Berlin, Germany
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Due to overspending and not being able to afford to go to Norway as planned I decided to go back to Berlin, a city I loved the first time round. I caught the bus, ferry and another bus from Copenhagen. Took me about 8 hours to get to my hostel but it really wasn't has bad as you think it would be. My hostel is really cool, it's called Raise a Smile which is actually a hostel that raises money for a charity in Zambia. It is really small, just like a normal apartment, only holds 18 people so it's like staying a friends place. The staff are really nice and arrange evenings out every night. The first night I was tired from the traveling so I didn't go out but did go for dinner in a nice cafe. They made a mistake with my order so the waitress let me sample her drink which was an avocado shake, it was sooooo good, definitely something I will be having in the summertime when I get home. The second night we went for Indian food which was really good. I tired a mango lassi for the first time which was also very good
. I haven't been doing much during the day, as I did a lot last time I was here and I'm finding that I'm a little tired so just taking it easy. I did go and check out the Berliner Dom which is a cathedral church here. It was really pretty and you can climb the 266 steps to the top of the dome and get a 360 degree of Berlin which was nice despite the awful weather. I went to a very Berlin place, an art squat called Tacheles, which is a building that has been totally overtaken by artists. So when you enter the building there is graffiti all over the walls. There is a funny smell but it is a squat so it's to be expected. Some the art was really good but the art work on the top floor blew me away. The artist's name was Alexandar Rodin.
I also went to the East Side Gallery which is the longest stretch of Berlin Wall still up and as has art display along the wall. On Wednesday night a small group from the hostel when for 4 euro pasta and 4 euro cocktails, the pasta was amazing for 4 euro. Afterwards we went to a t-shirt place next door, they had so many cool designs so I decided to come back tomorrow and do some shopping. We then went to a bar nearby for a drink. I spent my last day shopping, I could have bought so many tops and jackets but I did exercise some self control. My last night unfortunately will have to be a quiet one as I have an early flight to England tomorrow, which is a shame because the hostel was doing a free pub crawl, oh well next time :)
