Van Der Valk Hotel Berliner Ring Brandenburg

... Afterwards, we went across the platz (townsquare) to a pub and all had a few beers together. I got to meet Martin's family friends, one who is a policeman and has traveled all throughout California and Florida. He bought us all drinks and we must have all talked for nearly two hours. I think they really appreciated my company. Martin's mom ...

... die Zeit, die ich in Britannien bin, in Berlin. Aber trotzdem haben wir uns kurz nochmal an die alten Geschichten von damals erinnert, wie einer der engländischen Gäste abends seinen Döner auf die Straße und natürlich genau auf die Windschutzscheibe eines vorbeifahrenden Autos geworfen hat. Oder dass wir morgens um 4 einen Mitschüler telefonisch erreichen wollten. Der hatte geschlafen, eh schon genug von den Gästen und war die restliche Zeit noch saurer als vorher ...

... possessed - or at least could remember - basic social skills and had a modicum of courage to strike up a conversation with someone. At this point, any gender would be fine though I would prefer female company. A lighthearted, unstilted conversation would do. I saw plenty of American, Australian and English people yesterday and today on the U-bahn and at the various sites and monuments, but said nothing to any of them, pretending I was a ...

... you are supposed to experience feelings of isolation and desperation, like those victims of the camps. Many people fail to take the monument seriously, walking through it as if it were a maze or playing hide and seek. For this reason the memorial has received mixed reviews. The concrete blocks are coated with an anti-grafitti substance to prevent them from being defaced. Ironically, the manufacturer of this chemical also manufactured ...

... as it was now 7:45pm and we were aware there were not too many trains going in our direction at this hour. She found a nice man who helped her and we waited for the LAST train of the night, departing at 8:30pm for Bacharach. Once on board we had a short ride down the Rhine River and reached our destination at 9:00pm. Again, we dragged our bags up to the only street in Bacharach, wobbled ourselves down a heavily cobbled street to our Pension Lettie, just a few blocks into ...

... chair for the night. I awoke early next morning and the first thing I see. A naked couple playing in the water less then 10 meters away. So up I get, freshen up, brush the teeth, pass on the the fricking cold shower, and go in search of some coffee. Weird thing, I don't normally drink coffee. Soon I meet a young lady from Turkey. It turns out she had a particular interest in me, because an hour later at breakfast, she introduced me to her college ...

... far and then he disappeared when workers from the train station were told of him. We found our hotel located not far from the train station which was noice, as we hadnt told them of our flight change we dropped our stuff in and wandered around a while because it wasnt ready. I took Shane to the only place I knew that was Germania-ish with ye old town and cobblestones and lots of beer and ...

... the batteries finally died in the trusty camera. Yup, the spare batteries were, of course, in the day pack. So no pictures of this area. Potsdammer was a huge square and when the Wall was rammed through the middle of it, it was widened and a scene of a large 'death strip'. It has several pieces of the Wall still standing on the sidewalks with interesting historical markers: sorry, no pics. The area is surrounded by new, ultra modern buildings that I would have loved to ...

... of nails when the game went to extra time and then the awful and terrifying penalty shoot out!!!!! A pin dropped like a thunderbolt as we watched and waited for each striker to shoot and the crowd erupted when finally germany were thru!!! Grown men were in tears...of joy!!!! Eddie was so proud of the Werder Bremen players Klose - who got the equalizer, and 2 more converted ...

Ah, home sweet home. I am quite happy to be back here in Freiburg despite the seemingly endless grey skies. Last week I was in Berlin with the whole CYF group and it was a bit hectic. For example, getting everyone with his or her luggage on the right Strassebahn (city tram) when the doors are already straining to contain the Berliners who currently occupy the ridiculously full cars. Sheesh! And I thought Thistle Corridor at Brock was nearly impossible to navigate! Anyway, I've got to ...