Berlin

Next stop was Berlin, Germany. This will be compilation of the 2.5 days that I was in Berlin. I caught the train from Prague to Berlin and unfortunately I didn't have my own compartment (I sat with some random girl). It was really awkward when Border Control/ Czech police came by to look at our passports and our subsequent visas. I had purchased a Happy Meal in Prague and I kept the toy, and when I pulled out my passport the toy fell onto the floor and the police officer picked it up and handed it back. Awkward. Yet hilarious. It was nearly a 5hour train ride to Berlin and I just watched movies for most of the journey.



I stayed at Singer 109 Hostel. I had quite a lot of difficulty locating the hostel since the directions weren't overly helpful. In the end, I ended up asking this local German woman for help, me with my 0 knowledge of German and the elderly woman who didn't understand English. But she showed me in the end which was lovely. The hostel. I'm not entirely sure what it is. I feel as though it was serviced apartments but then they had several rooms for the dorms, therefore a hostel. It basically felt like a hotel. I believe I paid $6 AUD a night. Yes $6! Downside was that since it was low season, I felt that they didn't clean the bathroom properly. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.





After dropping my bags off at my 'hostel' I ended up just exploring the surrounding area. There was ice in the river (which I thought was really cool) and it was interesting to see that by the time I left Berlin, the ice had spread significantly. I also ended up at Maccas (free wifi, yes please) and the manager who served me was from Washington D.C and we started talking about the States and Australia ('You're an Australian too? Man you guys are like ants, you're everywhere!').

I had booked a walking tour with Berlin Walks and at €10 it was ridiculously cheap. It was also however, ridiculously cold. Out of the group of 10 people, 6 (including myself) were from Australia. It was quite enjoyable being on the tour, having someone to take my around. Usually, if it was cold, I would just walk faster but that really wasn't possible as I was in a group environment. Everyone was complaining about their feet being cold in their boots whereas my feet were warm (relative) even though the outer layer of my socks were wet. At some point, the tour guide made a stop at a little store so that people could purchase more socks/ gloves/ beanies.








'Mother and her dead son' statue




Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe






This was basically me. And I was still freezing. It is my nose that gets cold so easily and I don't actually know how I can even counter that... unless I wear a balaclava. Something else I have realised is that my hair is a lot browner than what I thought.


Honestly, I don't remember too much about the fine details of the tour but the places that it took us to are here

Originally, I was meant to meet with my Berlin Greeter however things came up and he wasn't able to meet with me. But nonetheless I decided to visit the area that he had originally suggested. I visited the East Side Gallery. I also bumped into a girl that I met on the tour the day before.






Karl-Marx-Allee

The Karl-Marx-Allee is a 90m/300ft wide boulevard stretching for 2km from the Frankfurter Tor to Alexanderplatz. The monumental street is lined with apartment blocks built in a socialist realist style.

Look at that ice.


My stroopwafel. It is meant to be chewy on the inside, however it was so cold that it completely hardened and was impossible to bite into.
My Overall Thoughts
Germany was quite different to all the other countries that I had visited. I didn't really have much of a first impression of Berlin. Neither loved it nor hated. It was just so-so. Perhaps it was the cold or perhaps it was just the gloomy and grey weather.

Would I re-visit?
Unsure.

Beaches

I had to drop off my take home exam at uni and I took it as an opportunity to have a day out. It was a nice break from being in front of my computer screen all day. I initially had plans to visit Warriewood Beach but in the end, I settled on Narrabeen Lagoon, Narrabeen Beach, Collaroy Beach and Long Reef Beach.












Upon returning to Australia early this year, I discovered that most Gloria Jeans had closed. I used to have two at my local shopping centre however they are both gone now. I used to only purchase the Iced Chocolate and I actually found one on my way back home.

