Two posts...one day?

In my hasty retreat this morning I forgot to mention my extremely exciting last night in Cologne... I thought I would be going back to the hostel and sleeping, but a new girl in my room and I became fast friends and learnt of the 'Kölner Lichter' which is a huge outdoor celebration in Cologne once a year with fireworks and copious amounts of beer, so we decided to go. She had an early train the next morning so wouldn't be out too late, which was good as I was really tired.
It was so much fun! There were tons of people, but everyone was in a crazy German party mode that was unstoppable. At one point I got asked if I liked cheese, so I responded with a hestitant yes, and along came a dancing cheese man wearing a removable cheese costume that doubled as a mini bar. It was hilarious.

We stayed for the fireworks, which were not that great but were along the Rhine so it was quite magical. We headed back to the hostel around 1AM. The next morning (yesterday) I headed to Berlin.

Today has been another whirlwind day... I can't believe how much I am walking! I am spending an average of 6-8 hours per day walking! I went on the Berlin walking tour this morning, and it was pretty awesome, it went for about 3 1/2 hours, covering tons of the major sites; Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, above Hitler's bunker (where he committed suicide April 30), Holocaust Memorial, The Nazi book burning memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Postsdamer Platz, SS Headquarters, The Berlin Wall, Pariser PLatz, Bebelplatz, and a few others. It was pretty amazing. After that I went to the Altes Museum, which houses a huge inventory of European history, fairly impressive, but I had seen many like it in Cologne. After that I went back to Checkpoint Charlie to actually visit the museum, as we just went to the area on the tour. It was a sobering experience as within the museum there are many personal stories of escape, murder and loss. Very much an experience to remember. From there I went to Topography of Terror, which was the SS and Gestapo headquarters in Berlin, and where many people were innocently killed and detained, tortured and maimed. It was an outdoor exhibit as they are working on the construction of the museum, but was a gorgeous day so I was thankful to be outside.

From here I just walked. I walked all the way back to my hostel, which was pretty freakin far, and downed the largest beer known to man. Pretty good beer, but not my favorite. It's so cool, every region here in Germany has their own special brews, today I tried the Berliner Pils, not as good as the Bitburger or Kölner Pils in Cologne. I moved from a private room into a dorm today, and was stuck with the crapiest bed... oh well, as soon as one of the others moves out I am jumping on their bed haha.


Tomorrow I think I am going to go to the Tiergarten, which is a lovely garden area and there are monuments and museums within it, and at 1PM I am going on a Third Reich tour, to see all the Nazi sites... I am pretty stoked. Wednesday I am going to Sauchenhausen, another concentration camp, which is exciting as I thought I was only going to see Dachau when in Munich.

Not much more to report here, Berlin has a bustling nightlife and the gorgeous reception boy is trying to talk me into going out tonight, so I just might end up going on a pub crawl organized through the hostel, but am undecided....


talk to you all soon...


Krystle