Hotel-Pension am Schloss Bellevue Berlin

... style dinner with a burger and German beer… mmm.

On Friday we packed up and left our place in the sticks and headed to the big smoke, former East Berlin. They wouldn’t give us a refund for our extra 2 nights we had paid for, but they had messed up and not charged us for the 4th night when we arrived, and didn’t take a key deposit which they gave to us on checkout – so we weren’t really out of pocket anyway! Once we had ...

... valuables. They also used the prisoners to test hormones and drugs designed to keep U-Boat captains awake for four days straight. They never found the magic potion, but pumped the prisoners full of drugs anyways. They also used them to test a new boot material for Nazi boots, but as sick people can't run very far, if at all, they used those that could. New arrivals, and boys as young as 10, were dressed in boots many sizes too large for them ...

... in the city, and not being much of a history buff, I learnt more than I ever would have expected! The tour took us past the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, the path of the wall, to Brandenburg Gate, to the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe, to the book burning memorial, to the area where Hitler's bunker once was and even to the famous baby-dangling hotel where the King of Pop once performed is epic move. It was a heavy day, filled ...

... a very interesting museum with some pretty great exhibits. Mainly tells about life in East Germany behind the wall and all the escape attempts with a great collection of the different escape mechanisms-was amazing what they used and did to get into West Germany. Was sad in parts-especially reading about how the stasi (stazi?) stole peoples children if they thought they weren't loyal to the state or were trying to escape. Was pretty terrible what they did. Had some free time so ...

... and longing for nothing else then the glances you steal for her. But I bucked up and made a last ditch effort to raise my head and make a not so subtle glance at her when she was in contact distance. To my shock and delight she lifted her head with just enough pitch and height to flash me a sexy half smile and open inviting eyes. I was totally thrown by the sheer level of confidence and sensuality and at that moment could hardly speak, let alone ...

... the near 25 miles I've logged thus far. Tonight from 6-10pm is "free night at the museums"; I have a vision of all the citys' backpackers sprinting in and out of the museums, trying to catch a view of the top highlights before the doors close on us el-cheapos. I'll be right there with them. I've enjoyed eating street "take-out" food the most, mostly because that's what fits in my budget and now just because ...

... not that massive, as the fire brigade had not been called, but some american girl had been bright enough to throw water onto an oil fire, so that did it the world of good, and very nearly cost her her eyebrows. It did cost her her sanity, though, for a good 3 hours after the event. She wasnt helped by one of her travel buddies ĉaughing at her, which seemed to exacerbate the situation somewhat. Having been underwhelmed with ...

... been replaced by very modern, new architechture, and the city is very clean. The highlight was certainly the Berliner dome, a huge protestant cathdral whose interior is one of the most stunning pieces of architecture I have ever seen. The icing on the cake was a chorus rehearsal which echoed beautifully throughout the cathedral during our visit. It was special because of its uniqueness: though catholic cathedrals can certainly be ...

Returning the car this morning we made our way to the Brazilian embassy and thankfully picked up our VISAs. With a bit of time to kill before we headed across to Amsterdam, we caught the train across to the Reichstag building and seeing the size of the queue, moved on the Brandenberg ...

... ve been but it has been raining sparatocally). I met a dude from canada saturday night and we went on the pub crawl. That was a good time.. meeting lots of people over the course of the night. The city is full of a variety of people. Apparently this was the birthplace of the gothic subculture (that are relatively plentaful in the u.s.). I think for the most part they are ...