Berlin

Hello again everyone...hoping all of you are well and enjoying the Christmas season wherever you are celebrating it.

I recently traveled to Berlin and really enjoyed getting to know another city. My friends and I arrived very early on Friday the 4th of December and stayed until the evening of Monday December 7th. Since we were there for a good amount of time, I really got a feeling of the city. I have to say, Berlin is nothing like what I expected. I was thinking more along the lines of New York...tall buildings, everything crammed close together, nothing green, etc. Boy was I wrong...

To start off, I knew that the city was big, but WOW was I surprised. Berlin's population is nearly 3.5 million, but it feels like more. Most of the buildings there aren't very tall, so in order to house everyone the city sprawls out, gobbling up smaller towns as it grows. Also, the amount of empty space in the city is astonishing. Parks, squares, and empty spaces are around every corner.

Another observation, Berlin uses many more above ground local trains that they do subways. I was surprised to find this out, again thinking everything would be more New York like... In Frankfurt, I can get from my dorm to the other side of the city in about 15-20 minutes. In Berlin it was muuuuch longer. Also, as with all cities here, there is no rhyme or reason to the streets. Each road twists and turns in all sorts of directions, making it nearly impossible to navigate the streets, even with a map.

Our hostel was really nice and very clean. Despite an incident with an Irish and a Fire extinguisher, the stay there was rather calm ;-) But oh yes, there was a pool table :-) It had been AGES since I've played and was really rusty, but it was fantastic nonetheless. At only 9 euros per night in a great central location it was a steal, and we even had our own bathroom...

Tomorrow, Sunday the 20th, I'm off to Manchester, England. I will be spending Christmas there with my friend Laura and her family. I'm really excited, and cannot wait to have an English Christmas! However, its supposed to snow buckets tomorrow...lets hope the flight isn't cancelled!