Hello everybody, we are still in Berlin. Yesterday we spent time later in the day attempting to make arrangements for staying with a host family in Potsdam, which is near Berlin. Today when we checked our email we had messages in reply - Yay! So tomorrow we will hopefully be staying with the local savages and learning their strange customs.

Tragedy struck us yesterday, and a casualty has occurred. Our trusty day bag, which has lasted all of 2 days, had to be put down yesterday evening. A quick eulogy was given by Eli, final farewells were said, and in the trash can it went. A seam had busted along the zipper, and it grew at an alarming rate. Too bad. Thankfully we were able to quickly replace the lost soldier with an equally trusty (one of the zippers has broken already) €6 bag. We sure know how to pick 'em.

On our desperate search for dinner last night (Eli was hungry), we found ourselves in a smoke-filled bar which incidentally didn't have food. It did have, however, giant hookahs that were being smoked by Burka-clad ladies. We're not exactly sure what was in them, we think just tobacco, but it smelled like it was scented with exotic stuff, but who knows. So we sat and had a beer, and Eli was still hungry afterwards.

We hope the jet lag has finally been defeated, thanks to sleeping 14 hours last night. I think we needed it. We will be staying one more night in our hotel (and cleaning our laundry in the sink), then its off to Potsdam via the fantastic S-Bahn (surface rail).

Til next time,

Jenni and Eli

P.S. Remember to order "stilles wasser" if you want non-carbonated water. Eli has trouble with this.

Hello everybody,

We have safely arrived in Berlin, our first stop. The flight was long and uncomfortable, but what else would you expect? We were really tired after the flight, but managed to walk a few blocks from our hotel and find a restaurant. We ate at an Italian restaurant, so we could at least read the menu, but we were unable to ask for the check or if we could pay with a credit card.

So far, of the people that we have talked to, surprisingly few are fluent in English. Lucky for us, Jenni knows German (or thought she did!). Today we used our phrase book to ask a lady at a gas station where we were on a map. It has been very exciting first couple of days.

Today we took the subway (U-Bahn) into the heart of Berlin and visited the Brandenburg gate, the Reichstag, and a Jewish Memorial-Museum.  Pictures of everything will be posted when we get back to the states - we don´t have a way to transfer them to the computer here. We shopped in the mall and attempted to buy a pre-paid phone, but weren´t sure we would be able to add more minutes with our limited German. We are going to try and get a phone card instead.

The room at our hotel is super cute. It has two twin beds pushed together and isn´t much larger than the beds. We do have a private bathroom though, which we really like and probably won´t get to enjoy often.  The hotel has a nice breakfast, and the front desk people are very helpful.

We will stay in the hotel again tonight, and then are hoping to head southeast towards Prague tomorrow or Sunday. We will write again when we get to another internet cafe. Auf weidersehen and haben eine gute tag!

So, we land in the midst of a surprisingly green (to my mind) Berlin. There are three airports, with Brandenberg currently in the process of taking over the responsibilities of Tegel & today's arrival point, Schonefeld. All are linked by good public transport access, with typical German ruthless efficiency, or so I'm led to believe.

We transit an uninterested customs engagement (Danke!), collect the luggage swiftly and I'm off to find the train... I've no idea if it's going to be cheaper than a taxi or whatever but it's just turned 6pm and it seems the appropriate thing to do. It's a little walk but well signed and suddenly I'm confronted with the incomprehensibility of man versus machine in the great ticket purchase war. There's a sign for English and at first, I consider the one way journey and evaluating the merits / demerits of a weekend ticket at a later time... I can sense the frustration building of the person behind me but damn them to hell, I've just arrived. Finally, I settle on a weekend city tour card for €20.50, 72 hours, that'll do me and the zones look ok... Sometime tomorrow, it will dawn on me I was supposed to validate this thing but one of the great things about the Berlin mass transit system is there are no exit / entry barriers and that greatly speeds up the ease and facility of access / egress of all the station platforms.

