Road Trip to Berlin.
Trip Start
May 09, 2005
1
29
63
Trip End
Ongoing
Berlin,
Germany
Saturday, July 23, 2005
The 280km passed very easily, especially on the unlimited sections of Autobahn where the little vw could hit extreme speeds of almost 140kmh (I know Kirsten, I am sure we got to 150 on a downhill). It did fell like we were standing still at times when the big Mercs and BMWs came thundering past.
We arrived to the new apartment that was in a state of chaos. The hosts however were very accommodating, Bibi and Yuan, I am not sure that I would have found it easy to house 3 extras when we had only moved in hours before hand. But we felt welcome, offered advice for installing light fittings and shower curtains, and helped drink beer. It was great. After 5 hours of unpacking and beer drinking, we walked around the block to a small bar. Upon arriving we found the police out in force, clearing the footpaths of belligerent drinkers who were not obeying the "move inside to drink" at 11pm policy.
It was a little intimidating, but once inside we found a funky little pub with a DJ on some decks, well I think that was what I was seeing through the smoke haze. I must add that the apartment and the pub were in the former Eastern bloc, and all the buildings looked like they were designed with the flair of a Russian trained architect.
The next morning we took the subway into town, to see some of the main historic sights, the big gate thing on the wall, parts of the wall and a big monument to the holocaust. There were huge amounts of tourists about, but very few shops open. There are laws in Germany about working on the weekends, and that meant it was quite difficult to find a sausage for sale. We had been told that Berlin had famous Wurst, the best in the country (and it is a country known for its sausage) so we were rather disappointed to find almost all the sausage shops were shut for the day.
After a day of walking the streets of Berlin, we climbed back into the Fox and trundled our way back to Hamburg. It was quite an unplanned trip, but extremely enjoyable, and we were both really pleased to see the old wall. Thanks Kirsten!!
Bibi new house bar
Sight see town - , walked the streets, Jewish monument, wall
