The Berlin Trip and Pics

So overall the trip was fun but it had its bumps along the way. First of all the trip was not planned very well. We woke up at 7 in the morning on Friday so that we could leave for the train station at 7:30. The train was an experience all in itself. I was trying to get some sleep but I was sitting in the back of the car right beside the door leading to the next car, which had the food and bathroom. It seemed that every time I about dosed off someone would grab the back of my seat (for balance because the train was a bit shaky) and wake me up or the automatic doors would slam and wake me up. It was annoying to say the least and at the next stop I switched.

Anyways, during the ride (which was five hours I think) I read a guide book that someone had about Berlin to try to familiarize myself with the city. I found out that Berlin has one major train stop that pretty much all trains feed into which opened up in 2006 and that coming from Prague we would go to this stop. Well we stopped there but our professor said it wasnt the right one and we went to the next stop. Turns out that it was the right one (which I tried to tell him so) and it put a good extra 45 mins in our trip. But we made it. The hostel was great for the guys, the room was comfortable with bunk beds and real mattresses. The girls on the other hand had it rough. All the girls were piled into a huge room, all 10 of them. I think it was a mixture of drama and personality clash but I think many of them were ready to leave at the end.

On Friday we took a tram over to the Brandenburg Gate and Reigates. (seen below). Then we went out on the town for the rest of the night. I got a good nights rest on a comfortable mattress, which was like heaven compared to the beds we have in Prague.

Saturday we woke up and got a real breakfast at a resturant beside the hostel. Then we went to a meeting with a small design group in Berlin that Maura had set up for us. They had some really cool publication design, a lot of experimental stuff. They said that getting work in Berlin was hard though and that 70% of their clients are from the Netherlands. But a design job in europe might be a possibility one day for me?...so it was neat to meet them and see some of their work. Later on Saturday the group split up and I went with 5 others to Museum Island, where a lot of the museums in Berlin are. We went into the Paragamon Museum which housed remains of a Greek temple from Paragamon that had been brought back after the war. It was neat but we were tired and after like 10 mins we were fading. So we decided that a boat tour would be a fun activity, which it was. We were able to sit and relax while getting a view of Berlins very diverse architecture. Saturday night we grabbed dinner at a local restaurant and then crashed.

Sunday we woke up and the restaurant beside the hostel had an all you can eat breakfast. And wow what a spread. I think I ate 4 plates full. It was the best meal I have had since Ive been here. Afterwards we went to a local flee market that happens on Sunday and I got a really cool Army knife, complete with fork and spoon, and some really sweet posters and prints from two different designers. Then we went to a section of the Berlin Wall that had been preserved. It wasnt much but to think of what it stood for and to understand the complete fortifications was pretty big. After checking out the wall we went back and headed for the train. It was a good weekend and a great experience. I hope I can visit Berlin again in the future.

Lots of pictures to come...