June 27, 2012 We woke up rather late today. I was tired from staying out so late the night before and drinking. I think we woke up at 10:30ish and waited for Hora to come find us at our room. When he came we started planning out our day. Rachel needed to validate her train ticket and Hora needed to get the museum pass we got when we got to Berlin. We walked back to Alexanderplatz and then to museum island and then sat in front of the Alte Museum to have lunch. Because we didn't eat the durum from the night before, we didn't have to buy lunch again! Yes just saved 5 euros.
We take a long walk to the Jewish Museum and it begins to rain a little. Smart old me decided to take the risk and not bring a rain jacket out. It was fine. We got a little wet but nothing too bad. What was the highlight for me on the way there was this mall for cars. Not like the Automall, but literally imagine a small version of Brentwood mall and instead of Starbucks it was Bugatti. Ya that's right. One Veyron on display and the only one I've ever seen in real life. I was starstruck.

The Jewish museum was really interesting. The building was built to give it's visitors a unique experience. However it is intepreted is up to the viewer. For me, I was confused by the path and had a very unsettling sense in some rooms. Not because there were unsettling images, but let me try to give you an example. One of the rooms was the interior of an unlit tower and 24 meters high there is a slit window for some light to come in. It was comepletely dark otherwise. Another room had an art installation where there were over 10 000 faces made from metal on the floor, each representing a life of a Jew that was lost, and we were supposed to walk through it. We weren't even thinking of going in at first, but now I think this is a one of the top 10 museum/ gallery I've been to on this trip.

We walked over to the Berlinische Museum after and now it was really starting to rain. Good thing it was close by. It's a museum of contemporary art, photography and architecture. There was one piece of artwork related to architecture. The rest were very PSA type artwork about Rwanda and genocide. There was one kinda neat artwork though; it was 4 dead trees hanging upside down and twirling round and round, making a mess on the floor and walls. Other than that, this museum wasn't very impressive. You weren't allowed to take pictures unless you get this VIP photographer card... ok it wasn't really

Now it was REALLY raining. We sat at the entrance hoping it would stop raining before the gallery closed, but the rain won this battle. We needed to walk for about 15 mins to get to a train station so we could get to the famous Berlin wall with the murals. Needless to say I got wet. When we got to the wall, called the East Side Gallery, we slowly walked down the long stretch. It was really nice! Some of the graffiti was so intricate and so well done. I think I took almost 50 pics of this wall. By half way down the wall it stopped raining and I could finally enjoy the murals, even if I was soaked.

For dinner Hora takes us to another doner place that was supposed to be famous. It was good but not as good as Mustafas from the day before. We watch a little football, Spain vs. Portugal, and then head back to the hostel. Hora comes to our room to hangout and chat for a bit and then he leaves and we say our goodbyes. He's got a long way to go from here.

Today Rachel, Horatiu, and I planned to go to the Neues Museum where they had the Egyptian collection including the famous bust of Nefertiti. We wait in the lobby for Hora but he doesn't show up so I go to his room. He was still sleeping so we went without him. Rachel and I give ourselves an hr and a half to walk around the museum but it was definitely not enough.
At 1ish we meet Hora back at the hostel to go to Potsdam together. After a 45 min train ride we get to Potdam and look for a bike rental place. It was 8.50 euros to bike ride for 4 hrs, which was pretry decent, We biked around the palaces around Potsdam for a few hours and it turned out to be a very nice day even though it was overcast earlier. Germany is cold thoug. I had a t shirt and a jacket on and I still felt cold at times on the bike ride.

After the ride it was 6:30 and Hora takes us to the legendary doner place he has been talking about since I tols him I was coming to Berlin. The lineup was crazy! We waited over an hr to get this doner but Hora assures us tat it was worth the wait. Btw the place is called Mustafas so if you ever hear Hora talk about a great doner place in Berlin it's probably this place. When it was time to order, we didn't want to have waited all that time for one doner, so we each also got a durum to go. O also a doner is how they spwll donairs here and a durum is like the stuff in the donair wrapped up instead of on a pita bread. It was as good as Hora hyped it up to be. Roasted tomatoes, potatoes, and the sauce was amazing. Absolutely content with dinner, we head back to the hostel.

