My last entry was from Hamburg. We had decided before we got there that we would not do much in Hamburg except take care of some practicalities. This turned out to be a good decision as neither of us liked it much in Hamburg. It reminded me of Brussels, a sterile business centre. The exception was the duty free zone, which was full of old warehouses (lots of rugs), business men, and their Mercedes. We washed our cloths (it was getting desperate and John did not want to risk breaking another sink), caught up on email, and attempted in vain to get photographs developed.
After Hamburg we headed to Berlin. I liked it there immediately. Our first day we did little except book into a centraly located hostel, go up the TV tower, and see a movie (u-turn, strange but good). The next morning we did a 3.5 hour walking tour. Our tour guide, Christopher (Canadian), loved his job and gave us an interesting and enthusiastic tour. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Berlin is constantly changing and this creates an exciting atmosphere. The city is manageable and easy to get to grips with. There is constant construction and therefore cranes everywhere. For me all the attractions were in the East. Postdame which is curently being developed and should be completed in a few years is the biggest construction site in the world. After the tour we stopped in the 'Info Box' that is set up to see and read about the plans for Postdame. They have grand plans and I must return to see it completed. Postdame was in between the walls when they were up and they hope developing it will help bring the east and west together. They are also building a mag-lev train from Berlin to Hamburg which holds special interest for me.
That evening John and I picked a random sidewalk cafe to sit down at. It turned out they had their own micro brewery. We ordered a metre of good beer (12 0.2L glasses) and watched a clown following people on the street while imitating their walk, gestures, and expressions. Brilliant. We then met a bloke from Leeds and his wife. He offered to buy us another. We assumed he meant another glass but we got another metre! After this we headed to a street Christopher (our guide on the walk) recomended in East Berlin. The area was full of cafe's, bars, and galleries and reminded me of the village in NYC. We headed into the basement of the recomended bar (Zosch bar) and found ourselves in the middle of a brick, cave like area with a blinding jazz band occupying one end of the room.
Our final day in Berlin was fairly quiet. On Friday we left Berlin and drove into Dresden to take a train to Prague (the car is not insured in eastern Europe). That night we headed into the city and had a beer at a place John had been to when he was here before. It was here that we met Jan, a drunk and bosterous Radiology Engineer. We were brave enough to follow him across the street to see his 'lab' and computers and meet his family. His wife was not happy with him and his children seemed scared so after the compulsory Cognac we made an escape!
Thoughts so far. Prague is very beautiful (the weather has helped), the food and beer are both good and cheap. A litre of good beer is $2 which is a stark contrast to the $5.85 I spent for a Murphys in Oslo.
"Congratulations to Mike and Tori who got married today."
Rupert
Munich