Today I visited both the Berlin Technical Museum and Checkpoint Charlie Museum. 

The technical museum was pretty cool.  Covering planes, trains, automobiles, ships/boats, bicycles and everything in between.  Some raw science exhibits were good for getting the immagination going as well as seeing some of historical travel machines.  I managed to get a photo of a model of the Vasa Ship (seen in Sweden recently) when my camera was out of batteries.

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum had a lot of history about the Berlin Wall, helping to give an understanding of what it must have been like living there.  The most fascinating exhibits here had to do with the all the various escape attempts which were made. 

Today took until pretty early in the AM. Got some “mid trip items” taken care of, then went walking to get the feel of town. I left Paula’s place in Shonhauser Allee and walked up to Pankow. At one point I tried ordering some food from a street vendor, after a few seconds it was painfully clear that we could not understand each other. That evening I rallied for the pub tour that my new friends had invited me on. It was some solid drinking. I might have even had 10 shots before the tour started. This German girl showed up in the lobby of the youth hostel with a back pack full of booze. She was leading us to the tour. After handing out plastic shot glasses, she filled them for us, a whole bunch of times. This continued on the train across town to the area we were “touring”. At this point, I was feeling pretty good AND had 4 bars and 2 clubs to go – WOOHOO! This night was quite a ruckus. We were much closer to a car accident as it happened than I’d like to admit. And I do remember for a short time thinking it would be better to follow the train tracks home to Paula’s than to take the train.

Walked from Shönhauser Allee to Pankow. Tried to order food from a street vendor – we could not understand each other at all.  Went on a pub tour with the Philly kids I met on yesterday’s walking tour.  This was some solid drinking.  If I remember correctly, most of the damage was done before the tour really started.  The tour guide showed up in the lobby of the Generator youth hostel, and started pouring shots of vodka and juice.  Then she led us to the train station, we boarded, and she poured more shots as we rode to the begining of the tour. I think I might have had about 10 shots before the tour started, but who’s counting.  Well, we hit 4 pubs and 2 clubs after that.  Somehow I made it home, walking, trains, and listening to noisey people in the train station.  Paula checked on me the next morning, I told her I’d been home for 3 hours.  She replied “guess you don’t want a ride into the city today.”  Tota, if you are reading this, the Denver pub tours need to step it up.

Well, first let me comment that I unfortunately thought I’d be able to just show up with my camera and that I could get the photos onto the computer when I was here in Berlin. This is not the case. Yous guys looking for photos will have to wait until I get home, and then there will be a bunch. On to today’s excitement!

The day started off hitching a ride to Unter der Linden with Paula and Cameron. I walked around and checked things out while waiting for my free Berlin walking tour. I have to say that I was pretty impressed. So impressed that I would highly recommend this tour to anyone, you can find them here: NEW BERLIN TOURS. The tour started at the Brandenberg Gate and covered the Holocaust Memorial, the only remaining section of the wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag, Hitler’s Bunker, the Air Defense Ministries Building, museums and galleries, finishing with the fall of the Berlin Wall story.

Next, some new friends (Jeff, BJ & Lindsay) and I grabbed a bite to each. We tried to go the the Guggenheim, however I failed to navigate us at that moment. We parted ways so they could see the Holocaust Memorial in its entirety. I looked into the Berlin Welcome Card so I can knock out a bunch of musems, then took a stroll through Tiergarten. Afterwards I backtracked to find the water bottle I misplaced at lunch and managed to find the Guggenheim. After some time there I went to the Reichstag, up into the observation dome. I finally was done and wanted to make sure I could find Checkpoint Charlie tomorrow so I went for another stroll. For a while I thought I was lost, then I was found. Once I figured out where I was and how to get where I wanted I headed for the Bahn for the trip back to Paula’s at 10PM (these long days are killing me).

So, go out all night (5:30 AM and I just made it back to the youth hostel), know you have a plane to catch, and start a post because you are scared to miss your plane if you go to sleep. I figure that staying awake is the best way to be up when Im supposed to meet Paula and Cameron to go to the airport at 10 AM. Unfortunately, breakfast does not start for another 2 hours, and Ill have to wait until then for some coffee. I guess that power nap yesterday afternoon and the red bull/vodkas really do keep you awake.

We did see the castle yesterday and it was pretty cool. Quite modernized, still cool. I cannot quite do it justice with words so I?ll commit to the pics later.

