Rapher:Night Owl

I am back from my travels, or as someone put it, swanning about in Berlin missing episodes of Top Gear and Mock the week. 

Oh what a trip… Holy Moly it was (excuse the over-use of this word) *said in Barney-esq way* Awwwwsome! 

Tuesday 21st of June

All packed a WHOLE day early, get in. Next step, navigate suitcase onto two buses to travelate to the middle of not-quite-nowhere-but-close or as its better known, Chorlton. hehe I jest of course, tis lovely there. //off point// 

I was packed…can’t say same for rest of party *cue home-alone-esq sequence* last min use of the tumbly-dry…a rather quaint word of J’s for the tumble dryer. Packing done…some more organised than others and suitcases weighed…well within EasyJet** limits (yet to endure the joy that is a RyanAir flight) 

roll round to 11pm, house went to sleep, I didn’t…was wide awake and sat in the dark, unable to sleep partly due to anticipation of holiday and the usual insomnia. Next 4 or 5 hours spent watching a combination of late night television and episodes of Fawlty Towers.

**other airlines are available budget or otherwise 

Wednesday 22nd June

Next thing *shine* rudely awoken by the sun glaring at me to wake up through the curtains I carelessly forgot to close properly *yawn* 8am….needed to be at coach station before 11am to catch coach to Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport. House slowly awaken and began another mad rush to organise and make more last min prep. Further members of party join the gang at the house while we *await* taxi to take us to coach station. Berlin 2011 here we come. 

The 5 of us, are joined by a further 4 and we become 9 as we embark on next step of journey…to the airport. 

Check-in was all done using the interwebs, so baggage all nicely weighed and tagged is sent off to the plane via that bit of the airport you don’t see. Security, big question was ”Do I take my shoes off or not?” one by one stepped through the beeping gate way that didn’t beep. *Reassemble* …next Logical step? to the bar…well of course, start as you mean to go on as *they* say.

yadayada….skip ahead a hour or so…Plane times *zoom zoom*

flight time approx 1 hour 40 mins just enough time for a few games of Rummy and a bit of looking out the windows, watching the wing. 

One rather bumpy arrival and shaky landing, we arrived in Schoenfield Airport or Flughafen. then some mild confusion and two failed attempts to operate a ticket machine… everybody acquired train tickets for the week from a somewhat helpful lady at the tourist info place that spoke in a english/german hybrid language which was mostly german. However she armed us with one of the most useful tools for the whole trip…a map, I never went anywhere without it. It is still burnt onto my mind.

So at this point we are all down 33 euros and we haven’t even left the airport yet. After the usual english conversation about the weather and how its really really hot today isn’t it …we left the airport and heading to the Bahnhof or train station to catch what was going to the 1st of many trains not just that day but for the entire trip.  

one 30 min journey later the 1st 5 mins of which we weren’t entirely sure we were on the right train, we arrived in what would become our local station for the next week, Landsberger allee, J gave it a ‘lovely’ nickname (think it was based on her miss hearing it) which I shall not repeat, sure she’ll tell you if you ask. 

So we had arrived in Berlin…we had found our Hostel…the very Blue ( colour scheme, it wasn’t depressed) Generator Hostel. Cheap, location perfect for transport and local shops plus free breakfast. Oh and Happy Hour was 5-7pm Which made the gang v.happy, we arrived just in time. So check in and where to next? …well of course the bar where else. Gang plus luggage hit the Generator bar for a few beers and what was thought to be double vodkas and coke (tell you about that one in a bit). Once happy hour was over, up to the rooms we went. Me and J were in an eight bed dorm. There were two girls in the room as we arrived, they then left and we assessed what we had. Not too shabby for 12 euros a night. unpacked and all valuables locked away, we rejoined the group back in the bar where we worked out a plan for the night, with first things first being where to go for dinner.

- View of the hostel

So, this decided, we went to the pizza place opposite the hostel, how very german eh? Pizza that took an age to arrive and that wasn’t truely worth the wait or the price. Not only that but we waited a lifetime to receive the bill…running away was contemplated but we have morals….so we waited and in true british fashion moaned about waiting, then bill arrived eventually along with shots….so gang forgot momentarily about the delay. 

onwards to the rest of the night, our first night in Berlin, we wanted to kick things off big style….to the Iron Maiden bar or an Egyptian themed bar? turns out they were one and the same. Cue a night filled with mostly wandering aimlessly around an area called Friedrichstein, trying to find this bar…accidentally found a hockey/sports bar and met a very friendly bar-lady who didn’t speak a word of english and additionally O tried to order a grass bier instead of a Gross (big) bier (beer). Eventually we found the bar we were looking for. It reminded us a bit of satans hollow in Manchester albeit a bit quieter and cue awkwardness…it was clearly more of a local place and we were being less than quiet. It had by this point become J and S’s birthdays so bring on the shots ….erm Tequila with a slice for..wait thats not a lemon thats an orange. Ok then. 

It was quite evident that we were being quite noisy and mildly annoying to the other patrons of the bar. The place was quite subdued considering it was a metal bar… well till we showed up. Few hours later, after many beer mat flipping contests and after we’d completely decimated a candle or two, we attempted to locate the tram so we could navigate the way home. Finding the correct tram was a piece of cake, however trying to get drunk people to listen to you is another matter but we made it to the hostel in one somewhat wobbly piece.  To bed to dream of a fun packed day of sightseeing and birthdayness. 

…so thats the day one done…watch out for the next part of the sega…the BIRTHDAY DAY