We left Vienna at 10 o'clock taking a 10 hour night train to Berlin. Although I love travelling by trains, nighttrains are just something else - having said that the train to Berlin wasn't even the worse one (that goes to Zagreb-Vienna, which I will explain later in another post). Me and my friend (Rob) were positioned right next to the door in a carriage of six (fortunately we weren't in the middle seats, which would have been just the worst). The problem with nighttrains are (especially if you are travelling through countries) that they require you to wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning just to show your ticket and passport although you've showed it three times already and only managed to get an hours sleep because someone had to get up and go to the loo.
So we managed to get into Berlin all safe and fine. One thing I noticed was that Berlin is expensive - not London or Stockholm expensive, but expensive enough. A underground ticket for 5 days came to €30 (I think!); while entrance to the Alte Nationalgalerie came to €10. In comparison to other places (in particular Western more capitalist dependent countries and societies) Berlin isn't too bad, but seeing that we were on a budget we had to keep ourselves grounded, which ment eating in (something I have no problems with) and not being able to appreciate Berlin when going out.
But from all the things I saw and did, Berlin is definitely up there with being one of the best cities to visit in Europe. We managed to get a free walking tour of the city on the first day (they rely on tips) not because we were stingy or anything (well maybe a little) but more because it was highly recommended. We managed to get quite a lot done, including museums, galleries, the television tower (which I found really impressive as one gets a real insight in the divide between East and West left by the wall).
The place where we were staying at was pretty awesome as well. Only 50 metres away from Hitler's bunker and right in the middle of berlin, allowing us quick and easy access to wherever we wanted to go. The place itself was an apartment in the Eastern side of where the wall was, meaning that there was quite a bit of reconstruction going on (fun to wake up to)... The owner of the apartment had about four or five rooms, where people were allowed to sleep in. This I liked a lot, because it is not one of these really big hostels making it impossible to speak to fellow travellers. It was also very easy to talk to the owner, making the stay pretty ideal.
Anyway photos...
The Berlin Wall I found very interesting too. There is a section still remaining which has still the original artwork on it from when the borders opened. It is like this mile long canvas wich expresses feelings, emotions, beliefs, thoughts etc. It was great fun taking photos of...
Fortunately the thing with Berlin is that it is so diverse. It has so much to offer culturally and historically - from the Reichstag to a former Stasi prison. There is so much to see and do (probably more limited on a budget) which meant that 5 days was not enough. The problem with the Stasi prison was that because it was somewhere more in the outer districts making it a pain to get to. This meant that we missed the English tour and had to go with the German-speaking one. Not too much of a problem one would have thought, but because this guy spoke so quickly it meant that we only managed to get bits and pieces. That being said, it was certainly worth while visiting the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, mainly because the tour-guides were former prisoners - something I probably wouldn't be able to do.
All in all, Berlin is a fantastic place to go to. Expensive but in the light of things understandable. There is a lot of things to do and places to see, making it a very recommendable place to visit.
Prague next!
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