I find a train and spend a blank minute examining the maze of S / U bahn train routes... Spandau line, that's what we want... I spend 10 mins sitting on an impressively clean train surrounded by my fellow Germans, of which there are four or five.

It's eleven stops to Alexanderplatz and the Park Inn Hotel, I think...

The wonderful thing about Berlin is that there is so much to see in so many different areas of the city. The history of the city stretches for hundreds of years and so many different things have occurred in that time that has shaped Berlin into what it is today. Fat Tire Bike Tours is a great way to see all of the high points in one afternoon. The tour normally takes about four and a half hours. Their base of operations is at the foot of the Berlin TV Tower, but the tour goes all the way out to the middle of the Tiergarten. I would love to spoil all the sights, but that's the joy of going. The guides they have do an excellent job of illustrating the history of each stop and are quite entertaining. It's not a typical type of tour with facts thrown at you, the guides have taken the time to spice up their presentation with humor and wit. I really recommend this tour to anyone visiting Berlin, whether you're there for a day or a week, this is the best way to figure out what you want to see more on the rest of your visit. All though it is a little on the expensive side, you can sacrifice and eat a Döner for dinner (about € 2,00).

We came across an advertisment for Fat Tire Bike Tours and quickly decided that this tour would be Ideal for our 1 day in Berlin!

The tour meets at Alexnader Platz - 11am.  The interesting part of this trek was that we had to find our way from South Berlin from our accomodation, into town via the S-bahn with our bikes and then find and bike to Alexander Platz!  Obviously we don't know the area and being on a bike makes it even more interesting!  We are under a little time pressure, pull out the map, discuss our route, and navigate once again! Somehow we managed successfully to find our meeting point in the alloted time frame! 

The tour was exceptional! The guide narrated Berlin's history incredibly and weaved images of the past into your imagination!  We learned about the rebuilding of Berlin, saw remaining parts of the original wall, old watch towers,  Museum Island,  Brandenburg Gate, and so much more! We stopped for lunch at a lovely Beer Garden and it was here where I was introduced to Radlers! A radler is half beer and half sprite! It was discovered by bikers, a very refreshing drink! 

After the tour we found a quaint little beach bar besides the Spree River.  We found a few beach seats, ordered drinks and enjoyed our beach view!  Our stomachs began to rumble and Tom decided that we should find a sushi restaurant! We have this funny goal, where we have to eat sushi in every city we visit, every country we visit..... 
     So we took off again on our bikes to investigate the area.  We came across an attractive area quickly and began seeing numerous restaurants.  The Sushi sign glistened in the distance and soon after we were enjoying a rather cheap, delicious sushi dinner!

We only had 1 day to unearth the pleasures of Berlin but plan on returning another day!

Our GPS took us thru the town in the mids to traffic hour! But the advantage of this was that we were able to drive slowly thru this Urban-ness and begin taking in the animations of the Modern Berlin!

 I began seeing sites that I wanted to return to but how was I going to find them and remember them?? Snapped a few shots out the window as we cruised along! The buzz of the city saturates thru your senses and one becomes quickly absorbed in the metropolis labyrinth!  This city has a remarkable enchantness surrounding it!  One begins to think about the history that arose during the generations.....

Today is entirely centered around driving! We must find our room, get settled and investigate the area!