When we got back we run into Stefan the Russian guy and we promise him we will come down to hang out with him in a bit. Our plan for this night was to try and get a little Berlin partying on. When we met up with Stefan he shoes us this crazy way to set fire to sambuca and another drink with tequila and sprite called Tequila boof. I had another one of those good beer mixes I talked about in the last blog called Bananavitan I think and then we head out to look for a bar.
We walk around the area a bit and end up at this building that is best described as something straight out of a horror movie. Grafitti all over the inside and outside, missing windows, and very dark. We make it up to te 3rd level and we start to hear music and see more lights. When we walked into one of the rooms, it was a weird atmosphere. There were people drunk, high, and also selling little jewelry. Yes it didn't make sense to me either.Figuring most of the people there were probably high off something, we go back out and grab a drink from a kiosk outside. This was about 2am. That's what I love about Europe. Access to any type of alcohol for very cheap at any time of day amd you can drink it everywhere. We try this beer called Desperado which is beer mixed with tequila. It was surprisingly really good!
When we got back to the hostel we sit down and chat with another Russian guy and Stefan goes to sleep. I can't remember the details of this part of the night, but I do remember ending the nigh off by taking a bunch of photos in a photobooth at the hostel with the 4 of us.

June 25, 2012
We woke up at 9:30 with plans to go to the Pergamonmuseum, which for me is a huge highlight of Berlin. Rachel wanted to see this giant fish tank at te Radisson Blu so we stop by there first. The 4 of us then walk down to the museum island and get in right away since we bought the Berlin Museum Pass. Imagine a museum that took pieces of ancient buildings and put it on display INSIDE. That's what the Pergamonmuseum is. We spent about 2 hours there and our roommates get bored and went on their own.

Rach and I head over to Wittenburg Platz to get lunch at a place called Witty's which has a reputation for having the best currywurst. It was their FRIES that got us though. Big juicy fries with garlic mayo. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. It was awesome.

When we finished we walked across the street to a luxury department store called KaDeWe. I think here was where I saw Rach the most excited since we met up. She was giving me a rundown of all te expensive brands. This was like a purse museum for her. Unable to afford anything we leave the department store and head to the Bauhaus museum.

The museum was meh. Kinda small and not much to see. I was expecting some cool architecture models by Mies van der Rohe, which there were, but not a lot. We bumped into our roommates there breifly and then we split again.
We train back to Alexanderplatz, where our hostel is, and get a pizza for dinner. It wasn't enough for me so we go to the mall food court where I got some fast food noodles and we just sat there and chatted for a while.
When we got back to the hostel we bumped into Horatiu! He was out to have a few beers so I dropped off by stuff and went downstairs to the bar at the hostel to catch up. Rachel was tired so she didn't join. We chat for a bit and these other people show up at our table to talk to us. Hora hadn't eaten dinner yet so we leaves me with a bunch of strangers. I end up talking to this Russian guy for over an hr until Hora came back. Russians have awesome stories. I'm not being racist, it's just a general observation I've had since I came on this trip. He tells me about this awesome beer drink that I will have to find at home and make the mix because it is delicious. At about 1am a familiar face shows up, it was Kenny McIndoe! I'm not sure if I spelt it right but you guys might know who I'm talking about. We drink more and the Russian guy tells us more ridiculous stories. By 3am I got super tired so I packed it in while they kept chatting.

