We arrived in Germany just like every other city - at the train station, having to figure out where to go.

In our brief time here, I've found that the Berliners are much less friendly than the other places we've seen. Perhaps this is because we aren't in such a touristy area, or maybe it's just northern Germany. Regardless, they don't want to speak English and aren't very nice in general. Of course we've seen a few nice folks, but in general they aren't as welcoming.

We are staying in an art hotel which is a very unique experience. You can see our room here: http://www.propeller-island.com/rooms_neu/room_detail/36/index.php. Pretty awesome, right? We switched to the padded room last night (http://www.propeller-island.com/rooms_neu/room_detail/28/index.php) just to try something else out. We've been able to nab a couple of people on the way into the room and share a quick looksie at what they have going on. All of them are very interesting. I wish we could do something like this in Houston, but I think it'd only work in SF, LA, NYC.

Last night on the way back from the zoo we got to sit and watch some of a huge inline skating and road race. It was fun cheering them on on our walk back. We also found a great replacement for Jamba - a Chiquita juice stand. They were very expensive, but a nice splurge in the heat!

Yesterday was the Berlin Zoo and today we took walking tour of the major parts of East Berlin. We saw the wall, checkpoint charlie, the brandenburg gate, and other important sites. It's very interesting how the Germans as a whole have accepted their checkered past, building monuments and museums to educate folks. While the history was all relatively new, it was still interesting to hear about the rise and fall of Hitler and the Nazi party. Our guide was a young english guy named Mick who used to be an English teacher. Now he's a resident in Germany doing experimental theatre and giving tours. Interesting life he must lead...

Tomorrow we are off to Prague in the Czech Republic. We should be staying in a couple of interesting hotels, so we'll see what happens.

The final verdict on Berlin? It seems like a normal city like in North America. The buildings and monuments aren't much to speak of, and there is nothing particularlly culturally interesting here. I'm told the night life is quite hopping, but with Brenton here I'm obviously not going out on bar crawls!

Random notes:

- Lots of lesbians here. And not the good ones but the ones I'm afraid to make eye contact with.

- Lots of muslims too.

- It's amazing how American culture has permiated all of the cultures we've seen so far. Music, movies, and food. Burger King meals are around $12 and a Starbucks on every corner. Yippee!