Beautiful Berlin

Berlin Day 4 - Mon 27

Today Johanna and I went downtown Berlin to do a bit of sightseeing. We went to the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), which was really impressive up close, and then wandered down to have some lunch by the river.

We sat outside, as patios are pretty much a necessity in Berlin. I think it's great--EVERYONE is always eating and drinking outside! So nice. You know in Toronto, most places have tiny little patios, or it's an extreme luxury and they're so packed on nice days that you can't get a table. Not in Berlin, since so many places have them. I don't think I ate inside once this entire weekend.

I got my first lopsided sunburn (of many this trip, I'm sure). My right side was in the sun, and my left wasn't. I also have a pretty sweet hair-tan-line, because my hair was down on my back. Sexy.

After an extremely awkward attempt at a pick-up by the table of three Israeli guys beside us (the attempt wasn't awkward, it was sitting there in silence after we said no haha), Johanna and I took an hour-long river cruise, which basically takes you through Berlin and you can see a lot of the sights. We opted for a german-speaking tour, as those boats were much less crowded, generally cheaper, and I can understand enough German for it to be worth it. 

It was so relaxing--it was a hot day, but there was a cool breeze coming off the river so it felt perfect. It actually reminded me a lot of that steamboat you can take in Muskoka (Mom, you know the one I'm talking about, we did it last year). I was absolutely floored by some of the architecture we saw. Berlin has to be up there as one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. The Reichstag, where the government sits, is a Greco-Roman masterpiece. You feel extremely insignificant standing next to it. From then on, I just saw museum after museum, theaters, and the like, all so painstakingly beautiful it was almost too much. Is this place for real? You can actually live here and see this everyday?

Museum Island had about 16 of these types of buildings all together that we sailed past--their foundations went right in the water! I haven't been to Venice yet, but I imagine it's similar to this, and I will love it just as much. Dead rats floating in the river included. (Saw this as we were leaving the dock)

Even the inhabitable buildings are amazing--most are mid-rise, 6 or 7 floors,  but the attention to detail on the exteriors is just astounding. I've put some pictures in my flickr account to show you--I tried not to take so many because I know this is probably exciting to all of 3 people including myself, but it was a highlight of my trip. I have to live somewhere that I look at and see beauty, and so many of these places did that for me in Berlin. (London too, but those places are fewer and farther between--not to mention they probably cost an arm and a leg)

After the river cruise, Johanna (who was amazing and took pictures on the boat for me the entire time, so I could be in some of my own photos, but also so that I could experience everything firsthand and not through a camera lens) and I walked through Berlin, saw some more pieces of the original Wall--you could get your passport stamped, but I didn't bring it with me--and read about some of the events surrounding its erection and dismantling. I can't imagine what it must've been like to wake up one day and be told you can't drive to work because it's on the wrong side of the city, and then be shot if you try to go anyway. And this only changed AFTER I was born! Crazy to think about.

We walked by Checkpoint Charlie, where you could get your passport stamped again, did the necessary tourist photos, and continued home. The square where the theater, museum, and one of the universities in Berlin meet was really beautiful. I couldn't believe people get to go to school in a building like that! So lucky! I would never skip class! (Not that I ever did*, Mom and Dad...)

Johanna went to her friend's place for dinner, and I decided to check out a dance class. I watch a lot of dance videos that teachers and choreographers post of their classes on Youtube, and I had heard of this one guy who happened to teach in Berlin. Unfortunately, he was away this week, so another girl was substituting. I wasn't sure what the level of dance would be outside North America, where most of the commercial jobs are, but there were some beasts in this class. We did a combo to Rihanna's Skin...and slow hip hop is not my forte, but it felt really good to push myself, and just be back in class period. I haven't sweat so much since...well probably when I got lost on Friday, but other than that, it's been a while. I'll definitely continue this trend of a class per country I visit. Next stop is Vienna, maybe I will learn how to do the Viennese Waltz!

