Germany rocks

Remnants of the Berlin Wall

New Berlin Tours has a free 4-hour walking tour of Berlin which I highly recommend. Interesting and informative, especially for people like me who slept through any and all world history classes. Stories of the Reichstag and how Hitler came to power, through WWII and his suicide, on to Soviet control and spies and such. My favorite story was how the Wall came down... I think we all know it was an inevitability, but according to our tour guide, it would have happened at a much later date but for a goof up on the part of the East Germany Press Secretary. Vodka and public speaking apparently don't mix when you're unprepared for question and answer sessions. Anyways if you ever go to Berlin, make it a point to head on this walking tour. But try to choose a day when it's not zero degrees and raining/snowing. Four hours in the freezing rain isn't terribly pleasant, even when you're being entertained.

The day after I got to Berlin I met up with Ian and did a bit of exploring before meeting up with the lads from Lluther and Moth Complex. They were playing a gig that night at Sage Club, which of course was spectacular. We had planned to hang out in Berlin the next day, but circumstances put us heading to Hamburg the next morning. Cool for me, 'cause I got to see the Reeperbahn and a tiny bit of Beatley stuff. Uncool because it meant not getting to spend much time with Aoif and Ger and Ro and company. Ian and I caught the train back to Berlin that same evening. German trains are pretty comfy, even in 2nd class.

All in all it was a great trip; I had never listed Germany very high on places I wanted to go, but now I see I was fooooooolish. Berlin was really beautiful. It has so much history, and best of all is really clean and organized; I sometimes miss living in a 1st world country. It was so cleeeeeeeaaaan. Like, recycling and stuff. I'll have to write a letter to King Mohammed VI and get him to make littering illegal in Morocco. Another day, perhaps.