guten Tag

I seriously had travellers brain catching the Bahn to Berlin. First I didn’t have a clue which platform to go to with say 10 minutes until my train was due! A handsome man came to the rescue who happened to be catching a train on the opposite platform. We’ll ignore that fact that he was recovering from a night out & on his way home to bed! He got me to the platform with minutes to spare, made some small talk to keep me company & shared a farewell hug for his shivery although as the train pull up I realised I had no idea which carriage I needed to be on (my ticket was in german). Where was my handsome man when I needed him??? I jumped on the train regardless. Asked 2 clueless people for help & managed to get a backpack strap caught & took out a guy with my backpack!!! He took it well fortunately.  Finally the voice on the speaker came on in english & german. No food carriage due to technicalities (6 hour trip - great) & 1st class is in the final carriage…yep another clueless moment, that’s right, I paid slightly extra for that benefit so I knew where to go. It was a awkward transfer but I made it without taking anyone else out!

I was met with 1 other gentleman in our 6 seater compartment who seemed content to keep to himself…perfect! That is until he hopped off 2 stops later & was replace with an irritating couple (phones going off, loud chatter, crap everywhere & her random act of walking across to my end to shake her crumbs onto the carpet).  The man later warmed up to me as the train was stationary for 15 minutes. The wife had departed to find snacks, leaving him to make conversation. We were also joined by an older lady. The conversation surprised me as they asked about my tattoo with great interest & we shared our travel plans. The remainder of the trip went fast with the stunning landscape. The song 'Berlin' by RY X started to play on my iPod as we drew closer to our destination. Rather appropriate tune for the setting.

My stay in Berlin is brief but the location was rather perfect. I’m staying around the corner from the ‘Shiny disco ball’. Last time I stayed here the song may have been popular, forever imprinting the label on my mind. I jumped on a bus network that took me around the landmarks. I went through the neighbourhood I called home last time, bringing back some memories. Berlin continues to rebuild itself after all these years. Behind the Brandenburg Gates was a big soccer viewing setup that took away some of the landmarks beauty but they did serve some local delicacies which I demolished as I passed under the Gate. 

On returning to the bus, I seemed to be the only passenger this time. So far the company hadn’t impressed me much but the woman’s enthusiasm to make the most out of the one-on-on ride changed that. We were hitting peak our & traffic was slow so she went above & beyond to keep it interesting. After asking where I came from, she randomly insisted on giving me a dvd with 2 old wartime movies because I had come so far? Absolutely random but I do love my classic movies!  She warned me about gypsies & blind/deaf kids scamming people. I later was harassed by two ‘deaf kids' who in the evening passed my hostel while tearing up the ‘paperwork’ & dumping it in the bin. I hadn’t paid attention to what their game/scam was but they appeared to have been cured of their afflictions. 

On my return I rode up the ‘disco ball’ to take in the view. Honestly I think Berlin is more interesting from the ground. The city is rather flat so the views ran far & the horizon was peppered with modern windmills. There was an storm from one perspective but otherwise not overly interesting.

Back in the hostel, I got to meet my roomies. We discussed tattoos in-depth before they headed on their pub-crawl, leaving one traveller & myself to talk about every subject under the sun.