June 24, 2012
This morning we woke up at 9:30 to get ready a catch another Sandeman New Europe Tour of Berlin. We met at the famous Brandenburg gate at 11am. Today's weather seemed pretty good so it was a real nice tour. There was a lot of talk about WW I and WW II. Apparently we also walked by where Hitler's body is speculated to have been burned. Interesting stuff. We saw what remains of the Berlin Wall, walked by Checkpoint Charlie where the USA and USSR had a tank stand-off, the Memorial for Murdered Jews, and a lot of other things. Jeeze Berlin is full of history. The whole tour took 3 hrs and we finally left off at museum island where 5 of Berlin's most visited museums are plus the Berliner Dome.
Rachel ends up chatting with a guy from Amsterdam, his name is Ward, and we end up going to a flea market at Mauerpark (I think) and it was pretty cool. Some guy had this robot made of power tools and garbage on show doing all sorts of weird things. He was there putting on a show for some money. That is effort ppl. That is worth giving my money to. You know what isn't? Coming up to me with a picture of your fake children, I know they are fake because another woman in Italy have the same children, and asking me to give you change.
There were lots of cool vintage stuff being sold, even though 50% of it was just garbage. We walk to a part of the park where there was a large group of people. Someone explains to me, after me going like "what's going on? what is this? what's happening?", that a few years ago some guy came to the park with a generator and a karaoke machine and just let people sing. Since then, this happens every Sunday and it has grew into a huge thing in Berlin. Behind all of this was a wall with really cool graffiti on it.
We split from Ward and we go to see what Tiergarten was all about. It's all about the Victory column in the middle and a little about the park space. When we got there it began to rain. Not too hard but we were both in shorts and not wearing much more than a t-shirt. We decide to go check out this market plaza close by but still a few train stops away to find that the tour this morning already took us there, so I had the brilliant idea of going to Potsdamer Platz to see the Sony Centre.
For dinner we ate sushi because I horribly missed sushi. It cost us both 10 euros each for dinner, which for me is splurging. After dinner it was about time to go back to the hostel to rest... plus it was raining a lot. We get back to find 2 new roommates from New York who just graduated from high school. They weren't rowdy but more awkward friendly so it was pretty good. We chat a bit and they decide to follow us around the next morning to the museums Rach and I planned on going to.

Today is Berlin day! Like always I got to the train station an hr early since I don't wanna deal with the stress of running for a train or plane anymore. I got a chocolate croissant and a coffee and found a seat. I was just chilling and enjoying my coffee until this lady fumbling around her stuff spills her's all over the other side of the bench. I, being an awesome Canadian, quickly grabbed all the napkins I had and handed it to her. I have to admit it was very poor presentation since I literally handed her a ball of napkins collected from all over. She cleans up her suitcase and leaves the rest of the mess on the ground. Great now it looks like MY mess. A few people walk by to grab a seat and look down at the floor and look at me. I just ignored them. Logically speaking, who in the right mind would spill their coffee, then keep drinking it right beside the mess like nothing happened? I'm innocent damnit!
I board the train and this one was one with individual rooms. It was great. I shared it with a Norwegian man and a retired couple from Dallas Texas. They were so friendly and so talkative! It was a 2 hr train ride and we chatted the whole way. The woman taught me that if I ever go out for a lunch interview, never order a hamburger because it shows you don't take risks. Also do not salt your food before you eat it because it shows you assume everything.
I got to Berlin on time and went to look for the hostel. I walk into the lobby and guess who's sitting there waiting for me? It's Rachel! I go up to say hi and she gives me this blank look. Um... this is Rachel right? Apparently she was caught off guard by my blossoming facial hair and tanned skin. She didn't recognize me for a split second. That's great I'm a new person from inside to out.
We went to a nearby mall in Alezanderplatz to eat lunch. We go back to te hostelcto get our room and we start looking up what to do. After an hr or so we headed back out and do a little walk to the museum island to get a grasp on the geography here. Then it started to rain. So we decided to get dinner and do more research. Rachel starts telling me about Burkenstock sandals and I want a pair now. We eat currywurst at a restaurant and it was the best I've had so far. Well it apparently originated in Berlin so it must be good here. I have a nice local beer to go with my sausage and fries and then we went to a park.
We play with some of the stuff at a park, walk by an outdoor screening of Hugo, and watch some ducks sleep.When we got back to the hostel we meet a brother and a sister from Calgary traveling together in our room. Rach and I go down to play a game of foosball (kicked her ass btw) and then we go plan out our stay in Berlin. 5 days doesn't seem like enough...

I tried really hard to sleep in yesterday but it was impossible. I woke up at 10:30 and hung around my room until 11. Nothing too eventful happened. I walked to a doner place. They gave me this GIANT doner durum (donair) for 3.30 euro and it was so big I couldn't finish it.
I walked back to the old city and tried to kill as much time as possible. Walked to a monument and sat down at a nearby bench a few times and just listened to the buskers. The people playing music on the street here look very professional. All dressed up in tux's and they usually played with a colleague.
I'm not gonna bore you guys with anymore of this day. I ate at an award-winning currywurst place for 5 euros and got away with spending 10 euros the entire day. Walked around the Elbe river (river dividing old and new city) while everyone else was partying it up for the Germany vs Greece game. They won. The end.
I also threw away my pair of running shoes. The support was all gone. We had an awesome run (literally) and I probably put the most kilometers on these shoes out of any I had in my life. Good bye old friend. Don't worry, I'll find a way to get over you.