vanuit lapland ben ik met de bus en trein naar turku gegaan de oudste en op 1 na grootste stad van  finland. wat een leuke stad is maar niet bizonder van uit hier ben ik weer naar helsinki gegaan waar ik nog een paar dagen heb door gebracht. vanuit hier heb ik de ferry naar stockholm  gepakt . 17 uur later kwam ik aan in stockholm  ik was niet van plan om hier te blijven maar het was de goedkopste weg naar kopenhagen. na mijn zusje geveliesieteert te hebben met haar verjaardag, ben ik in de trein naar kopenhagen gestapt. dit moest een hogesnelheids trein voor stellen, op zich ging de trein redelijk snel dit klopte dus, maar de trein zelf was erg knaken het leek wel een slecht in elkaar gezetten ikea meubelstuk, en zo zag het er ook uit van binnen. 5 uur later kwam ik doof en helemaal door elkaar geschut in kopenhagen aan. waar ik een paar dagen me prima vermaakt heb. om vervolgens naar hamburg te gaan waar ik me ook prima heb vermaakt ik hat een 6 pers. kamer helemaal voor me zelf wat al lang niet meer voor gekomen was een keer alleen slapen zonder snurkende mensen om je heen of mensen die, voor een totaal onbekende reden, om 2 uur s'ochtends een kwartier lang met plastic tassen aan het spelen zijn. gelukkig had ik nu 3 dagen rust. je kan het zien als een vakantie van het reizen.
na weer helemaal bij geslapen te zijn ben ik naar berlijn geweest waar ik erik weer ontmoet heb. en we samen weer verder gaan reizen voor de laatste paar weken in europa.
berlijn is een erg gaafe stad met een grote mix tussen oud en nieuw en het meest belangrijke erg goedkope kabap's en voor erik falafal. op het moment zitten we in warschau wat ook een zeer mooie stad is waar meer te doen dan ik verwacht had. het eten is wel vrij duur hier.
wat we hier na gaan doen weten we nog niet pressies.

Na een te gekke tijd in Rusland was het dan toch weer tijd om dichterbij huis te komen. Ik pakte het vliegtuig en kon wonder boven wonder Rusland zonder problemen verlaten. Eenmaal in Berlijn merk je dat je dichterbij huis bent gekomen. Je verstaat de taal weer, je kan met de mensen communiceren, maar boven alles, je hoeft de wisselkoers niet elke keer in gedachten te houden!

Na enige instructies te hebben gekregen van David pakte ik de bus, tram en trein om in het hostel te komen. Het was een leuk weerzien met David. Na een ruime maand alleen te hebben gereisd is het toch wel weer lekker om de verhalen zo uit te wisselen. De reis door Berlijn was erg gaaf. Het is een mooie stad en erg rustig en gemoedeijk. Misschien komt dit wel doordat ik in behoorlijk wat chaotische landen ben geweest. Volle dagen hebben we besteed om de stad te zien. Zo zie je dan ook de beroemde gebouwen als het Bundestag (parlementshuis), de beroemde muur die nog gedeeltelijk overeind staat en de plaats waar Hitler's bunker was. Al met al indrukwekkende plaatsen om rond te lopen. Ondanks het slechte weer hebben we ons prima vermaakt in deze mooie en vrij goedkope stad. We wouden ook in een soort luchtballon die op een hoogte van 150m boven de stad hangt, Helaas gooide het slechte weer roet in het eten, het zou te hard waaien daarboven, Schade!!

De 18e pakten we de trein naar Polen. Hier aangekomen (na 7 uur) zochten we het hostel op. Het hostel bevond zich in het oude centrum van Warschau. Dit is een super mooi gebied. De gebouwen zijn nagemaakt naar het idee van voor de oorlog, toen de gebouwen nog niet waren platgebombardeerd. Mooie pleinen met gezellige terrassen en een goede sfeer. In de 3 volle dagen dat wij hier hebben verbleven heb ik mijn ogen uitgekeken en genoten van de mooie stad. De stad is met zijn vele parken, mooie gebouwen, rivier en terrassen een gezellig gebeuren. Ook hebben we een soort parade gezien waarbij soldaten met veteranen kransen legden bij een monument.

Morgen vertrekken we naar Krakau. Naar het schijnt is dit nog een veel mooiere stad. Een goed vooruitzicht, Nog 2 weekjes te gaan voordat ik weer terug keer in Nederland. Vele avontuiren rijker!

Groetjes vanuit Polen

One of my favorite memories of living in Berlin will forever be the chaos that erupted after the German team beat Turkey to earn a place in the final match of the Euro Cup versus Spain.  

Let me first start by explaining that for the three or four weeks of the World Cup, soccer runs the lives of all.  I had kids show up to school exhausted because they had been up the past five nights watching both the 6pm and 8pm games.  It came to run my life as well.