*does not include 8:30am lectures

Laundry, Hate the iPad Day

Berlin Day 3 - Sunday 26th Wow. What a party! So that birthday thing I told you about yesterday was for a friend of Johanna's that I used to know when I was really little (but I don't remember a whole lot)...turns out she lives in Berlin and is a famous actress on a German soap opera! (Google "Anna und die Liebe")

We borrowed a friend's bike and rode through the streets of Berlin at sunset to get there, stopping by the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall, which was a really cool experience. You really don't get that feeling until you see it in person of what it must've been like to live in a city with something like that. Crazy.

So the party was her, her friends, and most of the cast from this show, which is apparently a really big deal to people in Germany. She had a pile of gifts from friends, and a pile sent to her by fans of the show--it was so funny watching her open them! It was such a fun experience (minus the second hand smoke--why does everyone love cigarettes so much here? It's really popular compared to Canada)

My German is starting to come back to me--having to speak it at the party last night got things rolling again. Some other friends of mine who are also in Berlin met up with us at the party, and I think we are going for dinner with them later tonight. Today has just been a lazy day, trying to figure out uploading pictures onto my blog and whatnot. I needed a day like this! It's also laundry day, since I've been wearing basically all the warmest things I brought with me everyday!

Tomorrow will be the major sightseeing day in Berlin, then I have to decide whether to take a 9 and 1/2 hour train ride through Germany to Vienna (which could be very beautiful, but it's a full day, and if they don't have wireless or a plug on the train, I'm going to get bored), or take a flight (much quicker, 1 hr flight, but probably more expensive, and I have to deal with the bicep curling bag again, ugh). Ciao for now!

German Soap Opera Star

Berlin Day 2 - Sat 25Christopher Street Parade

Things not to do when you need to wake up at a decent hour: take sleeping pills. I wasnt tired at about 3  am last night so i thought it would be a good idea. my doc said itll knock you out for about 6 or 7 hours, which would let me wake up around 10-11, perfect.

I wake up at 1:48 pm with all these messages from people going "where are you? i thought we were  going to meet today!" shiiiiiit.

to make it even better, my phone wasn't working. apparently sim cards from the UK won't work in Germany, so not only did I have to buy more time, I had to buy a new card. I wonder if I wouldve been better off sticking with rogers and buying an int'l package from them...

Like I said yesterday, another thing I'm realizing is how much I should've spent the extra bucks and bought an ipad with 3G. it is not as easy as I thought it'd be to find public places that have it, and it wouldve been really useful consideriing the amount of times i've gotten lost already on this trip. ugh.

Today is the Christopher Street parade in Berlin, or as we know it in Toronto, Gay Pride. Apparently the road by the Brandenburg Gate fills with like 400,000 people celebrating. I think I'm gonna head down there in a bit and check it out. 

Right now, I'm sitting outside a cafe having penne alla norma and drinking a Berlin beer. This is the life!

Tonight, my friend Johanna, who I'm staying with, has a friend's birthday to go to, and I think I'm going to tag along. A few of my other friends are also in Berlin, so they'll be there too, and itll be great to catch up! We may go to a bar, or Johanna has a friend who's DJing one of the Christopher Street afterparties at like 3 am haha so If we stay up that late, that should be interesting to say the least!

I didn't realize my German was so rusty, but  I guess that's what happens when you don't use it for 5 years. It's almost intimidating to be here, because it used to be so easy when all i spoke was German for a couple of months, and now I know what I want to say in my head but I can't figure out how to say it out loud. Hopefully it'll get better.

I talked to my friend Jamie from Guelph who is also doing the backpacking thing, but he's been here a couple months already. We decided to meet up for a bit, so on the 28th, I'm meeting him and his friend in Vienna for 3 days, and then we're heading to Budapest for a couple of days. After that I will probably do Prague or Romania (depends which is cheaper) and then end in Istanbul on the 8th. I'll spend a couple of days there, and fly to Dubai on July 10!

