Guten Tag!

A bit of a change in itinerary… After spending a week by the beach, I felt ready for a big city. So I changed my original plan to go to Sarajevo and am now in Berlin…! 

Since my decision to come here was last minute, I had a hard time finding accommodation as it turns out that it is Fashion Week in Berlin and so a very busy time of year to visit. When I arrived, the apartment I had booked ended up not being free, so the owner of the rental apartment (he manages a few properties) offered that given the misunderstanding, I could just rent the guest room in his place.

I am so glad the mix up happened, because his place is gorgeous! Really spacious, modern, and cool. It is in a good area and close to transit. And half the price as the apartment I was going to rent. Perfect.

Today being Sunday, it seems like EVERYTHING is closed. Well not everything, but most things. Some restaurants and most tourist shops are open. It is cool and a bit rainy here, and I did not bring anything long sleeved and only have open toe shoes. I need to get a jacket or something warm. I was in the middle of town walking by Zara, H&M, Mango, Esprit… but it was all closed. So I was forced to buy a cheap, uggly hoody from a souvenir shop. Too bad…

There are lots of bike-riders, and the streets are really bike friendly with extra wide paths. The pedestrian walk and stop signs are quite funny looking men with hats. Public transportation is yellow. Yellow buses, trains, and a lot of the underground stations are tiled in yellow. Cabs are all cream coloured Mercedes. It is quite a green city too. Perhaps it was just because it was Sunday, but the city seems quite open and not so crowded.

I had dinner at a great chic Vietnamese restaurant called Monsieur Vuong. I was just happy I found something open! The asian flavour was really nice after mostly eating Italian food in Croatia. When I went to pay, the server said that unfortunately my credit card did not go through. I was concerned, but then realised I had given her my drivers licence!

Berlin is aparently considered to be an un-German city of sorts as it seems like anything goes. It is not rigid, people seem really diverse (1 in 7.5 are immigrants according to Lonely Planet). It has a lively gay and lesbian population. Out of the 3.4 million residents, 500,000 are gay (again according to Lonely Planet). There are a lot of interesting buildings. And also  lots of graffiti everywhere. I hope to do a more organized walk to see some significant buildings tomorrow. I did manage to see the remains of the Berlin wall. It was a lot shorter than I was expecting (3.6m tall).

I am heading to the Sony centre now as it looks cool at night supposedly.

- tschus