Berlin's Tale

A captivating history and great, cheap food and beer would be my best attempt at summarising Berlin in nine words or less. Oh yeah, and the rain. Ten.

The first night we got there we were so tired from Amsterdam so we kept it short. A delicious dinner down the road and a quick walk around the entertainment area of Berlin and we were already in bed. The food in Germany is very heavy but delicious. I had sausages 'nurnburger' style with fried potates, pickled cabbage and a salad drenched in dressing.

The next day we were supposed to go on an early morning tour of the city but when we woke it was pouring down rain so we caught up on some more much needed sleep. When we finally did get up we grabbed some breakfast, my first heated chocolate-filled croissant, and definately not my last. What a treat!

Later that afternoon the sky had cleared a bit so we joined up with the later tour. We started just near the hotel and got a brief overview of the city's history and culture. I honestly never knew the history of Berlin that well and I was amazed at just how intense and complicated it was and just how recently some of it occurred. We ran from point to point as our tour guide pointed out a few of the major historical sites and buildings and told the story behind them. Halfway through, the rain settled back in again and we all pulled out our umbrella's, looking more like a mobile shelter than anything else.

The tour covered a fair bit of ground. We started at Hackesher Markt then hit Museum Island, Book Burning Square, Checkpoint Charlie, a part of the old Berlin Wall, Hitler´s Bunker, the Jewish Memorial, Brandenburg Gate and the very grand government building among many other hotspots.

We had to run through the rain for the train back to the hostel. Completely soaked and sniffling an ocean, we quickly changed and went out to meet everyone for the pub crawl. It was so much fun. In Berlin, as in most of Europe, you can drink on the streets wherever you want. We sat around for a while drinking shots and warming ourselves up in the rain. The first bar we went to was kinda small and very empty before we arrived. I suspect these places would pay just to have them on the list of pubs. We had our free drink, sat around for a while chatting and meeting new people, then headed off to the next bar for another free drink but not before all 30 or so of us kneeling down at the feet of our pub crawl guide on the street while he poured a "shot" down our throats. This went on pretty much the same until our fifth and final bar where I couldn´t possibly drink anymore and staggered back to the hostel. Casualty #21.

Another rainy morning in Berlin and we managed to get out of bed with enough time left in the day to drag ourselves over to Checkpoint Charlie Museum where we met up with Karen again. After lunch we headed into the museum and wandered off separately, completely engrossed by the story of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and the many, many inventive attempts to escape from former East Germany to former West Germany. Speakers, car engines, underwater propellers and hot air balloons - people used the most impressive means to escape. Some far less successful than others. Still in a Berlin Wall history lesson mood, we caught the train to Ostbahnhof to see the largest piece of the Berlin Wall still standing and covered in artwork currently being restored.

While we were there we walked past some band during sound check in an old, abandoned warehouse. On our way back there was a guy standing outside the gate doing signings and not knowing who it was, we went up and got him to sign the first thing we could find in our bags. As it turned out, the guy was from 'The Killers' and they were performing sound check for their concert that night.

The weather had cleared up by then so we shot up TV Tower and got a bird's eye view of the massive city that is Berlin. For our final night we went out for Thai with a couple of other Busabouters from the hostel, Nathan and Ta. It was a great spot Karen had found earlier, the food was bloody brilliant. I ate every last bit, down to the last grain of rice. We said goodbye to Karen and everyone else then headed to bed. That was Berlin.

Take Me Back!

Amsterdam would definately have to be my favourite city so far (although that´s not set in concrete just yet, I´m on the bus to Barcelona right now). I was amazed at how comfortable I felt doing anything at all there, it really was a home away from home. It was our first city we visited and I didn´t feel at all a foreigner. Of course, Amsterdam is quite an accommodating city. Most people we met spoke great English and we had no troubles at all getting around.

The architecture was stunning. There was so much detail everywhere we looked. The streets were all over the shop, the footpaths were dramatically uneven and buildings leaned this way and that and looked as though they were about to fall over. I know it sounds horrible but it was the complete opposite, especially since the cars had to give way to practically every other mode of transport. Everyone smiles at each other and says hello. It´s like the entire city is one huge, warm hug.

We Survived The War

Wow, what a ride! Words can't even explain how brilliant Sensation White 2005 turned out to be. It was, quite simply, perfect. I had waited four years to go and it was worth every minute of it.

Picture this - Amsterdam Arena (the size of Telstra Stadium), Kat and I dressed in our white tennis gear, racket not included, along with Irma, Grant and Arnold also dressed in white, Irma in her massive white fur vest, dancing in the middle of the arena with 45,000 of our closest friends all dressed in white while David Guetta drops 'The World Is Mine' with live vocals! It was epic.

