Part Three: Berlin, Update One!

Greetings! Since my last post about Prague was so long I decided that it might be best to try and break them up a bit. Thus, I am writing a few days into my visit to Berlin where I arrived two days ago. Berlin has been really great so far!

I departed Prague via train on Wednesday. After Oz accompanied me to the station I paced the platform for a while nervously anticipating my first long European train ride. My travel anxiety had me fearing that I would somehow get on the wrong train and wind up out in the middle of some desolate, cold country. But alas, I boarded the correct train. I really liked the rid; I have always thoroughly enjoyed train rides save for the times Amtrak has failed miserably and left me arriving to my destination hours after the scheduled time. The train car was nice. I liked the little rooms with several seats. Unfortunately, when I got on, there was a woman sitting not only in my assigned cabin but in my very seat! Of course, it was the seat right next to the window with the forward facing view. It turned out not to be a very big deal and she got off about an hour later.

The train ride took about an four and a half hours. The scenery was beautiful and there was a light snow most of the ride which only added to my enjoyment. I arrived in Berlin at around 3:30 at the Hauptbahnhof station which has to be just about the craziest train station I've ever set foot in. First of all, it is huge. There are several floors lined with stores and eateries. The outside structure itself is really cool. It is all glass with sort of arched wings off of a central point.

In order to get to the hostel, I had to board a bus which was way easier thanks to a very nice woman who spotted me standing outside standing at my map and looking quite puzzled. She walked right up and asked if I needed help. Turned out that the bus I needed was the same one she was boarding! It was quite a stroke of luck. A few minutes later and I arrived at my hostel which is conveniently located about two minutes from the stop. The hostel is in the Mitte District right off of the Rosa-Luxemburg Platz. It is really conveniently located (as far as I can tell) and was quite a deal. It only cost 9 euros per night, with linens, breakfast, and wireless internet included. It has a fun bar and cheap, not bad food. More on the hostel in a bit.

So, when I arrived Wednesday, it was already getting dark and I was a bit tired from a late last night in Prague and the usual travel fatigue. I decided to set my stuff in my room and take a little time to relax. I went out for a walk about an hour later to clear my head and just wandered the streets a bit. It was a little disorienting to be exploring at night for the first time. I have a hard time remembering street names since I can't quite pronounce them very well. Also, the names seem to change whenever a big intersection occurs which can be a little confusing. Atleast for me. A little while later I returned to the hostel and decided to turn in early in order to go at the city early next morning (and not miss breakfast!)

Sleeping was a bit rough. There is this one man in the dorm of about 10 people who has a snore that sort of makes me worry about his health but mostly just annoys me. I guess the beefit will be that by the end of hosteling around I will be able to sleep through just about anything. The next day I decided to just wander around and see the sights. I have found that it is best for me to get comfortabe in a new city by just walking around and trying to figure out where I am ever once in a while. Luckily, the weather was beautiful and it stayed sunny the entire day! More sun that I have seen since my trip started. I walked across to the museum island, where I hope to go later in my stay, and towards the Brandenburg gate.

After that, I walked past the Reichstagg and then spent a lot of time wandering around the Tiergarten which is a very large park. There are a bunch of different statues and monuments which were fun to see. I walked to the Siegessaule, a tall tower, monument at an interesction in the park. In order to get to it, you have to walk through tunnels under the road. I had intended on just looking and going on my way; it costs 2 euro to go to the top. But, then I realized that if I bought a ticket I could go all the way to the top not just to the little deck which was only about 10 feet off the ground! I really couldn't pass it up no matter how touristy people may consider it. In the bottom there was sort of a lame museum about monuments throughout Europe so I went straight up. Around the bottom part there was a really beautiful mosaic. Then, I continued up... and up... and up! Roughly 280 steps later I reached the top. The view was gorgeous and I was glad I decided to do it despite the fact that I had the same feeling I do everytime I climb anything like that: I remember that I am pretty afraid of heights.

I returned to the bottom and walked through the park some more until I emerged back near the Brandenburg gate. After that I went over to the Holocaust memorial. Beneath the memorial they have a museum (I dont think that is quite the appropriate word but I don't know what else to call it). It had diary accounts and family and personal stories. It was really intense and really powerful. I continued my walking and wandered a bit (I'm not quite sure where) until I found the river again and then walked along it and looked at the boats as the sun set. Quite nice.

(Sidenote: I think I may have a problem. Writing during the visit might not mean shorter entries but rather ones of the same length that just have more details. Oh well, feel free to stop anytime!)

At dusk I came back to the hostel to regroup. I had been a little worried about the size of the hostel (it is quite large) and the possibility of meeting people in it. Despite the fact that people call this the "slow season" the hostel is packed. It has he usual crowds of very loud, very drunk young people but also a good mix of others. My fears were quickly dismissed when I met my first fellow traveler! I was so excited, you have no idea. I had made it a goal to try and meet people along the way but was worried about how to go about it and how it might happen. But, now I am feeling much better about it.

The first person I met was Charlie. He is from London, where he is taking a year off from University and working a bit and taking trips when he has the money. We met for a beer in the bar and then played a few games of pool. Pool was quite funny. One game we played against these two people, a man and a woman, from Amsterdam. They were very funny and traveling with another man, which made the relationship between the three of them a little hard to figure out and quite curious. The pool was a little tough, Charlie and I won, due to the fact that the pool cue was missing the tip. As one of the men from Amsterdam said, "It is imposhible to play pool with no tip on your schtick" (That is my best aproximation of how his accent sounded. Use your imagination).

A bit later, I was taking the elevator up to put a few things in my room and I met another person! Her name is Annabelle and she is here for a few days traveling with her boyfriend Courtney. She is from Paris and he from Melbourne, and they both sudy in London. She asked me if I would like to join the two of them for a drink out at a bar later on. Of course I did! I invited Charlie along. On the street this guy stopped us and asked if we spoke English. He then asked if he could tag along with us. He also turned out to be from London. His name was Michael. We had a good talk with him at this funky little bar. I know these details may be mundane but it was super exciting to be meeting travelers. Though, I must say, it was a bit harsh being the only American. We talked politics a bit, and though I agreed with a lot fo what they said, thr attitude was a little negative. Courtney even said, with full confidence, that he believes that, "every problem Americans think they have is in their heads." Not sure I fuly agree with that.

We turned in for the night and then met u at brekfast after which we set off to check out the East Berlin Gallery, a long section of the Berlin wall covered in graffitti and paintings. We split up after that and I headed off on my own to explore East Berlin a bit. I had a great time just looking at the graffitti on and paintings on the buildings. I also spent some time in this large park called Volkspark Friedrichschain. It was very large with some hills in it that overlooked the city. But, it was getting cloudy and cold so I headed back to write a bit and relax.

Woops. Looks like this turned out pretty long after all. But I have so much to say! Berlin is so exciting so far! I feel good about how positively my first solo experience in going! I look forward to hopefully going out a bit tonight and meeting even more people. And I am very excited for more walking and exploring and checking out some museums. I hope to go to some markets tomorrow.

Hello and best wishes to everyone!