Berlin

Berlin is a big city, but it is almost empty so there isn't all the hustle and bustle typical of big cities. Berlin's unusually large sidewalks are never crowded, and the huge streets seemed deserted. I've never been to London, but I was told that Berlin is a smidge smaller than London in terms of land, but it has half the population.

My friend Elizabeth arrived safely Monday night and we set out in search of a hostel straight away. We got a little lost and had a taste for how spread out Berlin is. Fortunately the first hostel we came to had space for us and we were lucky enough to get a private room. The hostel was clean, quite, and safe. Their were also large tasty beers for one euro. After checkin we ate at a Turkish influenced cafe and hit the pillow early.

Tuesday we got an early start and headed over to the Reichstags building. The gigantic spiraling glass dome was amazing! It was such a neat view! I would like to come back again on a clear day. After studying the curves and reflections of the dome we warmed up with a coffee at the cafe in the top of the dome. The nice thing about chilly weather is that the dome and cafe weren't crowded. The cafe was charming with a red tulip on every table.

After the Reichstag we meandered over to the memorial to the Politicians who stood up to Hitler and then over to the Brandenberg gate where we meditated in the room of silence. Then we explored the Murderd Jews of Europe memorial. I'm generally not a fan of memorials, but this one was alright. It is a forest of stones designed to look like caskets which come in various sizes. All the stones are in rows but the elevation varies and they lean slightly. The overall effect was a little dissorienting. Also, the stones were treated with an anti-graffiti chemical that has the dual affect of making the stones look like they are crying when it rains.

Later we had lunch, and joined a fantastic walking tour. After the walking tour we spent some time at the Check Point Charlie museum, had some diner, and tucked in early.

Today, (Wednesday) Elizabeth and I had the good fortune of seeing some Australians from our walking tour at the cafe where we ate breakfast. So we all had breakfast together, and enjoyed some good conversations. Then Elizabeth and I spent most of the day walking arround. Berlin has some really neat buildings, and graffiti. We walked from East Berlin, to the Bauhaus in West Berlin. I wasn't planning on going to the Bauhaus, but I REALLY enjoyed it. Previously I had no idea the effect that Bauhaus had on modern furniture, architecture, and art. Kandinsky taught at the Bauhaus too:):):).

After the Bauhaus Elizabeth had to catch her plane back to Frankfurt, and I set out to find a new hostel deep in the West of Berlin. West Berlin, has much less graffiti and charm than East Berlin, but I like it. I chose to change hotels, because I wanted to get a different experience and see more of this giganic city. I checked into my hostel, and then set out immediately. It is clear that this hostel experience will be different. I have a twin bed in a co-ed room full of I don't know how many bunk beds. This is how I imagined hostels. I'll report back later.

After checking into the hostel I caught a bus and then a train back to the East where I investigated the Egyptian museum. I went to the Egyptian museum because my little sister has a fascination with ancient Egyptian culture. Needless to say I thought about her quite a bit while I was exploring.

After the Egyptian Museum I had time to visit the Jewish Museum, but it was neither close to the trainstation nor the Egypitian museum. Since I didn't have the energy to get to two different corners of the city I chose to walk straight to the trainstation which took nearly two hours. Although my walk did involve getting a tea and getting lost. Now I'm in the internet cafe at the trainstation. I accidently bought to much time on Monday, and I know I won't have time to use it tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am going to another part of West Germany to check out an art museum that I'm super excited about. Their is another neat museum in that area too. At about 2pm I am going to start trecking over to the airport. I suspect it will take about two hours with public transit to get to the Berlin airport from the museums I want to see.

This time Tomorrow my friend Ursula and I will fly from Frankfurt to Stockholm. We get in at about 11:30pm, and from what I understand the airport in Stockholm is far from any place interesting. We are planning to sleep in the airport tomorrow night and then we will catch a train into the city. It looks like we will be staying in a hostel Friday night.