Berlin
Trip Start
May 15, 2006
1
67
71
Trip End
Sep 29, 2006
Berlin, Germany
Thursday, September 21, 2006
I have only a week left in Europe now and I need to be up in London on the 28th but I had to see Berlin for at least a day before I went home. I took the train about 7 hours up to Berlin, not being able to sleep at all during the train ride, and wound up there at 5pm exhausted and ready for an early night. That is exactly what I got. I got to the Circus hostel in Berlin(another one of those top 10 hostels in Europe) and checked into a very clean and modern 8 bed dorm. The hostel is beautifully decorated for a hostel with modern rooms, bathrooms, a bar, and a restaurant. I was feeling cheap and tired so I hopped across the street for half a chicken, salad, and fries for 4 bucks
Berlin Defined
. I heard Berlin was cheap but that is ridiculously cheap for western Europe. After dinner, I did some laundry and then went straight to bed. I can only wonder what my roommates thought when they walk in at 830 and find me sleeping but....I woke up this morning knowing that I only had one day to see the city and I decided a tour would be the way to go. I had heard great things about this guy named Terry Brewer who gave all day walking tours throughout the city. When I say all day, I mean all day. He picked me up at the hostel with another guy and took around town for 10 hours. 10 hours. This guy was an amazing tour guide though, so it was well worth the time walking around with him. He was a former diplomat for the British during the cold war and was stationed for 25 years in Berlin. He was there when they erected the wall overnight and then there again when they demolished it. Our guide named Jay in Rome was amazing but this guy made him look like a hack. He knew about ever building on every street in every district in Berlin. He would point out random buildings and give huge stories about them. After meeting this guy, everyone in the group was looking around wondering if he is just making this stuff up because he knew so much. He also knew everyone in the city. He had been giving walking tours for almost 30 years and so we couldnt walk a block without somebody poking their head out of a store front and yelling "Guten Tag Terry" or coming up to shake his hand
Church Church Church Church
. As you can imagine, we walked around for 10 hours and saw about the whole city(at least by my estimation) but he said he could take you around Berlin for a week everyday and still not show you everything. We saw the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, the Museum Island, the Lindenstrasse, every old Nazi building around, and then tons more that I cant even remember. On top of all this knowledge, he was also extremely funny and affable. I guess a whole career as a diplomat teaches you a thing or two about communicating with people because this guy could talk your ear off. If you are ever in Berlin, I would highly suggest a tour with Mr. Terry Brewer.Tonight I am working on the blog and then again calling it a reasonably early night. 10 hours of walking around will make a man tired and I have a long day of travel tomorrow on my way to Strasbourg, France.