Praha

19th-20th January 2013
When I think back to what I ate on a daily basis, I draw a blank. I can't remember what I ate for dinner. Or lunch. Prior to the Czech Republic, I had always been in an English speaking country or I could butcher my way through the names of roads or train stations. But with Czech words, I didn't even know where to start with my pronunciation. When I landed at the airport, unless I walked past it, I didn't even notice an immigration/ customs counter. I am not sure what happened, but for some reason I felt so sick and was feverish. It was actually a little scary because I realised that if I was sick, I was on my own and I would have to take care of myself. Luckily, when I woke up the next day I felt fine.

I worked at the Pie Shop for 4 years and everyone I worked with was from another country but was in Australia on a) working holiday visa or b) was a student. There was a guy from Czech Republic who I worked with all the time. We had a lot of fun together. I have great memories. He used to let me take an extended break so I could spend some time with my then boyfriend and I would let him spend some time with his "friend" (I was 99% convinced he was in a relationship with that married friend) and he would cover for me as I would for him. We experimented and made our own combinations of pies and when I had my Trials and HSC exams, he would let me study in the back whilst he served customers. It was really sweet; we always worked with each other so we were in tune and it was really nice feeling knowing that little things, he knew how many sugars I liked in my coffee etc. Anyways, I had promised him back when he was in Sydney that I would visit Prague one day. And I did.

He met up with me and it was lovely, although somewhat hard because whilst we were close coworkers, we weren't close friends. It was incredibly sweet that he went to the library, borrowed a tourist guide and then studied it before taking me around Prague (he lived 2hrs by train from Prague). I don't really know where we went, but it was all over the city. It was so cold. I had been spoilt with the warm weather in England and Italy and when I went to Prague, it was back to the < 3 degrees C. He laughed at me since he was wearing a t shirt, a rain jacket and that was it. Whereas I was bundled up in my coat, my scarf, my beanie, my gloves and was still freezing.














He took me out for lunch at a typical Czech cafeteria type of establishment. Apparently it is the normal place for business workers to eat at. He ordered for me.


A typical Czech dish. Svickova na smetane. He told me that the Czech cuisine centres on meat and sauce.

I don't really drink alcoholic beverages. I had asked Jan to get me the smallest size possible which is the one pictured and for himself, he had ordered a 1 L beer. In the end, I only had 90% of my beer and he consumed his and my beer too. He also tried to teach me to say "cheers" which is this but I just couldn't do it.

Prague Castle


An odd moment when you are on Charles Bridge and there is a busker playing the didgeridoo.


John Lennon Wall


My tour guide. He refused to take a photo or be in a photo so I had to sneakily take photos of him. Compare what he was wearing to the tourist on the left hand side.












Prague Castle was a little underwhelming. It was pretty, but all I could think was that my face was about to fall off. It was quite touristy (as expected). As we were wandering around, there were so many stalls selling mulled wine and we finally found the cheapest one and bought a cup each. Correction: he bought mine for me.


The wine was too hot and we wanted to drink it immediately so we placed it in the snow for it to cool down. It was quite funny.





It was really lovely catching up with Jan and having someone to take photos of me. Although it did remind me that he is a little ... odd. When I first met him many years ago, I was always a little wary of him. He has a weird vibe, serial killer type of vibe almost. Will I ever meet with him again, truthfully, probably not unless he happens to be in one of the European cities I visit next year.

I was in Prague for 2 whole days however I didn't do much on the second day. As Jan had already taken me to all the tourist sites on the day we were together, I spent the second day just wandering around the area. Didn't really stumble upon anything amazing or interesting. It was nice to just walk around in the lesser explored regions but I didn't take many photos.




My Overall Thoughts
Prague is known for the cheap beer and the cheap food. Of course, also the beautiful city. But mainly the cheap-ness of the whole city in comparison to other European countries. Which is so true! For the conversion rate from Euros to AUD, I roughly just had to times the Euro amount by 1.25. But when converting from Kč (Czech Crown) to AUD, roughly, all I had to do was divide by 10 and then divide by 2. For example, I bought a large loaf of bread for 10Kč which would have equated to $0.50ish.

Would I re-visit?
 I would love to explore more of the Czech Republic (there is a high chance of me returning as I would like to catch up with an exchange student). I would like to visit Prague in the warmer months. So I guess the answer is: yes, at some stage.