Swampland and walls
Yes, I am in Berlin, a city reputedly named for being founded on a swamp (German's do seem to have a few littoral names for things). Have not yet recovered from Amsterdam, but I am still blaming that on not stopping for a rest until yesterday. Dave and Amy have now gotten to the point of leaving me in Berlin while they head off the the Czech Republic if I dont stop coughing. I took one day of rest and will not be joining much of the nightlife until the cold/fever/whatever goes away. Probably should do less during the day too as the two tours we did today left me completely exhausted and I am pleasantly surprised to find that I made it back to the hostel.
Before we got to Berlin we stopped off in a northern port town called Bremen. Quite a rich area in terms of money, so they rebuilt amazingly fast after the war, and even now the local population are all good looking people who take it easy. The town is one of those small tourist places that are not highly advertised yet, but they would like it to be. I liked the place and easily recommend it to other people who will be travelling in the area. They are quite happy to tell you a local folk tale of a donkey, dog, cat and chicken. What very few seem to remember is exactly which instruments each played (the tale itself gets hazy on that one too, saying the cat played "night music") and even though you can puchase many figurines, nobody sells the musical instruments. To be precise, only specialty music stores seem to have any musical instruments at all. I am perfectly willing to accept the laws of supply and demand on this one, but it does mean one less thing I can torment people with later.
Berlin still has the east and west divisions. The easiest indicator you are in East Berlin is that the cars are now trying to kill you. Most of the traffic controls do not exist, but apart from that most of it is rebuilt and not a lot different. A city has a function and the form will tend to follow that function, so therefore I did not see significant differences in the two halves of the city. To be fair, I am finding that with most of the cities.
We shall see what else Berlin has hiding in it's midst tommorow, but for now I have a bottle of water and a bed. Maybe I will even get out of bed early enough to enjoy a decent breakfast tommorow.
Before we got to Berlin we stopped off in a northern port town called Bremen. Quite a rich area in terms of money, so they rebuilt amazingly fast after the war, and even now the local population are all good looking people who take it easy. The town is one of those small tourist places that are not highly advertised yet, but they would like it to be. I liked the place and easily recommend it to other people who will be travelling in the area. They are quite happy to tell you a local folk tale of a donkey, dog, cat and chicken. What very few seem to remember is exactly which instruments each played (the tale itself gets hazy on that one too, saying the cat played "night music") and even though you can puchase many figurines, nobody sells the musical instruments. To be precise, only specialty music stores seem to have any musical instruments at all. I am perfectly willing to accept the laws of supply and demand on this one, but it does mean one less thing I can torment people with later.
Berlin still has the east and west divisions. The easiest indicator you are in East Berlin is that the cars are now trying to kill you. Most of the traffic controls do not exist, but apart from that most of it is rebuilt and not a lot different. A city has a function and the form will tend to follow that function, so therefore I did not see significant differences in the two halves of the city. To be fair, I am finding that with most of the cities.
We shall see what else Berlin has hiding in it's midst tommorow, but for now I have a bottle of water and a bed. Maybe I will even get out of bed early enough to enjoy a decent breakfast tommorow.