A hard summer in Berlin....
...well, if it's one thing I learned from this weekend it's to plan better in advance.
If it's a second thing, don't go to any major European capital when it's the World Cup Weekend!!
A third could possibly be to never get the night train from Sweden to Berlin when it's the middle of summer!!!
After having scoped the various travel options & prices I decied that it would be cheapest, least expensive and least stressful to get the night-train direct from Malmö to Berlin. I regretted this as soon as I stepped onto the train to find that there was no aircon and the average temp in the carriage was 34degrees :(
The 30min trip to Trelleborg for the ferry crossing did nothing to relieve the sauna like temperatures with only little ventilation through half open windows. After a brief chat with Lizette on the deck of the ferry before I lost signal I retired to the train to try to sleep. 3hours later I awoke again in an airless cabin feeling extremely claustrophobic so I made my way back to the deck for the final hour of the crossing to Rostock. On arrival we had to board the train again for disembarkation, reluctant to return to the cabin again I stood for a while chatting with an american girl who was on a european tour with a friend.
Finally, after sitting in a siding waitting for the goods waggons to be unloaded we were rolling again and the cooler night air made a definate improvement in the cabin temp so that I was able to sleep again for the last 3hours to Berlin.
I arrived at 6am with no real plan of where to stay having hoped that Chris might be available. Eventually I hooked up with 3 american guys in search of a hostel only to find that the one we wanted had limited rooms and no chance to check in before 3pm. By 8.30am I was bored of waiting for something to happen and two of the yanks had checked into the cheap hostel. I ventured a quick surf for some better hotel options and managed to find one that wasn't stupidly overpriced or miles out of town.
Despite the hotel checking being 2pm myself and the other american headed over there with plan to wait in what would almost certainly be a more comfortable reception. Arriving at about 9.15 I was delighted to bbe able to check-in immediately and we soon found ourselves in a palatial twin room for some much needed sleep.
I'd planned to meet Janet that afternoon for a catchup and surprisingly spent the whole day sleeping and then meeting the other two yanks who'd bailed out of the hostel after hearing that I had a suite ;) before heading off to meet her. We had a very pleasant chat over some Thai food before she dropped me off at Insel around 8pm.
The club remained quiet until just before midnight but still failed to reach the capacity it had when Andreas, Magnus and I were there previously, mainly dues to the heat and the fact that there was another club night running elsewhere in Berlin.
Still, it was a really fun night with myself and Marvin playing together on one floor all night until 6am, loads of time to fit in all the tunes I wanted to spin :)
I traipsed back to the hotel, arriving about 8.30am just in time for breakfast :) only to find that we couldn't extend the room booking as we'd planned (the yanks wanted the room an extra day), so after only 2 hours sleep I had to move on again. We headed into town and checked out a few hotels and searched online, but with the world cup in full swing there were no rooms left anywhere in the city center!
Eventually, after wandering around for a couple of hours & trying to find a place for the guys to drop off their rucksacks I managed to get hold of Eskil & was able to head over to his place for some welcome crash-space.
Thanks to Eskils hospitality I slept all afternoon before leaving for the station around 10pm to get the night train back. This time the weather was a little more temperate and the extra time travelling before boarding the ferry allowed the carriage to cool down considerably. I managed to sleep pretty much all the way back to Malmö :) arriving 8am with enough time to get home & shower before heading into the office.
An eventful and fun weekend, in a special kinda way ;)
If it's a second thing, don't go to any major European capital when it's the World Cup Weekend!!
A third could possibly be to never get the night train from Sweden to Berlin when it's the middle of summer!!!
After having scoped the various travel options & prices I decied that it would be cheapest, least expensive and least stressful to get the night-train direct from Malmö to Berlin. I regretted this as soon as I stepped onto the train to find that there was no aircon and the average temp in the carriage was 34degrees :(
The 30min trip to Trelleborg for the ferry crossing did nothing to relieve the sauna like temperatures with only little ventilation through half open windows. After a brief chat with Lizette on the deck of the ferry before I lost signal I retired to the train to try to sleep. 3hours later I awoke again in an airless cabin feeling extremely claustrophobic so I made my way back to the deck for the final hour of the crossing to Rostock. On arrival we had to board the train again for disembarkation, reluctant to return to the cabin again I stood for a while chatting with an american girl who was on a european tour with a friend.
Finally, after sitting in a siding waitting for the goods waggons to be unloaded we were rolling again and the cooler night air made a definate improvement in the cabin temp so that I was able to sleep again for the last 3hours to Berlin.
I arrived at 6am with no real plan of where to stay having hoped that Chris might be available. Eventually I hooked up with 3 american guys in search of a hostel only to find that the one we wanted had limited rooms and no chance to check in before 3pm. By 8.30am I was bored of waiting for something to happen and two of the yanks had checked into the cheap hostel. I ventured a quick surf for some better hotel options and managed to find one that wasn't stupidly overpriced or miles out of town.
Despite the hotel checking being 2pm myself and the other american headed over there with plan to wait in what would almost certainly be a more comfortable reception. Arriving at about 9.15 I was delighted to bbe able to check-in immediately and we soon found ourselves in a palatial twin room for some much needed sleep.
I'd planned to meet Janet that afternoon for a catchup and surprisingly spent the whole day sleeping and then meeting the other two yanks who'd bailed out of the hostel after hearing that I had a suite ;) before heading off to meet her. We had a very pleasant chat over some Thai food before she dropped me off at Insel around 8pm.
The club remained quiet until just before midnight but still failed to reach the capacity it had when Andreas, Magnus and I were there previously, mainly dues to the heat and the fact that there was another club night running elsewhere in Berlin.
Still, it was a really fun night with myself and Marvin playing together on one floor all night until 6am, loads of time to fit in all the tunes I wanted to spin :)
I traipsed back to the hotel, arriving about 8.30am just in time for breakfast :) only to find that we couldn't extend the room booking as we'd planned (the yanks wanted the room an extra day), so after only 2 hours sleep I had to move on again. We headed into town and checked out a few hotels and searched online, but with the world cup in full swing there were no rooms left anywhere in the city center!
Eventually, after wandering around for a couple of hours & trying to find a place for the guys to drop off their rucksacks I managed to get hold of Eskil & was able to head over to his place for some welcome crash-space.
Thanks to Eskils hospitality I slept all afternoon before leaving for the station around 10pm to get the night train back. This time the weather was a little more temperate and the extra time travelling before boarding the ferry allowed the carriage to cool down considerably. I managed to sleep pretty much all the way back to Malmö :) arriving 8am with enough time to get home & shower before heading into the office.
An eventful and fun weekend, in a special kinda way ;)