All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
Door: Claudia
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Claudia
04 Januari 2007 | Duitsland, Berlijn
What do you do when you’re in a new and unfamiliar place? You try to find something you know. So, what do you do when you arrive in a new and unfamiliar city? Right, you look for an Irish pub. We didn’t have to look very hard to be fair, because we have this sixth sense that finds the green clover and black Guinness sign in a split second. So off we were, to the Europa centre (http://www.irish-pub-berlin.de/euce/ec1.htm). It was still a bit quiet when we arrived but got more lively when the band started playing. Especially when us Dutch folks decided to dance to the old Beatles and Roy Orbison songs. We met Germans, Scottish, Polish, Spanish…..and well, to be fair, most of them already forgotten as well, if it wasn’t for the pictures
The next day it was tough to wake up in our spacious but very squeaky bunk beds in the 8 persons dorm. It must have been around midday that we dragged ourselves to the Burger King (which was lucky enough situated right downstairs) and force fed ourselves with Whoppers, coke and chips. A new challenge awaited us: how to get the house keys of Maartjes friend back to Holland as fast as possible (the girl came back from holiday and found herself locked out because Maartje, who had taken care of her plants very carefully, had taken her keys with her to the German capital). Making phone calls, finding the post office, phone calls again, dealing with DHL and so on, took up most of our afternoon. Finally we got in the car and made a short tour. It was still snowing when we arrived at the last piece of the Berlin wall that is still standing. We walked along it and had a look at the signs explaining what had happened, just to realise that we still don’t get how such a thing is possible. A quick stop at Checkpoint Charlie and then it was dark already. We made our first attempt to find the Brandenburgertor but failed and decided to park the car, right next to the Berlin Zoo.
Still hung over and tired we had our meal in almost complete silence and headed back to the hostel. A quick stop at the supermarket and then relaxing and chatting at the room. Sjak did a failed attempt to read us some literature, when we met our new roomies Jessy from the USA and a girl from Japan. We tried to convince them to come to the sportsbar for some karaoke later and they seemed willing, but in the end it was only Sjak and Peter who eventually made it there. Me and Maartje changed into our PJ’s (pyjama’s) and decided to stay home. We just had to quickly run downstairs to the hostel bar to pick-up some cigarettes. And that, my friends, was not a good idea. Downstairs we decided, since we were there now, to have just one quick drink, it would make us sleep better. Right! The bar was closed when we finally, still in our PJ’s, left it to go to bed. So much for an early night.
None the less, the next day we woke up in time to make a city tour on foot. We walked through Tiergarten passing the Berlin Zoo. Unfortunately we had no time, nor money to go in, because it really looked worthwhile (just a tip, in case you ever find yourself in Berlin with time on your hands). We continued to the Siegessäule and on to the Brandenburgertor. Walking this stretch for, what I think, about 2 km, we realised we mistimed our trip. New year’s eve was going to be awesome. All we could see were beer stands, sausage stands, and 3 stages the whole way. They were still building on what we could only imagine what was going to be one of the biggest parties we’ve ever seen.
After the Reichstag (with a line of people waiting to get in of at least a hundred something) we walked on to the Potsdamer Platz (having curry wurz and bratwurst on the way). We passed the Holocaust monument and had a look at the Sony centre, to finish off with the last mission of the day, finding me a bag. Which we did, at the very last shop at the very last floor of a 3 floor shopping mall. We were exhausted and took the U-bahn back to the hostel.
With bags of crisps and a few cheap beers we made ourselves comfortable in the dorm when we realised it was our last night in Berlin. We could not stay there. We spent some time at the hostel bar where we ran into our roomy Jessy who agreed on joining us to the Irish bar. (Sjak staying at the hostel, where we would find her at 5 o’clock in the morning, just getting ready to get to bed).
And then….it was Saturday and time to go home. And as you can see on the pictures, we tried to keep ourselves entertained on the long drive home.
The next day it was tough to wake up in our spacious but very squeaky bunk beds in the 8 persons dorm. It must have been around midday that we dragged ourselves to the Burger King (which was lucky enough situated right downstairs) and force fed ourselves with Whoppers, coke and chips. A new challenge awaited us: how to get the house keys of Maartjes friend back to Holland as fast as possible (the girl came back from holiday and found herself locked out because Maartje, who had taken care of her plants very carefully, had taken her keys with her to the German capital). Making phone calls, finding the post office, phone calls again, dealing with DHL and so on, took up most of our afternoon. Finally we got in the car and made a short tour. It was still snowing when we arrived at the last piece of the Berlin wall that is still standing. We walked along it and had a look at the signs explaining what had happened, just to realise that we still don’t get how such a thing is possible. A quick stop at Checkpoint Charlie and then it was dark already. We made our first attempt to find the Brandenburgertor but failed and decided to park the car, right next to the Berlin Zoo.
Still hung over and tired we had our meal in almost complete silence and headed back to the hostel. A quick stop at the supermarket and then relaxing and chatting at the room. Sjak did a failed attempt to read us some literature, when we met our new roomies Jessy from the USA and a girl from Japan. We tried to convince them to come to the sportsbar for some karaoke later and they seemed willing, but in the end it was only Sjak and Peter who eventually made it there. Me and Maartje changed into our PJ’s (pyjama’s) and decided to stay home. We just had to quickly run downstairs to the hostel bar to pick-up some cigarettes. And that, my friends, was not a good idea. Downstairs we decided, since we were there now, to have just one quick drink, it would make us sleep better. Right! The bar was closed when we finally, still in our PJ’s, left it to go to bed. So much for an early night.
None the less, the next day we woke up in time to make a city tour on foot. We walked through Tiergarten passing the Berlin Zoo. Unfortunately we had no time, nor money to go in, because it really looked worthwhile (just a tip, in case you ever find yourself in Berlin with time on your hands). We continued to the Siegessäule and on to the Brandenburgertor. Walking this stretch for, what I think, about 2 km, we realised we mistimed our trip. New year’s eve was going to be awesome. All we could see were beer stands, sausage stands, and 3 stages the whole way. They were still building on what we could only imagine what was going to be one of the biggest parties we’ve ever seen.
After the Reichstag (with a line of people waiting to get in of at least a hundred something) we walked on to the Potsdamer Platz (having curry wurz and bratwurst on the way). We passed the Holocaust monument and had a look at the Sony centre, to finish off with the last mission of the day, finding me a bag. Which we did, at the very last shop at the very last floor of a 3 floor shopping mall. We were exhausted and took the U-bahn back to the hostel.
With bags of crisps and a few cheap beers we made ourselves comfortable in the dorm when we realised it was our last night in Berlin. We could not stay there. We spent some time at the hostel bar where we ran into our roomy Jessy who agreed on joining us to the Irish bar. (Sjak staying at the hostel, where we would find her at 5 o’clock in the morning, just getting ready to get to bed).
And then….it was Saturday and time to go home. And as you can see on the pictures, we tried to keep ourselves entertained on the long drive home.
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
