An Early Start

Fri 7 Jul

We were out the door before 8am (earliest uptime for a while) because Günter was going to Potsdam so we thought we would tag along. We spent our time at Sanssouci, the former summer palace of Frederick the Great. We wandered around in the sun taking in the vastness of the palace and its ground, however, to our regret, we didn't go into the new palace.

A couple of hours later we visited the Hansen's Potsdam house which has a lot of war time history around it. As it was already 30 degrees we quenched our thirst at Meierei, on Jungfernsee (Jungfern Lake); an old dairy farm that now brews its own beer.

Once home we finally booked our train tickets to Prague, where we go on Monday. Next we have to find somewhere to stay! After this we had dinner and took the dog for a walk before visiting two new bars in the neighbourhood. Pretty early one as we want our last to nights to be big ones.

Tschüss

Thu 6 Jul

Today was Yonca's last day in Berlin before heading to Switzerland for three months' working. We hung out with her, sushi train for lunch (best ever) and then BBQed with her family before the rain hit and we headed inside.

Jannis had a party so we decided to check that out, and just mucked around getting music on Yonca's new iPod. Very sad to see her go as we had spent a lot of time with her in the last month. She certainly helped me with my German and was always a laugh hanging out with. I hope to see her again soon.

Bear Pig

Wed 5 Jul

Aaron and I spent a good three hours in the Jüdisches Museum. This was one of the most interactive museums I have been to. I didn't really know too much about Jewish history, and it was very educational. There was not a lot of focus on the Holocaust, which I thought was a good thing as it showed there was more to Jewish history than just that.

We were hungry afterwards, so we found ourselves a seedy little German pub for some beer and wurst. We survived in their with German alone. Not a word of English...except between ourselves.

We wandered the city, noticing that it was a bit sombre after the loss the previous night. Found ourselves chatting to a couple of lovely French ladies at a beach bar, and then watch the game, typically, at the Fan Mile. Not so busy though.

We went to the lake at midnight (shooting stars in the sky) and saw a wild pig that was so big we thought it was a beer. They feast from the rubbish bins at night. Oh, and two foxes. Not as cool as Rooney though.

Germany Departs

Tue 4 Jul

We went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum we intended to visit days earlier, and although the stories about people escaping East to West, it was a bit of a let down. Maybe it was because it was 30 degrees and no air-con, or maybe because there were lots of tour groups in the way, but it definitely wasn't worth my €10.

The big German Italy match-up was on, and although we went two hours early to Luise, we missed out on a table. We resorted to the crappy Italian restaurant next door. Crap because the waiter ignored us COMPLETELY for 50 minutes. No beer for us. Germany lost 2-0 (two last minute goals) and everyone was speechless.

We didn't let this get us down so we went to watch Jannis' band 'Certified' play their first gig. Quite a tight wee set I must say.

Teufelsberg

Mon 3 Jul

Up bright and breezey and went to Yoncha's where the girls presented Aaron with a cake they had baked for him. It was the shape of a boat, and the crew were gummi bears. Delicious too.

We joined the Hansen family for a drink at the Krumme Lanke biergarten and then went to Teufelsberg. This is a man-made hill, well women-made really. After the war the women of Berlin made a human chain and moved rubble to create the 80 meter tall hill. Perfect Berlin view at the top.

Plenty of leftovers from yesterday's party meant we were BBQing again before hitting the Winerei for some brithday champers.

Tips 'N Tips

Sun 2 Jul

Aaron and Alessa's mother Claudia share the same birthday (3 July) so she decided to celebrate with a BBQ at our place with all her friends. We spent the day setting up the backyard to accommodate 40 people (with an interlude swimming at the lake) and we were charged with manning the 'grill' (BBQ).

It was a successful cooking performance by us, receivning €50 of tips. This was the most embarrassing thing I have had happen to me...getting tips for cooking a BBQ. This never happened in Nottingham!

At midnight we charged our glasses and celebrated the birthdays of both celebrants.

Upsets

Sat 1 Jul

I had a bit of time after lunch to get Aaron a birthday gift (Monday) before I met with Marielle t o hang out in her garden for a few hours. Typically, as every day in Berlin has been, it was an absolute scorcher. I'm talking late 20s.

Got home 30 mins before England were kicking off against Portugal so Günter took Aaron and I took Luise, a local beer garden, to watch it. Gutting to see them go down in a penalty shoot out.

We never expected to see another upset, but that's what we got at the Media Club when France beat Brazil 1-0.

After this we walked around the city, until we got to this underground club. The city was pumping tonight and the buildings looked great in moon light. We spent an hour or so at the club before having to escort a rather 'exhausted' Aaron home.

750,000 Crazy Germans

Fri 30 Jun

Marietta, Pablo, Aaron and I walked through the city with the intention of going to the Checkpoint Charlie museum, but the two newbies decided against it so we visited the Typography of Terror instead. This is an outdoor collection of wartime photos. It was ok, but very little of the descriptions were in English so we didn't really have any idea what was really going on.

Got our beer for the Fan Mile, and after a 40 minute wait to get in (so busy) we set up at the Coke screen and watched Germany beat Argentina 4-2 in a penalty shoot out. There were 750,000 happy Germans surrouding us. Huge celebration of singing and dancing and shouting. We carried the part on at the local beach bar where we saw guys jumping naked off the bridge into the river and met a stag do who had come over for the England game tomorrow.

At 1am the others went home, but I stayed on with Richard (stag do dude) and we sparked a couple of American birds and partied with them until the bar closed.

Grump

Thu 29 Jun

I woke up surprisingly early (11), grabbed my book and music and went for a 5 hour walk around the neighbourhood. Grabbing some lunch along the way, eatting it in a park.

When I got home I met Alessa's friend from Guatemala, Marietta, and her boyfriend Pablo. We spent the evening at a little bar on the water front (Badeschiff) near Treptower Park station. It was a cool place, but I was in a rubbish mood.

Ampelmännchen

Wed 28 Jun

We decided to go on the Insider's Bike Tour - a 5 hour cycle around the main historical spots in Berlin. As we were getting the bikes sorted out Aaron yelled my name and when I turned around Ian Hopkins (a friend of ours from high school) was sitting beside Aaron; he arrived in Berlin the day before and had decided to do the tour too. We hadn't seen him for years and had no idea he was in Germany!

The tour was fantastic. Very imformative and the little tidbits of info made it. A highlight for me was the story behind the 'Ampelmännchen' (little green traffic light man). The best parts of the tour included

+ Berlin Wall
+ Hitler's Bunker
+ SS and Gestapo Headquaters
+ Nazi Book Burning Site
+ Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
+ Checkpoint Charlie
+ Brandenburg Gate
+ Reichstag

Needless to say I learnt heaps.

After dinner at home we (usual four, plus a dude from Alessa's drawing class) went to The Winerei. At this bar you pay €1 for your glass and help yourself to wine, paying for what you think you had at the end. Really chilled out spot. Next we met Alessa and Yonca's friends and went to a funky we bar ('Zu Mir Oder Zu Dir'). We were there talking rubbish with strangers but when we left Aaron and the girls jumped in a taxi leaving me stranded and alone. Cut loose. It wouldn't have been a problem getting the train, but the S1 line was down so it was a 3 hour mix of walking, training and finally a cab until I got home at 7, very grumpy.