Berlin

October 14

We got off the bus in Berlin around 9:30 am and my first thought was, 'I can see my breath,' that is never a good sign for someone who had packed for a study abroad in Valencia. I had my FSU jacket, my rain jacket, 2 scarves, and gloves and a hat bought in Amsterdam. I wore my leggings underneath my jeans most of the days and my long socks. It was insane. Anyways, we got off the bus and took a look at the bus map and decided it was safest to take a taxi to the hostel.

We got to the hostel and tried to check-in, only to discover that Brittany, being only 17, cannot stay in a hostel in Germany unless she's in a private room. We ended up spending 2 hours at the hostel trying to book Brittany hotel rooms for Berlin and Munich. It was an experience. We left our bags and went to explore. 

We started with lunch, where I got sausage, a classic in Germany but they were cooked different ways, one of which was "Berlin style," whatever that meant. It was pretty good. The Spanish don't appreciate meat enough in their restaurants, so it was great to be in a place that did. We found the Berlin Cathedral and as we walked we found the DDR Museum. We went to the museum, which is filled with the "ins and outs" of East and West Berlin. It was interesting. 

We were wiped by the time it got to be 3 pm so we decided to hit up a supermarket, by some snacks and call it a night. We bought food and headed back to the hostel. We ate (I had a Grandma dinner-vanilla wafers, chocolate chip cookies, and chips) with Brittany for a while before she left for her hostel around 5. Jacqueline and I took our showers, and were knocked out by 8 pm until 8 am the next morning. It was fabulous. 

October 15

The next day was much more productive. We left the hostel around 9 to walk to Brittany's hotel. We found it, but apparently we were pronouncing her name wrong so the front desk lady wouldn't let us call her (but she was supposed to be in the lobby waiting for us). So Jacqueline and I went to wait at a little cafe, where we got hot chocolate, and we got to talk to a lady who was excited to tell us about Germany. She lived in the West. We didn't have WiFi at the place but I could get a small signal from someplace around the cafe. Jacqueline couldn't though, so we couldn't iMessage Brittany, and she didn't respond to my Facebook messages. 

We ended up walking to a McDonald's to get WiFi. It was in the train station in Berlin and the train station is basically a shopping mall with a train underneath. Seriously, three stories of stores and then the actual station. Once we got there we got a message from Brittany who told us she was headed to the Reichstag building. So, so did we.

We also hit the Brandenburg Gate and got lunch, which included hot chocolate, I also got schnitzel, one of our Germany must eats. We met Brittany at Checkpoint Charlie and tried to walk to the Berlin Wall from there. We got lost, so we ended up taking a taxi. We got there at dark, like 7 pm, and left to meet up with Brittany's old Au Pair for dinner.

We ate dinner with Brittany's Au Pair, Beata, at someplace near the bus station. We sat and talked for 3/4 hours to stall until our 11:55 pm bus. Once we left we realized Beata didn't necessarily know how to get there, so we were lucky to get there before 11:45. The bus was much more packed, but we were alright. No stop for boarder patrol this time, but it got in much earlier to Munich.