Wednesday, September 28, 2005
28/09/05
This morning was our last morning in Krakow. I was sad to leave because I was loving the place so much. The people, the places and the history helped me to wake up smiling every single day. Fortunately I managed to find a snow globe at the last minute to remind me of our pleasant time in Krakow. We then caught the bus to the airport ready for our flight to Berlin. Of course the bus wasn't all it was cracked up to be (I hate catching buses with Packs!!) so it was a bit of a fight being pushed and shoved around luggage whilst Scott happily sat on his seat the entire 30 minute ride. The most exciting part was when a bunch of kids in a local village (we drove through paddocks and loads of farms) managed to place half a pumpkin on the bus just before the doors closed. It was amusing because all the older people on the bus started scowling and it was looking quite grim for awhile.
We managed to get on our flight to Berlin (hooray!). It wasn't the best flight because i wasn't feeling too good. It also didn't help that when we managed to catch the train, I followed the wrong directions and we went to the station that would be fondly known by Scott and I as 'Zoolander' station (Zoologicsher Garten). From there I was tired and couldn't be bothered catching more trains because it was raining, and i was not feeling well so we caught a cab to the cheap hotel.
It eventually dawned upon us why it was such a cheap hotel - it really was in the middle of nowhere. The only bonus was that it was right next to a metro station, so all was not lost. Once we had checked in and had a shower, we went out to find somewhere to eat and some nightlife. The thing we found really difficult was that it seemed that Berlin really didn't have "city centre" so to speak, but several areas that had restaurants, bars and clubs. We went to one of the popular night spots with loads of restaurants and a few people. It seemed like everything was really dead - especially around Alexanderplatz.
29/09/05
Sadly this was our ONLY full day in Berlin. It turned out that way purely because there were insufficient flights from Krakow to Berlin. We definately jam-packed as much into the day as possible. We started off by doing a 'Berlin Wall' walk, beginning with Checkpoint Charlie. I couldn't believe that the shed was still in tact although a lot of the memorabilia is now located in the museum. It was really interesting to see the original buildings (very few of them are left) and some watch towers that are still there.
We followed the metal line in the middle of the road which now denotes where the wall originally stood. We walked through a display of old german photographs in the 'Topographie of Terror' display. We walked through Potsdamer Platz to the Brandenburg Tor (Brandenburg Gate). We saw the Siegessaule column (victory column) before we headed to the East Side Gallery (on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall) which had some amazing works of art. It's a shame that people graffiti all over the works. It's really nice that some of the original works were re-created in 2000. Scott also managed to score himself a small part of the wall.
We then went down to 'zoolander' for some shopping, before heading back to Podtsdamer Platz where we found a fabulous Gelato store in the Aradem. The servings were huge and very YUMMY! After having a quick beer, we went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage before catching the train to the airport. Our flight was at 7pm and we managed to get back into London and home sweet home at about 11pm. It was nice to be back, but I definately missed the short holiday.
That night I had to unpack, wash and dry my clothes and re-pack for my journey to meet the family in Paris the following morning. It is insane to think that within 2 weeks I travelled through Hungary, Poland, Germany and France.
This morning was our last morning in Krakow. I was sad to leave because I was loving the place so much. The people, the places and the history helped me to wake up smiling every single day. Fortunately I managed to find a snow globe at the last minute to remind me of our pleasant time in Krakow. We then caught the bus to the airport ready for our flight to Berlin. Of course the bus wasn't all it was cracked up to be (I hate catching buses with Packs!!) so it was a bit of a fight being pushed and shoved around luggage whilst Scott happily sat on his seat the entire 30 minute ride. The most exciting part was when a bunch of kids in a local village (we drove through paddocks and loads of farms) managed to place half a pumpkin on the bus just before the doors closed. It was amusing because all the older people on the bus started scowling and it was looking quite grim for awhile.
We managed to get on our flight to Berlin (hooray!). It wasn't the best flight because i wasn't feeling too good. It also didn't help that when we managed to catch the train, I followed the wrong directions and we went to the station that would be fondly known by Scott and I as 'Zoolander' station (Zoologicsher Garten). From there I was tired and couldn't be bothered catching more trains because it was raining, and i was not feeling well so we caught a cab to the cheap hotel.
It eventually dawned upon us why it was such a cheap hotel - it really was in the middle of nowhere. The only bonus was that it was right next to a metro station, so all was not lost. Once we had checked in and had a shower, we went out to find somewhere to eat and some nightlife. The thing we found really difficult was that it seemed that Berlin really didn't have "city centre" so to speak, but several areas that had restaurants, bars and clubs. We went to one of the popular night spots with loads of restaurants and a few people. It seemed like everything was really dead - especially around Alexanderplatz.
29/09/05
Sadly this was our ONLY full day in Berlin. It turned out that way purely because there were insufficient flights from Krakow to Berlin. We definately jam-packed as much into the day as possible. We started off by doing a 'Berlin Wall' walk, beginning with Checkpoint Charlie. I couldn't believe that the shed was still in tact although a lot of the memorabilia is now located in the museum. It was really interesting to see the original buildings (very few of them are left) and some watch towers that are still there.
We followed the metal line in the middle of the road which now denotes where the wall originally stood. We walked through a display of old german photographs in the 'Topographie of Terror' display. We walked through Potsdamer Platz to the Brandenburg Tor (Brandenburg Gate). We saw the Siegessaule column (victory column) before we headed to the East Side Gallery (on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall) which had some amazing works of art. It's a shame that people graffiti all over the works. It's really nice that some of the original works were re-created in 2000. Scott also managed to score himself a small part of the wall.
We then went down to 'zoolander' for some shopping, before heading back to Podtsdamer Platz where we found a fabulous Gelato store in the Aradem. The servings were huge and very YUMMY! After having a quick beer, we went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage before catching the train to the airport. Our flight was at 7pm and we managed to get back into London and home sweet home at about 11pm. It was nice to be back, but I definately missed the short holiday.
That night I had to unpack, wash and dry my clothes and re-pack for my journey to meet the family in Paris the following morning. It is insane to think that within 2 weeks I travelled through Hungary, Poland, Germany and France.
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