Ich bin ein Berliner (April 24th)

Scott and I awoke from our romantic and cozy little B & B refreshed and luckinly NOT spooning. After flirting with the idea of buying a few gifts from Annaliese, Rick Steve's best friend, we decided against it hopped on our train to Berlin.

It's hard to remember cause it was so long ago, but I believe it was an insanely nice day. I know this because we were, of course, traveling. It's been the weirdest thing, but we swear that every single travel day has taunted us with it's nice weather...and then it's either cold or rainy when we have a full day in a city. Oh well...

Come to think of it, I believe the day started out rainy. We were on our first train and we were stopping at a station in the middle of nowhere when one of the passengers heads for the door and trys to tell us something....in German. Very confused, we soon gathered that we were to get off the train. We didn't really know what to do at the point so we got off and followed random people pointing us in different directions until we found a guy standing outside a bus. He was to drive us to the next town where we would then have to wait for the next train.

Now I have recalled this seemingly minor blurp of our day because we stopped and got a beer while we were waiting and took our only picture of the day. I know, it's just a lame shot of us drinking a beer, but man! don't you just feel like you are there with us???

We had heard a lot of cool things about Berlin. Our tour guide, Matt, told us that it was kind of like San Fransisco in the sense that it was kind of always changing. The most bizarre thing we found was that the Wall came down less than 20 years ago. It seems so long ago when you put a number on it, but it was actually VERY recently. They say that although the physical wall is gone, a sort of "Wall of the Mind" is still there for some Berliners.

When we got in, we made our way to Circus Hostel, which believe it or not, isn't really a circus...LAME!!! With that false advertising, we agreed to stay there only one night (which had nothing to do with that being the only night there was room in the hostel).

As with Munich, the first thing we did was set out for a Biergarten and found a very nice one about half a mile away. We got our food and beer and in theory it should've been the same experience as it was in Munich, but it wasn't. Berlin is actually quite different from Munich. They are both completely different types of Germany.

Munich to the south is located in Bavaria, while Berlin to the north is in the Prussian region (i think that's right). Munich felt much more "German" to Scott and I, or at least what we believed Germany to be. Everyone seemed jolly and happy, people shouting Pröst all around as they clanked their beers together, enjoying the festivity of the meal as people had done for hundreds of years before them.

However, in Berlin, culture seemed much more modern. People smoking and enjoying a quiet conversation over coffee was a stark contrast to the boisterous climate in Munich. It's a hard thing to describe, but the two felt very different.

After dinner, we updated our blog, which as you can see is badly in need of updating again. The night was spent drinking a beer in the lounge of our hostel listening to an Irish band. Again, didn't feel very German. Even the beer didn't taste quite the same...

We headed up to the streetside patio to finish our drinks before we went to bed. I quizzed Scott about a few facts that I read from a pamphlet I had gotten at the hostel. The most interesting one was about howKennedy's famous words, "Ich bin ein Berliner" literally translated.

No, it wasn't "I am a Berliner" as was his intention. It apparently translates into, "I am a jelly donut." I have no idea if this is actually correct, remember it was in the pamphlet, but nevertheless the crowd understood what he meant and everyone in Berlin cheered him.

As we drously checked the time on our watches (10:30pm), a tune came into my head. Indulging in the moment, Places Productions sprang to action and created the greatest song ever created, no big deal.

Eh hem...

One beer makes me want to go to bed (Scott falsetto: go to bed)

One beer makes me want to lay down my head (Scott falsetto: lay down my head)

Right now

(Scott falsetto: right now)

Right now

(Scott falsetto: right now)

I know everyone is dying to hear it and I'm sure you'll enjoy it when it comes onto your local radio station. But if you don't get a chance to hear it, have no fear....WE VIDEO RECORDED IT!!!!!!

Knowing there was no way we could ever top that, we went to our room which was brightly lit by a huge billboard and went to sleep.