Happy Ending

I woke up this morning lying in a field of daisies. My sleepy eyes scanned the incredible view of the snow capped mountains in the distance. I could see the reflection of the Alps in the fresh water just a short distance away. A few split seconds later I remembered that I had slept the night in one of the many themed rooms that make up this wonderful hostel. We obviously are in room 013... the "Swiss Room". I looked around again and marveled at the badly decorated room. Giant red stripes with Swiss crosses cover one wall while giant frescos of the Alps cover another.

We collected our laundry from reception (here they do it all for you but charge 5 euros for a tiny sack). Never have I been so happy to receive fresh clean clothes. Unfortunately my favorite white polo shirt is ruined after an inconsiderate bird though it would be funny to "drop a bomb" on it whilst I sat on the beach. After several attempts to remove the stubborn stain I have finally given up.

After a brief walk around the neighborhood last night I quickly realised that our language challenge has been stepped up a notch. So far about 20% of the people here in Berlin are able to speak very good English and the rest don't understand a word. This means of course that simple requests like "how much is the internet?" or "where is the nearest ATM?" are extremely difficult to communicate. Unlike Italy, I don't think I will be able to pick up any of the language just from sitting in a cafe. It's a strange feeling to all of a sudden be submerged in a whole new environment after already experiencing mild culture shock just over a week ago in an entirely different country.

This morning I spent some time trying to orientate and familiarise myself with the city. As usual, I had lots of questions that needed to be answered before stepping out to explore.

Our first point of interest was Checkpoint Charlie, which used to be an official point of entry when crossing the border. I read at the nearby memorial that there is no other place in the world where the division between east and west was more apparent than here at Checkpoint Charlie. It's where a wall divided an entire city. The memorial which was called "All they wanted was freedom" consisted of hundreds, if not thousands, of large wooden crosses that have been erected in honor of all those who tried to escape (successful or unsuccessful). I start to realise how lucky I am that my generation inherited a greater inheritance than any other generation before mine - freedom and peace.

After buying a great book on Berlin Wall art, we accidentally stumbled upon a VW photography show which was being held in some sort of mall-like exhibition space. It included the great works of Peter Keetman, a photographer that was officially assigned by Volkswagen during the production of the very first VW Beetle.

As we walked around one of the main shopping and business districts in the city I was amazed at how quiet it was. I'm not quite sure where the 3.5 million inhabitants are living or working but it certainly wasn't here. The capital of Berlin is 9 times larger than Paris and has so much space that I don't think there is enough people to fill it. There is lots of new development here too - more so than any other city I have ever visited. I guess it's no wonder that to me, the city doesn't feel very "lived-in". Except maybe the area in where we are staying which is very relaxed and kind of 'grungy'. There are lots of small cafes and restaurants that cater to hip youths and not so well groomed students. The district is called Kreuzberg and it's located in the west, just south of the original divide. Kreuzberg was recently merged with its neighboring district Friedrichshain just across the river which is also home to underground bars and experimental galleries with what seems to be a friendly and diverse population.

Number of times Ali approached a German who didn't speak a word of English: 9

As me and Ali walked through Alexander Platz just passed the "TV Tower" we were approached by a film crew and asked if they could film us. We kindly agreed and let them position us on the fountain, "looking relaxed and enjoying Spring", as this was the theme for whatever they where filming.

Walked into an art exhibition and talked with the artist about her pop-art style paintings. I liked her work. Took a postcard.

At the end of our day, we went shopping at a very cheap supermarket on the way home so that we could cook dinner for ourselves. Ali took some hilarious photos of me holding strange German packaging, including a pack of toilet rolls which honored the brand name "Happy Ending". Frankfurters seemed to be appropriate after refusing to stop at the many vendors that we passed by on the way.

Cooked the franks. They were delicious!!!