Willkommen in Berlin

We have arrived in Berlin, the most unhelpful city in the world. When we got to Berlin Tegel airport we headed straight for the "Information" desk to find the best way into the city. The desk was manned by a gruff German man who didn't seem that interested in helping. He finallz sold us two bus tickets and we had to change here, get off there, change here. We got a cab. In complete contrast to Holland where everyone is helpful and the trip to the city is easy as pie.

Our hostel here in Berlin is OK, it's very new and IKEA-like but somehow it lacks charm and atmosphere. Our first night we took a walk to Potsdam Platz in the city and were amazed how new and modern all the buildings were. It was like being in the future!

The next day, Thursday we decided to do a walking tour as we had heard that was the best way to see everything. We joined Brewer's Walking Tours at 10:30 and hoped to join the 4 hour tour. When we got there we were early for that tour but we could join the full 8 hour tour, so we thought why not for an extra €2. It turned out that the trip would be hosted by Terry Brewer himself and the day turned into a massive 10 hour walking trip of Berlin and all it has to offer. Terry was the best guide as at 70 years young he lived through the second world war and worked for the British Intelligence service and has spent many years in Berlin before and after the wall. If there is something Terry doesn't know about Berlin, it's not worth knowing. The man is an encyclopedia of information and has no problems with days, months, years of nearly every event to ever happen here. I think we must have walked about 40KMs but it really was worth it. The picture is of the Reichstag (parliament building) near the Brandenburg Gate.

After the mammoth walking trip yesterday we thought we would take things a bit easier today and go and have a closer look at some of the things we saw yesterday and take a visit to the Stasi Prison. Before we could do that we needed to book our train tickets to Prague so off we set for Freidrichstrasse Station. We got in the queue and politely asked the lady behind the "Information" counter if she spoke any English. She curtly replied "Nein." and that was that. I felt like saying "Rude cow" to see if she really didn't understand English but Jodie pulled me away.

Onto the "Tourist Information" centre at the Brandenburg Gate. The office is the size of a pea and 99% caters for German tourists! We picked up a leaflet to the Stasi Prison and asked the man how to get there as the leaflet was in German, he was nice and told us and also printed out the train timetable for Prague so we could just show the person behind the desk what we wanted.

We hopped on a tram at Alexander Platz and walked the distance to the Prison. When we got there the lady behind the desk told us that we were too late and there no more tours in English today. Grrrrr. The leaflet explains (in German) that the Prison can only be seen by guided tour at certain times. Now, my GCSE German is about 12 years old and to say it is rusty is an understatement! It has completely oxidised and discintergrated! We asked if we could just join a tour in German so we could at least wander around. They let us do this and didn't charge us the entry fee. There were some signs in English and the place is facinating, but not as facinating if I actually understood what the guide was carefully explaining to his group of (rude) Germans who clearly didn't want us (and the Swedish guy who also wanted a tour in English) tagging along. So we did our own self-guided tour and tried to work it out the best we could. The picture is of inside the Stasi Prison, looking down a corridor with cells on each side.

More updates soon...