I've got to say as soon as the bus drove through Berlin to get to our hostel, I automatically fell inlove with the place, and after spending 5 days there, this is my favourite city on this trip so far.

Day 1: Arrived in from Amsterdam on 10th June at around 5pm, and once we checked in and unloaded our gear, a couple of us girls decided to go out and grab a bite to eat for dinner. After eating crap cheap meals for the past month or so, we found a really nice Chinese place, that was pretty well priced. Seeing as after dinner the night was still young and the weather was just perfect, and still pretty light outside, we thought we would head up to the Reichstag building (Berlin's Parliment building), which has a big glass dome on the top of it, which you can actually go up, and get a fantastic view. Luckily for us, our visit was extra special, cos we were there for the sunset, and it was so beautiful. If you look down from the top of the dome you can actually look straight into the house of Parliment below you. The way the Berlin government precieve this is that they get to see the people who they are serving, and the public get to see exactly what their government get up to.

After staying up there for an hr we decided to head back to the hostel, however stopping along the way to take some great night shots of some of Berlins landmarks which included the Brandeburg gate. It looks awesome lit up at night, and when I get the chance to put my pics on here you'll be able to see yourselves.

Day 2: Ranee, Megan (girl from Perth) and myself decided that we would do the free 4hr walking tour of Berlin, and damn afterwards we were definitely glad that we did. Our guide was Canadian, however the amount of knowledge she had was just unbelievable. It amazing how much of one city you can pack into 4 hrs.

In that time we saw the Brandeburg gate again, this time however in daylight, The Jewish Monument (which is various size stone blocks on the street, which apparently people have a love hate relationship with. Thing is there is no plaque or anything to explain the meaning behind the monument, as the way any individual precieves it is correct. It's pretty much up to you what you think it is about, and there is no wrong answer.) It was designed by a Jewish man from New York.

After that we quickly walked over Hitler's old bunker. No one on the tour really cared about it, and who would to be honest. The city really doesn't recognise it anyway, which you can't blame them for at all. All that is there to tell you it was his bunker is a small poster that has extremely boring information and it was only put up within the last 12 months.

We then walked a bit further on to see the remaining Berlin Wall. This was fantastic. There is actually a wall around the wall to protect it, which we all though was a bit strange, but can totally understand it, cos some people like to graffiti things, and being such a huge part of their history, no one wants to see it get destoryed. Close to the wall is where Checkpoint Charlie is located. This area has all been rebuilt (90% of Berlin was blown to pieces in WWII, so they pretty much had to rebuild themselves from the bottom up, and this is one of the reasons why I loved and admired the city so much). At this checkpoint you can actually get your passport stamped with an East Berlin stamp, that obviously doesn't exsist anymore. Unfortunately we didn't get enough time to get it done today, however still got 3 more days and it's on my list of things to do.

Once we had finished here, then finally had a lunch break. We were pretty much all in desperate need for water. I think I forgot to mention that we saw a sign saying it was 37*, so needless to say it was hot, very very hot.

After getting rehydrated we then moved onto the square where Hitler convinced university students to burn thousands and thousands of books. There is actually a memorial there for this, which is done below ground, so you look down through a glass panel and you see empty bookcases, which has the capacity to hold 20000 books. Next to that is a quote by an author from 1820 (this author's books were part of the ones that were burnt), that was just amazingly freaky. It said 'When they start burning books, they will end in burning people'. This quote just stunned everyone.

Once we had finished freaking out we headed off to the last place on the tour being Museum Island. This is (if you hadn't figured it out already) where 5 museums are located. Berliners are good at naming things. Nice and simple, just the way we like it. After finishing up here, our 4 hr very hot tour was over. The guide works off tips, and let's just say she made a fair bit of money that day.

By the time we headed back to the hostel and refreshed it was time to eat, so we decided to stay close and eat and have a few drinks at the hostel with a few others on our bus.

Day 3: Ranee, Shani and myself decided we would go on a guided tour to Sachenhausen Concentration Camp and let me tell you this was an extreme eye opener. The camp is located 30mins by train north of Berlin, and once we got off the train we then took the same route that the prisioners took when they got off the train, not knowing where they were going. Just that in itself was scary.

As soon as we walked in, we couldn't believe how big the camp grounds were. We walked through the main gate where there is a quote 'Work will set you free', which is what they had the Jewish believing. They all though they were there to work for awhile and then be let to leave for awhile. Little did they know that was not the case at all.