On the evening of German games people line the sidewalks sitting at their favorite cafes to watch the game amongst friends.  Everyone with painted faces and flags huddle around the big screen TV’s and watch in baited breath.  The excitement is electric and cheering never stops.  

At the conclusion of the German/Turkey game everyone went nuts (in a non-violent happy sort of way).  The street traffic came to a dead stop.  People were lighting fireworks, waving flags, honking their car horns and just plain old screaming.  The celebration went on into the wee hours of the morning.  

The police pulled up with their riot ger on which freaked me out but they just joined in the celebration.  They were even posing for pictures.

It was cool!

A few selected photographs of Berlin, Germany during Christmas season.
Photos show two sides: rather regular downtown West Berlin scenes and on the contrary shots from a suburb of Berlin.
Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I woke up at about 1.00 at night. Drank coffe in order to not fall asleep while driving and off i go! At first i was not sure if my new wheel was done right so i drove carefully, but then - since was all at its best - i drove over the border to the airport - making only one stop for breakfast somewhere in Germany - when it started getting bright. It was quite nice sun rise.
In Berlin i parked my car not at the long term parking (cuz i overpaid it last time - 80euro for only 4 days!!!!!) but just on the street parking at the S-Bahn station (the last before airport station called Grünbergallee - which is the name of my home city!!! ahhahaha what a luck!). I rode this one station to airport and took of due south.

Comes with a price, but I would definitely stay here again in order to be close to all of the amazing sights in Berlin. One of the better Marriott's I've visited anywhere in Europe and I highly recommend it for singles as well as families. I stayed there over New Years this past year and it exceeded all of my expectations.

Hmm... must have been fallen asleep in that night train, in spite of those girls who were having loud fun at the alley....

My sister who was awake as well, told me the time. Both of us had no idea where we were, but putting on my glasses and looking outside learned us we were standing at Hannover Hbf.
After a while we went on, and we fell asleep again. I wanted to see something of Berlin, but woke up too late for the city, only saw the railwaystation of the airport, which is called Berlin Schönefeld. Not much to see there.

Hotel Otto is a kind of hotel you would like to recommend to your close friends without any risk – you won’t be feeling ashamed. Excellent breakfasts, modern furniture, WiFi in the rooms, friendly stuff – it all will make you feel the real modern comfort. If you arrive to Tegel airport and don’t want to spend too much for a taxi ride, you can take a bus X9 and get off at Ernst-Reuter-Platz or Steinplatz and then walk just for a couple of minutes until you reach the hotel. If you arrive to Schoenefeld airport, I presume it makes sense to go by S-Bahn to Savignyplatz station which is also within 5-7 min walk from the hotel. The district is, from my point of view, one of the most pleasant neighborhoods in the western part of the city. Knesebeckstrasse and adjacent streets offer the wide variety of restaurants – from Greek to Spanish – which serve excellent food.

Berlin offers 2 Aletto-hostels: Aletto Kreuzberg + Aletto Schöneberg Aletto Kreuzberg is located in the centre of Berlin. Aletto Schöneberg is loacated in the west-centre of the city, near the Kurfürstendamm. At both hostels there is a subway station around. The hostels are open 24 hours and provide internet-lounges, table football, games, bar with drinks and snacks. The rooms are really nice and clean and includes: TV, bathroom with shower + toilet, radio, alarm clock. Rooms: Aletto Kreuzberg: single rooms - 35 € - 55 € per room double rooms - 39 € - 75 € per room 4-bed-rooms - 64 € - 116 € per room 5-bed-rooms - 75 € - 140 € per room 6-bed-rooms - 90 € - 156 € per room 7-bed-rooms ... 8-bed-rooms ... (ask @ reception) including breakfast-buffet! Aletto Schöneberg: single rooms - 35 € - 55 € per room double rooms - 39 € - 75 € per room 3-bed-room - 51 € - 90 € per room 6-bed-room - 90 € - 156 € per room including breakfast-buffet! I stayed @ Aletto-hostel-Kreuzberg in march 2005 and I really enjoyed my time in Berlin and in this hostel.