When i fly  back to Istanbul on Sept 1, I am so tempted to venture down to Jordan--I've heard it's spectacular. But I'm pretty sure I'd have to cross through SYria to get there, which is just a terrible idea. Oh well, maybe in the future the world won't be so messed up and a little girl like me can travel wherever she likes without fear of being kidnapped (I'm looking at you, Somalia). 

Getting Lost

London Day 4/Berlin - Fri 24 Friday I woke up and had to catch the train to Gatwick, after I repacked all my stuff. Instead of going to Amsterdam for the weekend, like my original plan, I decided to hop a flight to Berlin, because Amsterdam's hostels were either sold out or exorbitantly expensive--what's the point of staying in a hostel if Im going to pay the same amount for a hotel? No thanks. I'll catch that city on Europe Part 2. Add it to the list.

I emailed my friend Johanna, who is kindly letting me stay at her place while in Berlin. She face booked me directions. 

So, flight to Berlin. easy jet, $193 Pounds. Not bad. But the one carry-on bag was. I'd bought a bunch of stuff while I was in London if you recall, and I already had 2 pieces of carry-on baggage from my first flight from Toronto (purse and a small backpack). I had bought a large beach tote on sale when we went shopping on Wednesday thinking 'this is great, I can just throw everything inside'...but it definitely was not big enough. I crammed it all in anyways and went on my way--the biggest problem was that with my backpack already occupying my shoulders, I had nowhere to carry this tote, so I had to walk in a perma-bicep curl with this bag that weighed 30 lbs (doesn't seem like much, but when you don't weigh enough to donate blood, proportionally it's HEAVY). I was sweaty and disheveled by the time I got to the airport, but managed to shmooze my way on the plane with this thing. T

The tough part was when I arrived, my arms were so tired that I was sort of dragging this  bag along while wearing this huge backpack, a coat, a lulu lemon sweater, a blazer, and 2 shirts, because none of it would fit in the bag, so I had to wear it. I looked like a crazy person. I'm sure that's why the customs officer took an extra long look at my passport before letting me through.

Once I was through, I realized to my dismay that the directions to Johanna's were sitting in my Facebook inbox...on the internet. which I had no access to. Cue me setting up shop in the airport, buying 5 euros of wireless, and emailing them to myself. So ridiculous. I had to take a bus to the subway, then get off at a certain stop and walk to her place--she said it was pretty easy so it shouldn't take too long.

I navigated the bus and the subway (thinking I was a rebel the entire time, because I didn't buy a subway ticket, until Johanna later told me it was included in the bus ticket..) just fine, and I got out, saw my landmarks, and started walking. And walking. And walking. It was getting darker by the minute, and I hadn't seen the next set of markings or street signs, but I figured maybe it's just a little further. I don't want to not walk far enough, and then have to double up in the end...naturally I got completely lost, I had no map, no phone number for Johanna (not that my phone was working anyway), and no actual street address. I was, in a word, screwed.

I kept trying different streets, thinking, you know Katy, you really suck at directions and that's exactly why you need to get yourself out of this predicament. But I was so hot, sweaty, exhausted, and just frustrated from lugging 60 lbs around for the past hour and a half, when it should've taken 10 minutes, that I just sat down and cried. 

Just as I was pulling myself together to give it another try, a group of people walked by and asked if I needed help. They said I looked lost, and I could only nod. THey used their iPhone to look up the street I was looking for (I walked in the completely opposite direction I was supposed to), and sent me on my way. Turns out they had just come back from living in Vancouver for the past 3 years, and commented on how nice Canadians were. THey saw the flag hanging from my backpack and thought it would be a nice way to pay it forward. So thanks for the flag, Mom! It's already getting me out of trouble.

I made it to Johanna's in the end, and the lessons I take from this are: 1. I still suck at following directions. 2. I should've gotten the iPad with 3G. 

Tomorrow is another day!