GERMANY! part. 1
Let's begin with Berlin, now that I have a sturdy internet connection and no limits on time. FUCK YOU 7:30 PRESENTATIONS!!! Also I should note that I had lost my voice pretty much this entire trip. :/ It's slowly coming back.
We arrived around 20:00 at the Hauptbahn Hof, then made our merry way to the Pegasus hostel. The whole group was 19 people, and we then decided on bunking/room situations. After we get our 5th floor rooms we find out....there is no elevator. -__- My luggage was horrendously heavy (my own n00b fault) but I managed to get it on up there.
Dinner and a stroll around the neighborhood to catch our bearings...and sleepy time. Most of us were pooped (except LUKE that champ).
Next day begins at 6:00 (like all days to follow....ALL DAYS) and we have breakfast, then head out to meet our tour guide at 9:00. This guy set the bar for tour guides to come...the low bar. He rushed everyone from place to place on a 6 hour walking tour. We could hardly take pictures or gawk like tourists. He was pretty knowledgable but also kind of rude. There was the gay pride parade that same day and a few people did not want to attend, as is their right to not want to, but the guide gave them such a hard time. He was rude to the point that a few people gave in, that was NOT COOL. But Amber, Travis and a couple others including myself ditched Mr. Rude pants to see the parade on our own time. No rushing bullshit for us. We climbed the victory column and could see down the street to the Brandenburger Tor where THOUSANDS of people were packed all in partying it up.
We went to the hostel for dinner and rounded up Luke, and two people from N. Carolina, then went to see how the party was going. This night would mark the beginning of some beautiful new friendships between Luke, Travis, Amber and myself. Pimps Without Boarders as the boys would say.
On the U-Bahn we got to drink our beers, and at the street festival we got to drink more beers and other good drinks. Also dance dance dance until the music was done.
By this time we were pumped up and decided to go to a beach club, complete with sand, volleyball net and beach chairs. HA! Then we moved on to a club called Love Lite, but the music was trash so we went back to the hostel. It was 3:30 when we passed out, and 6:30 when we awoke...again....for touring.
The Potsdam, Schloss San Soucci, tour was one Amber and myself were super psyched for. However the guide was just as rude and rushy as the other man, only this one was also pretty boring. So we ditched him and went on our own adventure. :D
Then came 19:00 dinner, socializing and finally sleep.
Monday was a free day, and since I had blisters on my feet and Amber was tired from the Prussian marching guise'd as tours we rented bikes with two other cool cats.
This lead to some serious biking to museums that turned out to be closed. We shopped instead.
That was Berlin...in a nutshell....a SMALL nutshell because I am tired and got 2 hours of broken sleep on my flight. It is 8:00 in Winneden, which means I have been up for more then 24 hours. XD
We arrived around 20:00 at the Hauptbahn Hof, then made our merry way to the Pegasus hostel. The whole group was 19 people, and we then decided on bunking/room situations. After we get our 5th floor rooms we find out....there is no elevator. -__- My luggage was horrendously heavy (my own n00b fault) but I managed to get it on up there.
Dinner and a stroll around the neighborhood to catch our bearings...and sleepy time. Most of us were pooped (except LUKE that champ).
Next day begins at 6:00 (like all days to follow....ALL DAYS) and we have breakfast, then head out to meet our tour guide at 9:00. This guy set the bar for tour guides to come...the low bar. He rushed everyone from place to place on a 6 hour walking tour. We could hardly take pictures or gawk like tourists. He was pretty knowledgable but also kind of rude. There was the gay pride parade that same day and a few people did not want to attend, as is their right to not want to, but the guide gave them such a hard time. He was rude to the point that a few people gave in, that was NOT COOL. But Amber, Travis and a couple others including myself ditched Mr. Rude pants to see the parade on our own time. No rushing bullshit for us. We climbed the victory column and could see down the street to the Brandenburger Tor where THOUSANDS of people were packed all in partying it up.
We went to the hostel for dinner and rounded up Luke, and two people from N. Carolina, then went to see how the party was going. This night would mark the beginning of some beautiful new friendships between Luke, Travis, Amber and myself. Pimps Without Boarders as the boys would say.
On the U-Bahn we got to drink our beers, and at the street festival we got to drink more beers and other good drinks. Also dance dance dance until the music was done.
By this time we were pumped up and decided to go to a beach club, complete with sand, volleyball net and beach chairs. HA! Then we moved on to a club called Love Lite, but the music was trash so we went back to the hostel. It was 3:30 when we passed out, and 6:30 when we awoke...again....for touring.
The Potsdam, Schloss San Soucci, tour was one Amber and myself were super psyched for. However the guide was just as rude and rushy as the other man, only this one was also pretty boring. So we ditched him and went on our own adventure. :D
Then came 19:00 dinner, socializing and finally sleep.
Monday was a free day, and since I had blisters on my feet and Amber was tired from the Prussian marching guise'd as tours we rented bikes with two other cool cats.
This lead to some serious biking to museums that turned out to be closed. We shopped instead.
That was Berlin...in a nutshell....a SMALL nutshell because I am tired and got 2 hours of broken sleep on my flight. It is 8:00 in Winneden, which means I have been up for more then 24 hours. XD