Berlin - Days 1 & 2

Well, today is actually July 20, but we'll have to go back in time a little...most of my time has been spent either looking for physio work, or working elsewhere, or having fun, so I haven't had much time to sit and blog.

So I arrived in Berlin via Frankfurt after a nice mammoth flight from Saigon on June 10. Checked into the Circus Hostel, and it was real nice, friendly staff, nice rooms. I stayed in a 5-bed dorm, but there were no other roommates for the first two days! After check-in, went to check my Email - and got the great news that I got a ticket to the Brazil-Croatia match after 5 months of waiting! So I ran off to pick up the ticket at the stadium. When I got back, I went to the other Circus Hostel (there are two of them, within walking distance), and watched England-Paraguay, on the 2nd day of the World Cup. And then slept - a lot.

The view from the balcony of my Circus Hostel dorm room onto Alexander-Platz

Ticket to World Cup - finally!

Day 2 in Berlin, and it was off on a walking tour of the city. I went with Brewer's Berlin Tours, and it turned out to be a great experience. It brought back all the history I studied back in high school and more. Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Book Burning Memorials, war memorials, Hitler's Bunker, it was amazing to be standing where all these significant events in history happened. The tour guide Sylvia was a French-Canadian who was living in Berlin. There were Canadians, an Aussie living in NY, and a few others on the tour. After the tour, a few of us went to watch the Netherlands - Serbia & Montenegro game at Fan Fest. Fan Fests are in each host city, where they setup huge screens so people can watch. The Berlin one is GIGANTIC - it stretches along a street for 1 MILE (1.6 km) and has 4 huge screens!

Me, Marc, Fay, Ryan, Sylvia, Phil and some lost child as the Dutch celebrate their goal on the big screen

That night the four amigos nuevos kicked on and went to watch the Portugal - Angola game at the most amazing venue - it was this old Turkish-style baths converted to this groovy lounge. Imagine sitting in the middle of an empty pool (bottom covered in carpet), old architecture all around, ceiling about 3 stories high, big screen over the deep end of the pool, sitting on bean bags, with a Berliner beer in your hand. All locals around, no tourists. Amazing.

After the game we found some food, had a few cocktails and stumbled home after a big day.

Some notes:

• Berlin has the best kebabs I have ever had. They're not big, but they do two things that make it the bestest: they toast the bread, and they don't cut all the way through the bread, so it's a pocket, not a sandwich. Yum. I think I had one almost every day I was there.
• Public transport is fantastic. Trains and trams run all day and night, and often. And it's mostly air conditioned too.
• Currywurst - bratwurst with tomato sauce with curry power and bread roll. Very tasty, will have to do it at my next Aussie BBQ.

And on to Day 3...
Don't forget you can see more pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sneakykangaroo

DN