Just to let you know also that all but 3 of the things in the camp are not original, as this was also bombed. We walked through barracks, and the conditions that these people had to live in was just absolutely unbearable. In a room that should've only had 40 people in it, they crammed 200 people, and seeing the size of these rooms, I can just not imagine it. Sleeping jsut wouldn't happen, as people would just pretty much be sleeping on top of one another.

It was also another bloody hot day, actually hotter than the day before, and we started to complain about it, and then we stopped and realised after seeing what so many thousands of innocent people, we really haven't got anything to complain about at all.

We also unfortunately got to see where prisioners were sent to be either shot or hung and then burnt to ashes.

I don't want to get into more detail about the campe, cos you really don't want to hear it, and it's depressing me again explaining it all, but I think it is something people should do if they get the chance if in Europe, cos when you leave just makes you realise how lucky you are and makes you appreciate what you have so much more. Australia is such a very lucky country, just have no idea until to see what others have been through.

Day 4: After losing a few of my mates (as I decided to stay longer in Berlin), I got to wander around the city on my own and get to do a few other things. I headed back to the Jewish monument that I mentioned earlier, and I did a proper walk through of it. I guess my impression of it is, that while you're walking through it you really don't know which way to go, or which turn to take and it can actually get quite confusing. Also you look around and see people walking through aswell, but then all of a sudden they disappear (obviously trying to find their way aswell). I guess in a way that could've been how the Berliners felt esp. East Berliners when Hitler was in power and going crazy.

Connected to this monument is a free Jewish museum dedicated to the Jewish that were murdered during the time Hitler was in power. Here is where I found out that an estimated 5.5 - 6 millions Jews were killed in this time. That just totally blew me away.

I got to read extracts from letter that some Jewish people sent to their family in other parts of Europe explaining, how horrible it was getting on the trains to the camps and not knowing where they were going. Also how some of them heard rumours about the killings that were going on, say they were saying their final goodbyes to their families, cos in ways they knew their time would come.

The had a room in here where it has random names on big screens and then have audio, telling about a little bit about them. I heard one about a boy called Paul who was a 5yr old boy who was sent to Auchwitz and was suficated by car fumes. There was a sign in this room saying that if they named every single Jew who was killed in this time it would take about 6yrs to get through them all. I think that jsut speaks volumes in itself.

Also found that the life expectancy in Sachenhausen Camp was 9 months, whereas in Auchwitz (where a majority of mass murders took place) it was 2 hrs. Once again I don't want to get into detail too much, cos it's not the best topic, but it was an extreme eye opener.

Atfer finally left the museum after about 2hrs of being totally depressed, I decided to head back to Checkpoint Charlie and get my passport stamped. Had the option of having the current date on it, or the date that the Berlin Wall came down, so needless to say I picked the date when history happened.

Once I finished up here I then went to a free open air museum called the 'Topography of Terror'. A few of us thought this went through how people were tortured, but thankfully it wasn't that bad, cos this is actually where the headquarters of the SS (police department) was. So you got to learn a lot about Hitlers police chief and all the s*** he and his men got up to.

It's amazing how you lose track of time in this place, cos after I had finished here, it was getting late into the afternoon, so I decided to head back to the hostel and just have a relaxing day, esp. after the day I just had.

Day 5: After the past few days I've had I decided I wanted my last day in Berlin to be light hearted and fun, so that's what it was. I thought the best place for this was to go to West Berlin (our hostel is in East Berlin, which is now the most popluar part of Berlin, which is such a turn around to what it was 74yrs ago, when Hitler divided it up) and head to the Berlin Zoo. The zoo ground were fantastic. Very spacious and green. I actually found out that Berlin Zoo has the most species then any other Zoo in the world. No wonder it's so big and I got lost a few times (didn't have a map, cos if you wanted one you had to buy a book about the Zoo for 5 euro, with the map of the zoo being on the back cover, so thought it was pointless).

I'm sure a majority of you would remember seeing on the news a few months ago a little white cite cuddly polar bear by the name of Knut make headlines all over the world, well this is where his home is, so of course I had to go visit. Would you believe the he only has 2 visiting hours a day. I think that just shows how popular he is. I've got to say the wait was worth it. He actually has 2 keepers whose job is to look after and play around with him all day. They wrestle with him, and eevn swim in the disgusting looking water with him. Got to say they have the best job in the zoo. I think I may have went a little over board with the photo's of him, but trust me I was not the only one.

After once again losing track of time, I though I should leave the Zoo after seeing a majority of it and take a wander through West Berlin. I definitely have to agree that East Berlin really has more going for it, but it was good to see both sides.

Well time in Berlin has come to an end, and it's definitely going to be hard to leave, cos I have fallen inlove with this place, but I'm sure Prague my next stop will be great though. Until then.........