Since the last post I\ve spent a night in Berlin and a day in Slovenia. I had some time in Berlin so I took a nice stroll, then found the hollocaust memorial so I spent some time there. Then Paula, Cameron and I got together for dinner and beers.  Yesterday we flew to Slovenia and spent the day with drinks/food along the waterway. I ended up going out for a little of the night, and returned home to find the youth hostel I m staying at has happening stuff going on right next to it. Up to the castle today, more to come!

Well, I’m sitting in Arlanda Airport waiting for my flight to Berlin. Psyched to see my cousin, and at the same time very sad to be leaving Stockholm. I ventured up the cliff behind the youth hostel to watch the sunset. After climbing the stairs, I found park bench to watch from. It totally checked my intuition to watch the sun angle into the clouds instead of drop as I am used to. I can only immagine the mornings are similar, however try as I might, pulling the curtain aside from my bunk at 3AM didn’t cut it.

As I returned to the hostel I made some new friends from the US. Alyse and Lindsay were traveling from Cali. The three of us embarked on a mellow night of a few beers on the bar/boat (yes it was both) at the southern tip of old town. I’ve had a lot more water encounters this trip than most.

Well my last trip across Stockholm for this trip was nice. Soon I’ll board my plane for Germany. I hope this post finds you well!

I’d been told that I was getting lucky with the weather, and today proved it. Raining as I walked home last night, then through the night – it continued this AM. I was planning to rent a bike today to make it more fun, and easier to get around. However the rain on a rental bike didn’t really motivate me. So I was foot powered by walking. I toured three museums today. Nobel Museet, Vasa Museet and Skania. On the way home I stopped in for a really good Plank Steak in old town. I’m still trying to decide if I have another night of partying in me or not. I need to get to the airport by 11 AM, so really I can sleep as late as 9:30 without consequences – hmmm… perhaps! While I am having a great time, I am looking forward to seeing my cousin Paula tomorrow in Berlin! Last night was spent in the Rygerfjord hostel. The room is tiny. I’m pretty sure my closet at home is bigger than the entire room, and there are 4 bunks in it. Despite the rain I managed a decent 5-6 hours of rest last night and look forward to another nights rest.

One interesting observation I’ve had this past week. Being on time is not an issue. Not that I really have to, but when I want to get somewhere, and don’t have to drive it is pretty easy. I have yet to make up my mind about the reason for this phenomenon. Is it more daylight and therefore more time? Is it the excitement of something new and leaving the daily routine behind? Is it really easier without a car and are walking/public transport more efficient? Or is there some combination of all the above?

Oh yes, my camera battery completely quit today at Skania. Hope to recharge tomorrow, and post photos soon.

Jerry from our City Lodge Hostel convinced Mahin, Harry and I that we needed to to the “free cruise” so we allowed him to book us on a trip.  We thought it was a boat, but it was a monster cruise ship, Viking Line, a floating city.  It’s really popular with the locals, they show up with their collapsable dollies, load up 8-10 cases of beer in the duty free shop, and get the heck out of town for a couple days.  I have to say that the sunset from the sun deck was quite something, but it took forever.  Once the sun was down, for it’s typical short time, we checked out the on-board attractions, with a head start from our own stash of drinks.  The pub was nice, the magic show was entertaining even though we could not understand the language, but we opted for the disco.  We ended up closing it, and crashed.  I was woken by the ship’s engines starting up as we left the Finish Island we stopped at.  That’s OK, I’ll get my Finland stamp when I can spend some time there. 

Last night Brian, Malin, Annemo, Brad, Zack, Drew and I went out to Cafe Opera. As far as I can tell it is a supper club. After dinner, drinks, dancing and more drinks/dancing. They were about to kick us out for closing, when we met Elin. She happily took us to an after party on a boat which kept up until 5:30 AM. It was only a 2 minute walk to where I was staying, so I hit the rack shortly after that. I woke up at 12 noon, 1 PM and 2 PM, the latter finally stuck. Tonight Mahin and I leave on a tour boat of the Finnish Isles, aka “the drunk boat”. I’m sure we’ll make some fun of it. It is a 21 hour cruise through the baltic sea (I think). Anyway, time to hit the road again. Lata…

PS – The bike didn’t happen do to sleeping in.  Luckily the cleaning crew kicked me out to help me out of my jet lag/losing track of daytime.