I woke up in the morning at 8:30am since I can no longer sleep past that time. I packed up last night so I wouldn't make too much noise when I leave but there was no point. Most of the people were already up and not even a thunderstorm can wake the rest of them. I sat around for an hr and a half browsing the internet (I gotta take advantage of free wifi) and then slowly gather my stuff up to check out around 10. The central train station was literally across the street, so I got there at 10:05. My train was at 11:16 so I waited around, found some food, and walked around to see how else I can kill time. I bumped into a few people I met at the Neuschanstein bike tour and it turns out they were waiting for the same train. I had reservations and they didn't, so we didn't sit together.
11:00 rolled around and the train was at the station. I take my seat and began to eat my chocolate croissant I bought earlier. The train was to arrive at Naumburg Saale at 15:24 and I needed to board a train to Dresden at 15:37. About 2 hrs into the ride and after a series of German speaker announcements, we stop at a station for almost half an hr. I thought maybe we were running early so we had to wait. When we started up again there was another announcement in German, followed by a very brief English one. We were 45 minutes late. I do not bode well with trains I realize now. Having gotten use to messing up with trains now, I didn't panic at all. There must be another train to Dresden from Naumburg.
We arrived at Naumburg at 16:20. First thing I did wss go check the timetable. Next train to Dresden in 3 hrs... great. I didn't want to believe that so I went to the information counter and told her my situation, She prints out a piece of paper full of instructions on how to get to Dresden by 19:30. Only one hr wait for the train this time. With the new itinerary, I needed to change at Liepzig. This train got there on time this time, but the train at Liepzig was delayed 10 minutes. No big deal, 10 minutes is better than 3 hrs. A very friendly business man from Frankfurt chats with me while we wait for the train. I learned that no one in Europe has interest to go to Canada like Canadians have interest in going to Europe. It makes perfect sense.
I made it to Dresden at about 19:40. It was so gray and gloomy here but after I dropped off my stuff at the hostel I went for a walk. At first, there wasn't much to see. I went to the nightlife part of town and I was totally not interested. I was going to save the historic part of the city for the next day, but it was only 21:00 and I wanted to sleep in tomorrow. So I decided to go see the historic part oftown. After a 15 minute walk and a feeling of regret, I got to a bridge. I looked  across the bridge and was completely amazed.
Dresden may be the most beautiful city I have been to so far. I was immediately drawn across the bridge to find a collection of impressive buildings all in one place. Individually they are most like all the other buildings I've seen on this trip, but together the whole composition was just amazing. I couldn't help myself but to keep walking around.
After about 2 hours of walking around, I suddenly felt really depressed. A city like Dresden isn't a place to admire on your own. I would say this place tops Venice as being the most romantic place I've ever been to. I walked through the cobble stone paths watching couples and families walk by, old and young, showing so much passion for one another. I can't even express how much I wished I was holding someone's hand too.
Feeling too sad now, I decided to trek back to the hostel. While crossing the bridge I take one last look across the river and promise myself that I'll be back one day, except I won't be alone.
This is the second time I felt like going home since this trip is started. Well, I got over it quite quickly. I just thought what would I be doing if I wasn't in GERMANY? Nothing worth blogging that's what. I understand now that a trip like this isn't meant to be all super fun and smiles.There willbe ups and downs, lefts and rights. I've been stressed out, relaxed, frustrated, calm, enthusiastic, and uninterested more than I've ever felt about anything before. Today, add heartbroken. At least when something inanimate breaks your heart, you can continue loving it and know that it won't hurt you anymore, and also that it honestly never meant to! I think listening to Carlos Santana doesn't help my situation at all. I have one more day alone on this trip. Meeting Rachel the day after tomorrow. I won't have to feel so lonely again but tomorrow is my last lonely day so I'm going to enjoy the solitude one last time and feel all sorry for myself!

