Ich bin ein Berliner

Communications tower
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We arrived at Berlin, and the first stop was Joe's Beer house. We were served to some hearty German food - I tried both the Bratwurst and Pork Schnitzel - and they were both lovely meals. And on top of that we tried a large stein full of German ale to wash it down with. And then we checked into the hostel - "The Generator", and some of us decided to go out clubbing. Unfortunately the club we went to wasn't that great, and we turned around to do something called "sleep". Many of the guys on tour were averaging between 4 and 5 hours a night.

Bombed out church
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As usual the next morning started early, and some of us scraped ourselves out of bed. Graeme didn't quite make it. For those who did get up, it was well worthwhile. The tour of Berlin was awesome fun... the tour guide was knowledgeable and funny. Unlike some of the other tour guides, he was a pleasure to listen to. We started off taking turns sitting on Lenin's lap. Well, the statue of Lenin anyway... and we know... he is no Santa Claus. We then walked onto Mueseum island to look at some of the older buidings in Berlin. Most of Berlin is a modern industrialized city, so there weren't really that many old buildings around. It's one of the only 'beautiful' parts of the city that I saw. We next took a walk through a nearby underground station that had been tiled using red marble. Now, the German's aren't quite that wealthy that they can build their underground stations with those sorts of materials. The guide explained that the tiles actually came from Hitler's palace.

We started off taking turns sitting on Lenin's lap.

Arrrr! Beer!
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Next we visited one of the holocost memorials -  a series of concrete blocks at different sizes that soon become disorientating when you get into them far enough. The idea behind the blocks were that at first the German people didn't see what they were getting themselves into when they elected Hitler's regime, but they soon found themselves powerless to do anything about it.

Next stop was some fairly ordinary looking houses in the former part of East Germany. It was actually the former site of Hitler's palace. It was so large that a wing was about a kilometre long. It was filled with oversized furniture - all to a scale designed to intimidate any visitors he may have there. After the war was over and the Russians took over this quarter of Berlin, what symbol would be more appropriate for Communism then having "state" houses build where the palace once stood for their workers? Behind the houses was a blank piece of lawn. The guide explained that Hitler's bunker used to be under that lawn (it was destroyed by the Russians), and he retold the last few hours of Hitler's life, as well as some interesting conspiracy theories.

Holocost memorial
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The guide showed us part of the old Berlin wall, and told us about some of the escape attempts there - including a family who used a flying fox to pass over teh wall without being seen. And the last stop on the tour was Checkpoint Charlie - the most famous of the checkpoints between the old east and west. It had obviously been done up to capture some of the tourist dollars as there were actors dressed up in uniforms, and souvenir stores galore there. The guide finished with some more daring escape attempts to get from the old east to the west, including a guy who used a low sitting sports car to drive him and his girlfriend out by driving under the boom gates.

Checkpoint Charlie
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Then it was onto free time. I visited the Brandenburg Gate, and Reichstag. Unfortunately the line-up was huge for Reichstag, so I couldn't get inside. The evening was the night-life tour. Basically it was a pub crawl starting at some very average places, and getting better until we ended up at a fairly decent club. Unfortunately I was tired (and so not in the best mood), so I decided to cab it home. In the morning it was time to say our goodbye's to some people on our tour who were getting off at Berlin. Of those getting off I was closest to Ansgard and Tim - it was sad seeing those two go especially. Graeme had enough of shared accomodation, and so got his own room the night before (for the 2 or so hours sleep he did get). It almost ended up being his undoing... when it was time to get on the bus, there was still no sign of him. Paul, our tour manager found his room and gave him a 5 minute warning, as the bus was about to leave. Well, time was up, and there was still no sign of him. So Paul said to me, sorry - we can't wait any longer - we have a ferry to catch. And then we see him running down the stairs. He never was a morning person.