Berlin

Location: Berlin, Germany

Subject: Berlin Day 1

Since we realized from last nights BBC weather report out plans in the Alps were on hold we decided to take advantage of out hostles name sake and simply sleep in the moring. After some quick showers in some cramped quarters we were off some sight seeing in Berlin's center.

As per EuroAid's suggestion and the rave reviews of other travelers at our hostels we hit up the free New Berlin Tour. This s well worth its free costs. The 3 ½ hour walking tour takes in most of central Berlin. Starting at the Brandenburg Gate and ending on Museum Island. We were blasted with an information overload. Our guide Nick an ex-patriot Brit whose specialty is Archeology and rolling cigarettes with one hand. Nick gave an incredibly detailed whirlwind history lesson ranging from pre-prussion to post cold war Berlin. The tour was well worth it. Payments can be done in the form of tips at the end. In action Spanish versions of the same tour are also available by the same company.

Afterwards we walked around the neighborhoods around Oranienburger, a fashion soho like district. Joining was was a Canadian couple we meet on the New Berlin Free Tour. Jessica and Tia recently graduated College in Ontario and were just finishing a tow month tour of Europe before starting up as teachers in Bristol England. We found them to be quite like minded travelers with similar stratiges when it came to eating and entertainment (cheep). We debated the merits and advantages to the Pub Crawl pluged by the New Berlin tours we took earlier and eventualy decided to give the Berlin night life a shoot. After agreeing to meet back at eight Jill and I split for out hostel to eat quickly, cleanup and change.

By this point Jill wasn't feelin so hot and Hypoglysmic ass made for a bad combination. Once we ate we were fine and ready to get going. 4 U-ban transfers later and dwe were meeting up with our Pub Crawl group. Or at least we thought our group....