Mercure Hotel Berlin Potsdam

Friday 12th June. We packed up camp in the rain having eaten our brekky under hatchback of the van being the only dry-ish spot available. Loving the bare bones basics of this campervan-NOT. This has spurred Wayne into his obsession about building a super van when we get home. This obsession currently occupies his off-line and online time on the computer designing a van for us with shower/loo and awnings which he plans to build when we get home next year. So as happy ...

... finished". The centrepiece is Potsdamer Plaza, which was the hub of pre war Berlin and was split by the wall. Re-united it has become a centre for astonishing architectural experiment, largest of which is the Sony Centre, which Lesley described as "Blade Runner without the rain"! There are fragments of the wall remaining, as memorials and as tourist attractions. Behind the longest section is a ...

... les deux chez leurs chum donc moi je suis restee dans ma chambre, j'ai fini mon livre (qui etait hyper-plate!!!) puis je me suis endormie assez tot apres avoir souhaiter bonne fete a mon papa cheri!!! Aujourd'hui je suis allee magasiner avec Verena et puis EVIDEMMENT j'ai acheter quelques choses. hehe. Ce soir on sort au bar, puis demain on va danser je pense. J'ai hate a vendredi parce que je m'en vais finalement visiter Berlin!!!! Si je vous reecris pas avant, Joyeuse Paques! Caro xo

... pas sur le meme cote de l'arret et ca faisait un boute qu'il attendait la alors nous n'etions pas certaine s'il fallait embarquer. Finalement, apres avoir vu un autre train passer dans la direction opposer sur le bord que nous venions de debarquer, on a decider de demander au chauffeur du train s'il allait a Wittenau. Donc c'est ca qu'on a fait et puis il nous a dit que dans 3 arrets on allait etre la. Donc on a embarquer et puis debarquer a Wittenau. La, par contre, il ...

... in a hot tubby, getting ready for a visit to the indoor pool on the second floor, and I'm about to pack up the laptop for an afternoon in the Business Center catching up on office tasks. I'm reminded of a Churchill speech to the Canadian Parliament during the darkest days of the Second World War: "What kind of people do they [the Germans] think we are? Do they think we have ...

... However, this week was a week of prayer for Christian unity, with ecumenical prayer services being held in Catholic, Baptist, and Lutheran churches. Scattered throughout Wittenberg are many small family gardens, each as neat as a pin. These gardens were endowed by a German doctor who felt that people living in small, confining apartments needed both exercise and fresh vegetables. He endowed these gardens, and each family ...

... place was playing Depeche Mode and that is always a good sign. Depeche mode, good food and speeding Lamborghinis through the streets of Berlin. Ah, Germany! How I love you. A few of us decided to explore Berlin a bit at night and we had a cup of coffee at Balzac Coffee, where I had visited the year before. The finale of our time in Berlin was held at the bar we had visited the night before, we are recognized immediately and the bartender happily welcomes us back ...

... being at home. There were guys from Hoppers Crossing who were hillarious. Tomorrow I´m meeting up with people from language course to go out I think. Anyway off to clean up my room and finish reading my book. I bought a trashy German novel, the diary of a 13 year old, and for some reason I can´t stop reading. Might be related to the fact that I don´t have a tv. Anyway I´m putting pics up of last Thursday night soon. xxxooo

... the clouds moved on. Figuring out the subway network wasn't the easiest task because there are so many different subway lines, but I wanted to see the Brandenburg Gate and so we went there to the Potsdamer Platz metro station. Since the World Cup Games are on and they're in Germany we found some festivites ona and long Potsdamer Platz. I couldn't find the Berlin wall though :)

... at uni. He was a funny guy and made the whole day very interesting with his humorous stories of Berlin and its history, which considering its deathly past is some feat. To save you the expense of flying to Berlin and undertaking the tour my summary follows. Lets start with a fact. Berlin has a population of 3.5 million but due to the unemployment rate of 20% many people are moving to other parts of Germany and this figure is decreasing. Our tour started in the ...