Berlin: July 27-28

Despite designating today to be the day to pack, I'll take a short break and put up some information from my short trip to Berlin.

My friend Beverly and I took the 4 hour, 74 Euro (round-trip) ICE train leaving at 7:08. It was a great train ride because I absolutely LOVE the ICE seats and "dream pillows" as I call the headrests. Plus we didn't have to change trains once.

We stayed at Meininger Hostel for 15 Euro, which included linens, towels, and an all you can eat breakfast buffet. It was very close to a U-Bahn and S-Bahn stop, so location was ideal and reception was open 24 hours. They also had a luggage room you could use after check-out at 10, which was helpful.

Walking around Berlin was great. Clear skies were the order of the day, so Beverly and I took advantage of the weather and decided to visit the Berlin Zoo and Aquariam. For a 14 Euro combination pass, we gained access to both sites. We saw everything from elephants, giraffes, monkeys, tigers, bears, goats, cattle, deer, and vultures to alligators, turtles, sharks, frogs, salamanders, and different species of ants. We didn't get to see the famous polar bear Knut, though. There were simply too many people crowded around his area. Which, I might add, was not in any type of cool environment. It was outside in the heat.

A note on the ants: It was a bit disturbing when we were in the insect portion and one cage had caution tape stretched the whole area. We looked inside to see a bunch of ants. Unfortunately, we also saw several of these same ants crawling on the outside of the cage... We didn't stay long in the area.

The rest of the day was spent walking around seeing the famous sights of Berlin. We saw the Brandenburg Tor, and the Reichstag. We decided to spend some time in the grass admiring the Reichstags to rest our weary feet.

Since everyone had told us to try a Doener in Berlin, we hunted for almost an hour to find one for dinner. We finally found one, but only in the Bahnhof. It was definitely better than I've had before, but still not as amazing as everyone described. Of course, it did come from the Bahnhof. We then returned to our hostel, but were so tired that we didn't even bother to enjoy our free "welcome drink" provided in the connecting bar. Beverly and I didn't sleep well, because two other girls came in at 12:30 and were quite loud setting up their beds.

Nevertheless, we woke up the next morning ready to see more. After taking full advantage of our included breakfast, we checked out and left our heavier items in the luggage room. We headed to see Checkpoint Charlie, the Berliner Dom, the Fernseher Turm, a portion of the wall, and Schloss Charlottenburg.

Unfortunately, it cost 3 euro to see the Dom. I didn't want to pay on principle. Churches are supposed to be free. We couldn't find any huge parts of the wall, but we did see the line that runs through the city denoting where it had once stood. The Turm was highly visible from most of the city, and Schloss Charlottenburg was very pretty. We didn't go in, because our feet were killing us. After that, we headed back to get our things and took the 16:57 train back to Bamberg.

While we didn't go in the Reichstag, despite being free, because the line was incredibly long, and though we didn't pay to see the inside of the Dom, I feel this trip was productive. We were able to visit a zoo with the most species in the world, we saw all the major historical points, and even enjoyed some Starbucks and the best Doener I've tasted. I'm glad I was able to visit Germany's capital city before returning home.

As a side note: I didn't do as much as I would have, because I have a nasty infection on my big toe. It's quite disgusting and it makes walking more painful, especially in closed toe shoes. Gross, I know. But it had to be said. Oh, and pictures later.