Berlin

Hi from Berlin: Sun 30/07/2006 8:46 PM

Hi Mum and Dad

Glad Scott got home ok, and very happy that I calculated my average wrong.... somehow 73 sounds much better than 72.... now just gotta hope L will come up with the dosh! Adam and I managed to get train Lubeck-Hamburg then another Hamburg-Berlin, not too difficult as they were on adjacent platforms in Hamburg!

The hostel here in Berlin is HUGE! over 900 rooms, internet room, free breakfast - Adam is happy as they do cereal! there also a bar with pool table and beer garden so we are wondering if Scott came to the right city! The rooms also have big lockers and our whole rucksacks have fitted in one each so less of a worry about security!

Berlin looks great but much bigger than Hamburg with lots more tube lines, we managed to forget to buy tickets between the main station and hostel oops lucky there are no barriers or inspectors! Had a nice dinner tonight in a pasta bar, it was a bit weird cos they gave you a card when you arrived and then you went up and watched while chefs cooked the food, then they put it on the card and at the end you pay for it all.

I thought it was a good idea as then lots of people can eat together and pay separately! Then we went to a cool little park built as a slope in between two roads, from the back it looked like a grassy wall, very steep then when you climbed to the top you could see down the gentle slope to the other road. have seen lots of funky new buildings and I'm sure there are lots more to see! Tomorrow we're going on a free walking tour for 3 1/2 hours to give us more of an idea about the city centre and see some of the sights!

Adam and I are getting on pretty well and he is being a bit better with the stuff, although we're sharing a computer at the mo and him constantly pointing out my spelling mistakes and typos is getting a tad annoying! He doesn't appreciate being called a pratt by dad (especially with 2 't's) but I think it was a spot-on observation!

Will email later in the week when we've done some stuff!

Love Carly and Adam xxxxxxxxxxx

Berlin 2: Tue 01/08/2006 10:10 PM

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the replies we've had, everything is still going pretty well here, though Adam has been disappointed to find that the hostel here in Berlin is full of chavs - he thought he could escape them! Berlin is amazing, so much history and so much to see! We started off with a free walking tour courtesy of "New Berlin" a wicked company with branches in Amsterdam and Munich (highly recommend them!), we saw the Brandonburg Gate, the Holocaust memorial, a bit of the Berlin wall, the site where Hitler shot himself, Checkpoint Charlie (where diplomats entered East Berlin), the Gendarmarkt with two churches and a comedy house, the university square where the first book burning was held (has a cool underground memorial, empty shelves with space for the 20,000 books which were burnt), the Armoury (a threatening building covered in armour and painted pink - apparently it wasn't a nice girly colour when it was built!) the museum island and much more all against the backdrop of information about Berlin, the rise and fall of the Nazis and Soviet occupation!

Both shocked by the holocaust documentation centre as we hadn't realised how much of Europe and Russia had been affected by the extermination.

Oooo and I almost forgot we saw the hotel window that Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of! Our tour guide was a journalist at the time and managed to miss it by having a coffee in Starbucks-maybe that's why he's a tour guide now!

We've also been in the Reichstag at night, climbed to the dome gallery in the Berlin Cathedrale and visited Greek and Islamic displays in the Pergamon museum!

Best go now Adams waiting to use computer, but if you have a chance to come to Berlin do!!!!

love Carly and Adam xxx

Berlin (Adam): Tue 01/08/2006 10:32 PM

Hey everyone

a really quick one from Berlin. Rest of Hamburg was great, went for a night out on the Reeperbahn, loads of clubs, bars and (unfortunately) English chavs.

Berlin is such a cool place, so much history here. Hopefully send a longer email later in the week wiv details but for now everything is goin well and we are having loads of fun.

Bye for now

Ad