Herberge Grosse Berlin

... country with an arbitrary Cold War division remaining.

Strangely, the next item on the program was a performance by Bon Jovi in front of the Brandenburg Gate. In fact, it was striking that while all the speeches were translated, all of the music was in English. Even the theme song, We Are One, written and performed by a German, Paul van Dyk, was in English.

Finally, the last dominoes were knocked down and the ...

... and have become and icon of the city. There was a paraolympics exhibition on in the square so it was rammed full of people. Through the crowds we found the spot where the free walking tour left from and waited for it to start. Our guide today was an exhuberant American called Adam, he turned out to be excellent. In Pariserplatz he explained the history of the Brandenburg Gate and pointed out the balcony of the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled the baby from a ...

... and off of subways, buses and trains you are going to regret every extra ounce that you packed. I get to the train station and just can't figure out where the trains are. I finally ask someone and it turns out that they are in the same spot as the subway. It is the most bizarre thing here. This is the only city that I have traveled in where they don't have some kind of machine to feed your ticket through before you get on the subway, bus or train. I don ...

... eventually, the regime won the land. In the work force, medals were given out to those that performed well. Benefits were given to those that were married including a flat to live in, reduced debt, women got maternity leave and were expected to work along men. I can see how some of these methods are desirable.... I recall my mother telling me her and my father were denied a Sear's credit card in the 70s b/c while they included both of their debt ...

... eager anticipation for Ratatat to play! Several weeks before I had emailed the club to find out how I could reserve myself a ticket to see Ratatat; I had explained my situation that I was backpacking around and did not have a mailing address to receive tickets. They responded that I would be put on the guest list. I was still expecting to pay at the door, but when I arrived I gave them my name, received a stamp and was admitted for free! It was a tiny venue and Ratatat is not that well ...

... they asked for our money on the train, we didn't end up having enough :(. luckily, someone we had been talking with earlier stepped in and paid the remaining .25 that we owed. we will forever love brits. we got to our cute little hostel, in which we had a double bed, a kitchen and bathroom and shower we shared. the place was heated so nicely, which was great considering that it was below freezing (alyssa and i stick out a little with our oversized ...

... I went and had a genuine German dinner, roast pork, potato dumpling, and sourkraut. It was so good. I washed it down with a good German beer and a shot of Jager at the end. The rest of my day has been pretty relaxing but I'm a little annoyed that everyone can smoke wherever they want, I'm dying from it write now. Well, I wish you all the best and until next time. Gute Nacht, Julian

... embedded in the walkway, showing German dissenters who once protested in front of the building. On day two of their protest, they were gunned down. Now their memory is etched in history. Around the corner from this building is one of several sections of the Berlin Wall (pictured) that has been preserved. It isn't as imposing as I imagined it to be, but then again it is only part of the picture. During Soviet times there were actually two walls, with a ...

First stop Berlin. An awful lot to see in just one and a half days but we cracked in a a long walking tour (all the usual places - Reichstag, the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie) followed by a boat trip down the Spree. Managed to steer Mum away from the many dull art museums too. In order to truly appreciate the local cuisine, we went to a delicious Turkish restaurant called Hasir on Monday night which is run ...

... career... very interesting. Anyway, the tour was great. Favorite stops include the holocause memorial (this might be the exact name), the brandenburg gate, the berlin wall, the german parlaimant building, and a really funny church. The parlaiment building was a standard really old government building, but there is a modern addition that is very interesting. The roof is a huge glass dome with walkways around it at various levels. Walking around the dome ...