So one week since the hair incident and believe me there have been more incidents since. The sunday after we did nothing because apparently the world shuts down on sunday so bread rolls with the last of our salami for dinner yay! Monday we're back the touristing again! It's minus four degrees and we head into Alexander Platz. I'm thanking god for the jacket I found/ stole from falls. But disaster - my trusty gumboots have broken! I have a split in the sole and walking in the snow means that my feet are losing sensation pretty quickly. We ditch the idea of the walking tour and head to check point charlie. We look at the wall go into a very interesting stasi museum and look at another museum which shows hilters rise to power. The dreary weather aptly matches the mood of the museums. We finally get a sim card on the way home and I arranged the whole thing in German :D Also we have a new neighbour, from Switzerland. Sadly for me, I forgot his name instantly but he was lovely and we are going to hang out soon.
Then next day we went to Potsdamer Platz. We may have to go back there though coz I didn't think it was that great and so it needs a chance to redeem itself. Though we now know where the Berlin library is and the Philharmonic is. I try to order Alex some Ice Cream but he gets a hot chocolate instead. haha, serves him right for ordering ice cream in sub zero temperatures. We of course rectify it in awkward english german. Alex finally buys a beanie and then we prepare to go out on a pub crawl. We meet at a very cool bar a few stations away from us. An irish girl is leading the tour and we immediately meet 3 other Australians. From Melbourne, South yarra, Clayton and caufield more specifically haha. Theres a guy from Boston and a couple from england. Then theres a french brother and sister and their cousin. A couple of others. We head to a ping pong bar (so the stasi cant hear you apparently), then to a metal pub, then a quiet fancy one theeeeennnn I think we went to the club. The club was very cool. It was a bombed out train station. We're some of the last standing at the club. The french trio were lovely but weirdly close with each other. Eventually Alex dragged me off the dance floor and we headed home. I woke up fully clothed hahah. But we didnt lose anything! At first I thought I had lost money but then we just recounted how many drinks I bought and it made sense. I didnt do much the day after.
On the thursday its cleaning and washing day! We go on a wild goose chase for a laundromat, because apparently if you google that here they think you mean dry cleaners. Turns out there was a laundromat 500 metres from where we were staying. HAHA. We only spent 3 hours looking for one. We did some shopping. Then cleaned the apartment which was only a bit out of control :/ We ask our neighbour if he wants to get dinner with us but he declines but asks us to hang out later coz he's watching the football. Later we meet him. show him the youtube clip of Nathan Browns broken leg to demonstrate Aussie rules then head out to Friedrichschrain! We hit up a mexican bar where so very loud Dubliner called Cate and Londoner called Sean decide to join us and shout us rounds after discovering we were from Melbourne. The fix planes for a living and sure can drink. The offered us lifts around Europe and cheap bike hire in Amsterdam if we just mention their name. We then headed to a metal pub with them and play pool. Then simon and Alex decide its time to go home and Cate makes me promise to paint gaelic swirls on myself for st patricks day even though she thought st patrick was a wanker... or something along those lines. I borrow a bathroom in a hotel on the way home and as compensation offer myself up for employment as compensation.
Feel terrible the next day - what is in German beer?? We buy tickets to Munich for Juliane's birthday and I make one outing by myself to have lunch and a bit of browsing. There are heaps of second hand and vintage shops around. All the mannequins are really creepy. Then come back to die. But then we make it out again for dinner.
TV tower is where we're headed for today. Its the first really clear sunny day. So of course millions of other people have the same idea as us. We bail on the hour and a half line and instead go exploring! Eventually we find the Deutsche Dom. It was amazing. We spend hours in there, in the exhibition on Democracy in Germany and looking at miniature models of various buildings in Germany. We'll definitely head there again. After we go home and pack for our trip to Munich and then head to a famous chicken place for dinner. Super delish.
Currently sitting on the train headed to munich surrounded by very loud Americans.