This morning I was planning to go to the BMW Welt, museum, and factory... And I did! But I missed the premium tour (19 euros) Where they take you on a tour at all three places. I was half an hr late! But that worked out for the better since I am having trouble paying full attention in tours and losing my patience when they talk about stuff I don't care about. I got to the Welt (I'm assuming the English translation is "world") and put my name down on a waitlist for just a factory tour at 11:30. I had an hour to go to the museum which is across the street, so I did what I'm getting real good at, choosing what's actually important to me and bypassing anything that doesn't tickle my fancy.
  The museum was like a mix of the Porsche museum and rhe Mercedes museum, but leaning more towards Porsche. To be horribly honest, I think this museum by itself is the worst of the three. 1000% better than Ferrari, but Porsche and MB beats it. If you're wondering where all the rich Chinar people are in these big tourist cities, they're all at the car museums. It was horrible. They don't listen to the guys who tell them not to touch the cars! I had to purposely find something to ask about so they know I'm not with the very loud and rude crowd.
  (Btw the clay car looks exactly like mine! Even the bumpers! Except wheels are different)
At 11 I walk back to the Welt to see if I an get in on the factory tour and to my luck (must of been from rubbing that boob) I got in! But so did everyone else on the waitlist. The tour cost 8 euros. It started with a video introducing the brand and going through the history which to my surprise, owned up to it's darker days during WWII. None of the other brands talked about helping with the war, just how it affected their production. We weren't allowed cameras inside the factory, so no photos guys. But you know how you would imagine a production line to be for cars with all the robot arms flailing around? That's basically it. It was pretty cool, we walked by where they press the raw metal, where they assemble the frame, the preliminary painting stages, and the final quality assurance at the end. This made the overall experience on par with the Mercedes museum, but no lanyard this time =(.
  Afterwards I went for a walk to the Olympiapark across another street. It wasn't what I expected. There was no one there, the weather was gloomy, and the buildings looked abandoned. I walked around for about 20 mins and decide to leave. Also it looked like a storm was coming... again.
  I took the train to Marienplatz, if you are keeping up with the blog you should know where I'm talking about, and looked for some stamps and postcards. Then it began to rain so I went back to the hostel. It stopped and it was only 4pm so  decided to look for a post office for some stamps and the girl at the front desk said there was one across the street. I thought I was going to be out for like 5 mins so I wore my slipper and shorts out. Almost a minute into walking it starts to rain again. It took me a little longer than 5 minutes to find the post office. When I saw it from a distance, it began to pour. I can't run in flip flops! And I was already slipping on the wet floor!
  I got inside to see where I can get the stamps but everything was in German. I thought maybe I will just come back tomorrow morning before I board the train to mail stuff out. I walk out to the entrance, and it was straight up storming outside. There were about 20 people waiting at the door staring at the craziness outside. It was raining like crazy and there was so much wind that you could see waves of water in the air. I wanted to wait it out, but it's me, so I got impatient and sacrificed my clothes to get back to the hostel. Holy crap I sh*t you not I was walking in a forever 2 inch puddle and was outside for a whole 15 seconds and I was dripping wet from head to toe. This was a short run towards the train station. I thought I was home free but nope, there is an even longer walk from the station to the hostel. Well since I was already drenched, what could make it worst? Walking in the same storm for another few minutes that's what. It felt like I was taking a cold shower with my clothes on, that's how much rain there was. You know that short of breath feeling when you accidently shower with cold water? That's how I felt. By the time I got back to the hostel I was more than drenched... I don't know what's more than drenched but my clothes were soaked like no part of my pants and shirt was dry and people were looking at me like "wow you walked through the storm?" Hell ya I wanna go nap! But I didn't. I took a shower, waited a couple hours and the rain stopped. I went back out and got some food and sent some mail.
So family and a couple others who requested a postcard, there is one coming at ya from Munich! I think I've sent out 7 postcards so far already so if you want one let me know! I don't have time to figure out where you live and guess if you want one or not (I only did that for one person and it was such a hassle I don't even know if they got it) so don't be shy AND more importanly don't come up to me when I come home and say "where's my postcard?" because I promise you I am going to flip so much sh*t that you would think I was doing some Parkour.