Berlin-Day

Berlin, has to be one of the coolest cities in Europe (in my vast knowledge and all).  It is a cheap city, the cheapest in Germany we've been told.  Not to mention it is a blast.  We went to musuems, saw a football match (European, not american), went to flea markets, saw naked sun bathers, saw the Riechstag, the Berlin wall, ate CurryWurst and Fallafel, saw fire dancers, slept on the hardest mattress ever, mastered public transportation, tried to rent a bike only to find out all of them (in Berlin it seemed) were rented, slack lined, bargain shopped, and many, many other things.

The football match was a highlight for me, as it came with all the cheering and crazy fans.  The home team won and we were given free ticktes to sit in the family section of stadium.  The section was sponsered by a Duetsche bank and this man picked us out of the crowd and gave us two seats next to him cause he was not suppose to sell them.  They were 11 rows up from the field.  The game was at the olympic stadium.  The same one where Hitler attended the Olympics, pretty cool place.  The fans were the best part.  I got some great video of it and will post it later.

Oh, and to get to Berlin we took a 10 hour night train.  The train ride is only about 5 hours to get from Munich to Berlin, but this one traverses all over Germany to make it last the full 10 hours.  We were in a room with 6 Couchettes, or mini beds, three on one side, and three on the other in a space approx 8x8.  I thought there would be a dinning car or bar car we could hang out in, but no, there was just the one room for us.  Turns out the middle to beds fold down to make seats, but we didn't figure that out until the next morning, and we had some randoms in the room that didn't speak english.  Crazy night sleep bumping around and shaking with the train.  Eliz and I had the top bunk.  Fun, but not the most comfortable way to travel.

Right now we are on the train, 1st class.  When we first traveled from Prague to Munich, we sat in 2nd class and didn't know any better.  But let me tell you 1st calls is better than all the connotations it alludes to.  We are lucky enough to have our own room with a table and seats that fold down a just a few steps from the dinning car.  This will make the 6 hour ride more bearable.  Pictures from out time will follow.