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| Glenn's Journal for 9-15-02 - Berlin We awoke this morning (or should I say "did we ever sleep") after having lived through a party in the next tent over until after 5:00 am.. Reika and Chihiro left around 6:00 am (very quietly I might add) as they were off to Antwerp as their next destination. We slept until 9:00 am when we awoke and quickly decided that we needed a good nights sleep and the only way to get that was to move on to Berlin. We quickly packed our things, had breakfast, and headed out to catch the next bus into town. We arrived into town around noon and walked over to the Central Station to check on trains to Berlin. We chose the 2:13 pm train that would get us into Berlin around 8:30 pm. This choice did not cost us any additional money as the night trains require a reservation at 11 Euro per person. The train ride was pleasant as we enjoyed the peace and quiet of first class. We shared our cabin with a young lady from New Zealand whose husband was in the British military and stationed in Germany. She was returning home from the weekend in Amsterdam. She was a joy to talk with as the time passed quickly. We also received a few recommendations for our New Zealand visit. The scenery as we traveled through the Netherlands and northern Germany was beautiful with the little towns, farms, and open fields. We arrived into Berlin around 8:45 pm. Now we had to find a place to stay. Our first stop was to buy a phone card so we could call hostels to verify availability. We have learned to do this as we hate to make our way to a hostel (with full packs) only to find out that they are full. Our second stop was to check e-mail to see if Paul and Kim had replied. They had replied but did not know where they would stay. No big deal as our next task was to figure that out for ourselves. Erin continued to check e-mail as I went downstairs to make phone calls. The Circus Hostel was one of the recommendations in the Lonely Planet guide so I called there first. Sure enough they had availability as they had just opened a second hostel near Rosenthaler Platz. The gentleman provided directions and the address to the place and off we were. We got back on the S-Bahn train to Alexandersplatz and then switched to the U-Bahn to Rosenthaler Platz. We were there in less than 20 minutes, arrived at the counter, learned about all of the amenities of the Circus, and were dropping our stuff off in the room by 10:30 pm. One of our roommates was Evelyn who was from Chicago but spending this semester studying in Vienna. Wow!!! Sounds great!!! After talking with Evelyn for a while Erin and I went downstairs to the bar for a beer before retiring for the evening. |
| The Reichstag Government Building, rebuilt after WWII. |