Babel. From the outside this place looked like just another kabab stand, but it had so much more to offer. We enjoyed an authentic Lebanese meal and another conversation about foreign diplomacy. After dinner the sweed bought us Berlin native beer and we communed in a park while the sun went down. We talked in length at what life must have been like 20 years before and together couldnt fathom the cities history.

Our final day in berlin took us to one of the more moving experiences of either of our lives, Sachsenhausen concentration camp. We spent close to 5 hours wondering through the exhibits and remnants of this historical place. For the first time in our trip we knew our day wasnt going to be a high one but something we should see. The memorial housed old barracks, the yard, memorials grave sites, the firing range, and whats left of the crematorium. We learned a lot and were very appreciative of the chance to see the memorial.

We headed back to the hostel and spent much of the night planning our trip to Heidelberg and updating the blog. Our room housed two snorers that might as well had been playing dueling banjos. Mal spent the evening flashing her light in their faces while I rolled around on the bottom bunk to the degree that mal could 'feel the anger rising to her bunk'.

As we left Berlin we thought back about how much we have seen, learned, and experienced in the last month and half and reflected on it all.

Things we learned in Berlin
1) the sweeds think they are gods children.
2) the Fins snor like bears
3) the U bahn means underground while the S bahn means surface
4) Curry-Snitzle really isnt that good
5) the Berlin metro is an honor system; buy one ticket for the whole trip if you're on a budget

Things we loved in Berlin
1) seeing the sun again
2) Babel
3) how Berlin is the center of European culture
4) remembering much of the history took place in our life times.
5) the soft beds.

much love,

m&m