If it's wednesday it must be Berlin!

What a week this has been. I have been somewhere new almost every day this week. Monday was amsterdam, tuesday was the train to berlin, wednesday was Berlin, thrusday was wolfsburg, friday was munster and saturday and sunday are Hamburg! I have seen a lot and had a lot of very intersting experiences and I will try to cover a couple of them in this blog.

Berlin. What a city. This has to be one of the biggest surprises that I have had on the trip. I really had no idea what to expect from it. So many people, both german and american, told me that I have to go to Berlin. Everyone said it is a must on a trip around Germany, so off I went. I got there on tuesday night around 6. After grabbing something to eat at the main train station, I headed off to the hostel dropped my stuff and headed out. In my rick steves book he said that seeing the reichstag was best done late at night or early in the morning. So being late at night and short on time in town, I headed down there.

The walk down was really interesting. You pass all of the big hitters from the government and end up at this great monument to the german government. I waited in line for about a half hour and got a chance to go up and look at the dome. Now in the book he describes a great tour of this dome. Unfortunantly the actual dome was closed and you could only stand outside it. This was kind of dissapointing, but it was nice to get out and see the city that night.

The next day I got up and had a big list of to do's. I went to the greman history museum, the jewish museum, the museum of the wall and finally saw the largest piece of remaining wall. It was a really long day, but totally worth it. The biggest highlight I would saw was the wall itself and just wandering around the city. Now in other cities I found myself somewhat bored just walking around, but here everywhere is so interesting.

Berlin is the biggest hodgepodge of stuff. Everything is different, little matchs with eachother and it is always changing. I was really surprised at how obvious it was that the city was just recovering from the war, and more so the wall. To me 20 years seems like a while, but in a city this big it really is just the beginning. It was cool to see change everywhere.

Wolfsburg. So I won't bore to many of you who don't like cars, but this really was a religious experience. Wolfsburg is the home of VW and this is the only reason to go here. So Volkswagen has setup this entire experience to the brand. It is a full city block at least and sits right next to the factory. There is a museum, a place to collect new cars and pavillions talking about each brand. i got to take a factory tour which was awesome, but to sum of my experience was in the museum. As I rode up the escalator I saw an original beetle prototype and it was so cool that I really felt myself want to cry. It was awesome. One of the best things I have done here.

Münster. This stop was a total surprise for me. I thought I would be in Hamburg on thrusday night, but Elena called me in Berlin and told me that some friends were headed there to party and that I should come. Sounded good to me so i took a different train, back across germany and met up with her and her friends. It was really cool! I had no idea what to expect and it worked out pretty well. We got to stay with a couple of her old friends and hangout in a german college town. It was a good time.

Hamburg. Saturday we drove to hamburg and had plans to meet up with another old friend, peter, last night for a little partying. Elena and I went out around 10 and met up with Peter and a friend of his in the red light district. Now I know what you are thinking, but the red light district here is really rather different. It reminded me of a little las vegas and apparently it is where all the locals party, guy or girl. So we walked down the street filled with lights and porno towards the area where all the bars are. It was great to see peter again and some what unexpected. We had shared a lot of good times in Cape Town and last night was just like old times. Peter hasn't changed a bit and it was great to see him just as I remember him.

So we got home around 4, hit the hay and just now got up a couple hours ago. I guess today Elena is going to show me hamburg a bit more and then we are going to a concert tonight with a couple of her friends. It should be a good day. Tomorrow I fly to Vienna to see Marjan for a couple days. Elena will meet me there wednesday morning for a day or two more and then it is off to venice for the weekend! After venice I take the train to frankfurt sunday night to stay with a friend there before flying back to Oregon on tuesday.

It is really crazy to think that in a week I will be getting ready to come home. Of course this is mixed emotions, but I have to say I am looking forward to seeing old friends, working out again and having a solid place to stay for more than a couple of nights. I will see you all very soon, so get ready because i am excited to see you!

E