The theme for the night was about a futuristic man vs machine war that's erupted across the entire world. The story goes something along the lines of humans creating machines intelligent enough to realise us pitiful humans were merely a waste of space and determined to extinguish the entire race. They pulled it off impressively, I couldn't imagine it could of been done any better. There were fireworks, actors, massive screens with wicked visuals, a chick voice-over robot telling the story throughout the night. The highlight would have definitely been the Megamix, a half-hour or so long mix of all the biggest trance and house tunes hitting the floor these days. We saw them preparing for it up in the stadium steel beams a few minutes beforehand and knew it was going to be sweet. Next thing the music screeches to a halt and the robot narrator informs us all the machines are launching a full scale attack against us and our only weapon of defense is the Megamix. Guys dressed in black bungy jumped from the beams holding laser guns slicing through the crowd among a billion pieces of silver foil as the Megamix got revved into gear. Machines appeared on the stage right in front of us 'attacking' the crowd with their lasers. I'm embarrassed to say but I was actually a bit frightened. As the attack went on our defense system moved into place and fireworks representing missiles shot up into the arena. There were awesome fireworks setup that were supposed to be shots ricocheting off the walls, the lights, the TV screen, all above our heads. I guess we won because the next time I looked around all the machines were gone and I didn't see them again apart from a few here and there partying with the rest of us.

The whole night was made even better by just how great everyone we met was. The people there were so nice and it was surprising that every single one of them could speak pretty much fluent English. Not only that but they seemed ecstatic to meet someone they could speak English with. Actually, there was this one chick who grabbed my phone while I was texting a friend back home and started speaking Dutch at me. She was giggling and everything and when she realised I didn't understand a word of what she was saying she literally ran off from embarrassment. Quite bizarre really. Where we were dancing was where all the dancers and DJ's were coming through the crowd to get to the DJ booth and stages in the middle of the Arena. I was lucky enough to shake hands and say 'hi' to David Guetta after his set, it was so damn cool!

I couldn't believe it and was extremely surprised when Irma dragged us over to meet her friend from Sydney who'd come over and met her there, and it was one of my friends Karen! Neither of us remember the next five minutes after that because we were so excited and overcome, it was really weird running into someone I knew like that, but apparently we were screaming and hugging each other like we were long lost relatives. Another unbelievable part of the night was when the one of the world's top classical piano players, Jan Vayne, appeared on stage and mixed it up with Armin Van Buuren for half an hour or so. You'd never think of it but it was great. You can checkout photo's and video of the Sensation White 2005 party at http://www.id-t.com/ if you can get past the Dutch.

It got light at about 5am and flooded the Arena through the glass rooftop. Probably not one of the nicest moments of the evening as I looked around at all the rubbish everywhere. It all wrapped up a bit after 7am and we all caught a cab back to Arnold's place after fighting with the cab driver who was trying to rip us off something chronic. Contemplating about going out into the city for lunch over a few glasses of champagne, we eventually did and went to a gorgeous restaurant for some more drinks and a great tasting bread with goat's cheese and honey. It's really yummy, you should all try it. After a few minutes we met Fermin. Fermin is from Spain.

Later on that evening we hauled ourselves onto a cruise near Centraal and basically danced ourselves crazy while cruising around the outskirts of Amsterdam. I met some more friendly, fun dutchmen who were always up for a good chat. The boat was rather impressive - a rooftop deck fully equipped with a DJ where we spent most of our time, a pub/lounge mid-level and a nightclub down the bottom with fully illuminated walls. I somehow managed to get the bartender to bring me drinks from the bar to where we were laying about in the nightclub. Feeling a bit like royalty, we left the cruise around 11 and headed to Arnold's favourite bar. Deliriousness, population all six of us, spent the next hour acting like complete crazies and laughing until we cried.

Back to Arnold's place far later than we should have, we all collapsed, some making it barely a few feet from the door. Three hours of sleep later had Kat and I running through the streets of Amsterdam back to the Hans Brinker in the rain to catch the bus to Berlin. Absolute blast of a time!

Amsterdam. Was Good? Was Great!

When thinking back on our time in Amsterdam, I don't even know where to begin when trying to describe just what a great time we all had. I guess I'll just start from the beginning...

Touching down in Amsterdam early Friday morning after almost 24 hours in transit, I had no idea of where to go or what to expect. It was definately a major one of those "Well... what now?" moments. Trying to gain our bearings, we took a seat at Burger King, Schiphol Airport and attempted to eat breakfast without inhaling too much cigarette and "happy smoke". After a few photos of us posing beneath massive Amsterdam airport signs (and one of some lady's massive butt, don't ask me how that got in there), we headed down to catch the train. With our second-class ticket in hand and a train about to set sail we jumped in the nearest cabin, which turned out to be first-class, and giggled like schoolgirls the whole way to Amsterdam city from all the excitement.

