ich bin ein berliner

we arrived in berlin two days ago. we got a local tour guide, heike, to show us around on the coach. we went through the centre of town and saw the church that got bombed during ww2. they left it as it stood and built new buildings around it. we went down the main shopping strip and saw heaps of expensive shopping centres. we were told to check out one particular one for the food court, which im sure jess will tell you more about. heike knew all about the architecture; she could tell you who designed nearly every building in central berlin! there was such an eclectic mix of designers and styles too. crazy. we went to the last standing part of the berlin wall. its so hard to imagine the whole city divided in two, especially when there were cars and coaches parked across the wall now. we drove past the bunker where hitler killed himself and saw the wreck from where his office once stood. there are still a lot of nazi buildings in use - mostly government agencies like defence and finance. we saw the reichstag and brandenburg gate. we nearly left someone behind at the gate - that was pretty funny.

we went out for dinner that night, but again, im sure jess will mention it. yesterday we got up late and went in to town around midday. our intention was to go to the aquarium but got distracted by shopping instead. shopping.... we figured we're coming back so it didnt really matter if we didnt see everything.

today we went in to potsdamer platz, where the sony centre is. we went to checkpoint charlie and went to the museum. what some people did to escape was amazing! people hid in cut out surfboards and amps and radios. they used bouncy balls in the suspension to make the car look like the load wasnt too heavy and then have a heavy car before and after the escape vehicle so that they wouldn't be searched extensively. berlins a pretty cool city. there's a mix of old and new and there's so much history. i'm glad we're coming back so we can explore it properly. we didnt make it out to sachsenhausen (a concentration camp) so we will definately do that when we get back. tomorrow we have a ten hour drive to amsterdam... lucky us!

I absolutely love Berlin. it is the most amazing place, so full of vibrance and colour and modern mixed with old. i love that it isnt swarming with a million people, because its nicely spread out. i love that the trains are only 3 minutes apart, 4 at the most. i love that you can look one way and see an ultra modern building, and then the other way and see a building hundreds of years old that has been half bombed or that the bombs just missed. the people here are very nice too, and mostly willing to help with directions. you were right tree and queta, i sometimes feel like we're on the Amazing Race!

on the first day we arrived as ange was saying, we had a tour guide, who was awesome. she knew everything about everything and then some. i was amazed by all the different architects that the city of Berlin invited from around the world to help redesign the city, as most of it was bombed to oblivion. as a result, you have a marvellous mix of time zones, captured in the form of a building, be it quirky with sloping floors, or plain with an air of sophistication. that night after the tour we went to the group dinner......OH MY GOD! we had a whole pork knuckle to ourselves!! it was delicious, and it came with some potatoes and saurcraut or however you spell it.. although, i couldnt finish all of mine, which is a first.

The next day, which was yesterday, ange and i just pretty much walked the main streets of the main platz. we found this department store, which is the most prestigious in the city...a bit like david jones but a million times more expensive, and we went to the 6th floor and it was like being in charlie and the chocolate factory except ange and i were charlie and the chocolate factory was a million shops with every single thing you could ever imagine to eat in your whole life! it was really something. the only thing we bought was some wasabi peanuts for ange.. but it was well worth seeing.

ok i think i am writing too much, and the key board is suspiciously sticky..

today we went to checkpoint charlie which was amazing and very interesting but a lot of reading.. we walked some more, and now we're about to go back the the hotel and relax!

thanks for the comments everyone, its really nice to see words from home :)

ps. even though the food is great here, ange and i both said last night that all we felt like was a nice home cooked dinner from our mums!