We headed to the train station to catch a 5:03pm train to Berlin. Martin and Emiliano drove to Berlin which
took about two hours longer than the train. After a smooth train ride, we arrived in Berlin around 7:30pm.
Since Martin was still on the road, we decided to go out and look for something to eat. Via cell phone,
Martin told us to meet him at the T.V tower, also known as the needle at Alexander Platz [1]. It was a bit of a
walk, but we had some leftover potato chips to fuel us. Martin and Emiliano went to a friend's house,
Frauke. Frauke was to be our host for the next three nights. Martin, Emiliano, and Frauke showed up at
Alexander Platz around 9 or 10pm.
Although it was already dark, we set out to see a few buildings. We passed the Insel museums (National
Museums). It was closed already, but the old architecture was very interesting. We sat at a restaurant
called Dante and had one beer. The restaurant was kind of touristy, so we instructed Frauke to take us to
some more local bars. After walking for a while, we stopped at a bar called 8mm [2]. On the wall, the movie
Lolita was playing. Gardo narrated what was happening throughout the movie. It was definitely a really
cool bar. We were a little out of place carrying our huge backpacks, but no one seemed to mind. After a
few beers, Frauke took us to another bar based upon a recommendation from a girl she was speaking with
in the bar. Everyone was dancing at this place and we soon realized it was mostly a gay bar. These bars
were in a neighborhood called Prenzlaur Berg [3]. We had a couple more beers and then walked home. It
was a good first night in Berlin.
The next morning, I woke up with a really bad hangover. It was the worst of the trip except for our last day
in Spain. We had some bread, cheese, and coffee to start the day. Martin and Frauke would then lead us
on our biggest sightseeing day of the trip so far. This would also be the day that we walked the most. This
would be difficult with my hangover. The first stop was Potsdamer Platz. There we pieces of the old Berlin
Wall [4]. This was quite intriguing because it represented one of the most historical events to happen in
my lifetime. After taking some pictures, we headed to the top of a building to see a view of Berlin [5]. The
top of the building was called Panorama. We were all a bit hungry by this time and stopped at an Italian
restaurant for some food. Martin ordered some beer for us with either green or red soda mixed in with it
[6]. It was a surprising combination that tasted good.
After, we walked over to the Holocaust memorial [7, 8]. It was a cool place to walk around, but there was
nothing written on the memorial to say how it represented such a gruesome point in history. Underneath
the memorial was a museum, but we weren't going to stay for that. I guess you have to pay a fee to learn
about the memorial which really sucks. It was a cool memorial, but its shape was very alluring for kids to
run around in. We even got swept up in the excitement of being in all the narrow hallways. It was very
distracting as you tried to reflect on all the killing that took place.
We then walked down the street to see the Branden Burger Tower [9]. This was a huge gate in between
East and West Berlin. After that, we walked over to Reichstag [10]. I believe this was the Parliament
building of the old unified Germany that they are again using as a government building and tourist
attraction. There was a large piece of grass in front of it, so we all stopped for a little rest. I took the
opportunity to take a nap and it did wonders for my hangover. I felt like a new man. We then walked
through Animal Park and saw a Russian memorial with a couple tanks on display [11]. We then saw a
statue of an angel that was in the middle of the park [12]. My feet were getting really tired by this point, but
the sightseeing trip still had a couple more stops. Next, we walked to an old Presidential Castle that was
currently under construction. It was a really big building, but not what I typically think of as a castle. I'm
not really sure why we went to see it. Maybe I was just too tired to get excited.
Our sightseeing trip was now over, so we started to walk along the river to the nearest train station. It was
starting to rain now, but not too bad. On the way, we passed a sandcastle building display called
Sandstation [13]. It cost 3 euros to get in, but there were enough holes in the fence to peek inside. The
train station we finally arrived at was a huge construction site. I later learned that this station was being
built up to bring together the major east-west and north-south train crossings in Berlin. They are building
hotels, restaurants, and shops. The surrounding area is a bit desolate, so it will be interesting to see what
else gets built there.
After getting on the train, Frauke led us to an Indian restaurant that turned out to be really good. Here, we
met up with some of Martin's friends: three Chilean guys, two of whom were named Nicolas and a Chilean
girl. We went to a bar nicknamed the DK bar. DK is short for the German word for attic. This place was
hot and smokey and the only beer they served was Heineken in a bottle. We left this place for some more
beer-friendly bars. Frauke and Gardo were feeling tired and headed home. The rest of us sought out to
find another bar and ended up in a place called Habermeyer [14]. It was also hot and smokey, but it
seemed like all the bars were like that. We had about three beers before we called it a night. While we were
there, there was a pregnant lady sitting in the smoke-filled bar. It was an interesting and disturbing site.
We said goodbye to the Chileans and headed out. It was raining pretty hard, so we took taxis home. It
was a long day. The next day would be a lot less ambitious.
We woke up about 1pm. Martin had to drive Emiliano to Colon for his plane flight, so we said goodbye to
them. Rey, Gardo, and I needed to do some laundry, so Fruake walked us two blocks down to a
laundromat called 4 Elements. This place was awesome. It was a nice bar and restaurant connected to a
laundromat. While our wash was going, we ate and had a beer. I was hungry enough to eat two pizzas.
For laundry being an annoying responsibility, this place made it relatively painless. We had talked about
going to Checkpoint Charlie and the adjoining museum. However, it seemed like it was going to take a few
hours and it was already 6pm. Frauke was having a birthday party for herself and we wanted to be back
around 9 or 10pm. We opted to go play with Frauke's Aerobie in a big park near her house [15]. On the
way, we bought Frauke a plant and some chocolate as a thank you gift. We got back to Frauke's around
9:30pm and the party was in full swing [16]. At the height of the party, there were probably around 60 or 70
people in her small two bedroom place. It was really cramped, but a really fun party. Frauke also put her
beer in the bathtub. We stayed up until about 4am. Simone had attended a wedding near Berlin and took
a train to join the party. It was good seeing her again.
We woke around 12 noon and started to clean Frauke's apartment [17]. It feels good being able to do
something for your host. We headed back to the park to sit outside with some coffee [18]. It was getting
close to when our train to Amsterdam was leaving, so we said goodbye to Frauke and Simone and hopped
into a taxi. For not knowing Frauke and Simone very long, we all felt very comfortable around them. They
were like old friends. We are now on a train to Amsterdam. It will be weird to be in a place where marijuana
is legal.