Since we weren't really sure when we could make it to Irma's brother, Arnold's place to stay for a few nights, we had no reservation but were (un)fortunate enough to get a room for the night at Hans Brinker Budget Hotel - "Now with FREE flushing!". I had a massive blonde moment when the lady told us the price of our room. Completely overcome by the whole experience I asked "Is that in Amsterdam dollars?". She gave me a weird kind of look before I realized what I'd just said. Dumping our stuff and getting out of there as soon as possible, we wandered around senselessly and maplessly for a good few hours before spontaneously deciding to hire a bike for the day on a coffee-inspired rush. To anyone that's planning on going to Amsterdam, I highly recommend getting a bike as soon as you get there and riding around in the morning for a few hours. You really get a great sense of the place as well as learning all the hot spots to go (along with one red-hot spot!), it's definately a highlight of my trip.

Once we'd had enough of riding around (that is, Kat had fallen off or almost been run over a few too many times and I'd almost been flattened by a tram) we headed back to the hostel to move our stuff into our... "room". Leaving the good ol' Hans with a foul taste in our mouths, we headed to Rembrandtplein to wash them out with some divine tapas and beer (side note, from here on out, whenever I mention food it's quite safe to assume it was 'and beer'). Shout out to the little kitty that kept jumping up into my lap for some calamari (or perhaps the beer, he was walking a little funny come to think of it). One thing I noticed in Amsterdam was how often people asked if it "Was good? Was good?". Coffee, bike hire, lunch, trying on clothes... I wonder if the red-light-ladies extend the same politeness to their 65 Euro 'SnF' customers. How do I know the price you ask? Keep guessing...

During one last tipsy ride back to the bike depot we stumbled upon the Red Light District, which was interesting to say the least. There were ladies in little rooms with windows and a door everywhere. One scrag was standing in her doorway having a cigarette with one hand and trying her best to entice any of the numerous pommy louts with the other. Some guy in one of the laneways asked me if I wanted to get a piercing, and told me if I got everything pierced I'd get a discount. We headed back to the hostel for Happy Hour, and even though it was Amsterdam, the happy hour there was of the traditional type. As opposed to happy three hours down at the 'White Dolphin' shortly after, but I'm putting that and many other stories from Europe in the 'zipped file'.

I'll say this though - Pringles and Peanut M&M's rule.

It's amazing how long the sun stays up for in Europe. It was still light when we got back to the Hans at 10pm, which didn't help the jet lag at all. We fell asleep that night in our dirty hostel after twenty minutes of eating without saying a word while our crazy French dormies burnt incence, got drunk and basically displayed some of that great 'French charm'. I woke up in the middle of the night with Kat literally curled up in a ball at my feet (do I need to point out the irony?).

The next morning we got breakfast at the hostel restaurant, your standard toast, cheese and ham combo I've come to discover is the only breakfast hostels know how to dish out. We then went shopping for our clothes for Sensation White and decided on the spot we'd go along as tennis players for the night. After buying our whole outfit for less than 100 Euro each, we thought we'd get all the touristy type stuff out of the way while we still had the chance. I couldn't imagine anything worse than walking through the Anne Frank house after a huge night partying in Amsterdam.

We stumbled upon the Anne Frank house after spending far too much time searching for a mango smoothie (and only finding alcohol - the first time ever it was actually a problem). The queue wasn't too bad at that stage so we decided to go ahead with it. The place is incredibly moving. From the moment you walk in you're completely immersed in the Anne Frank world. Miniature house models, video footage of the opression with diary entry voiceovers, excerpts from the diary all over the walls along with posters and equipment from the jam company the office was originally used for... and that's just the museum next door.

There's an eery feeling about walking into the actual Anne Frank house where it all happened. There may be tens of people around you at any one time but no one says a word, completely captivated by the overwhelmingly sad yet sometimes cutesy heroic story the house has to tell. The most intense part of the tour is when you walk up the practically vertical stairs into her room where you can still see all the magazing cutouts she posted on her wall, one of the very few normal things she ever got to do as a teenager. Some people in the room were so touched they were even crying. It's not a pleasant place to experience but it's definately a tale that needs to be told. One thing that got to me was that if this is how strongly the story of one person can sadden you, how would anyone cope with all of the many other stories that have gone untold during that time?

The Van Gogh Museum was next after lunch. We discovered a massive ferris wheel on our way there which we were both more than happy to jump on. The view was breathtaking. The city of Amsterdam itself feels rather small compared with others but the amount of surrounding buildings and their architecture was quite simply phenomonal. I managed to get an amateur 360 video, finding it humanly impossible to keep turning towards the end and almost falling awkwardly from my seat.

Inside the Van Gogh museum and I'd have to say the place was... well... interesting? I guess I'm not really much of an art gallery type. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed walking around and seeing some impressive techniques as well as the original pieces that have become world renowned, but those moments were few and far between. More embarassingly, I tried to get into the swing of things - you know, "His hand held the paintbrush that stroked the canvas I'm standing right in front of" and "Wow, doesn't his artwork get much more defined towards the end", but I ended up sounding like a prize fool. Lesson learnt - never step foot inside an art gallery again. Incredible boredom ensues.

Meeting up with Irma, her brother Arnold and her boyfriend Grant, so began our wild, authentic Amsterdam experience.