Day 1 and 2 in Berlin

Check out my photos so far.

http://picasaweb.google.com/leahstone17/BerlinDay1CityBusTour#

Today is Monday, May 24, 2010. I arrived in Berlin yesterday at 8:20 am and after a short taxi ride, made it to the Hotel Ansbach around 9:00 am. Sadly I didn’t pack a pillow and a memory foam pad (J) as the bed really sucks. It rock hard and our pillow consists of a wad of sheets folded in half. I don’t think the bed has bed bugs though (at least I hope). At least I didn’t wake up with any bug bites. I have experience bed bugs before, at a convent in Italy, and it was disgusting.

After unpacking our bags and a much-needed shower, my roommate Stella and I went down for a free continental breakfast. It seemed a bit disgusting that cod and salami was served for breakfast, but Iuckily there was other options like cheese, yogurt, and cereal.

After breakfast I went for a walk and took lots of pictures and my roommate went to the room for a nap. I followed suit a little later. At 4:45 pm the whole group met up at the hotel lobby to take a bus tour of the city. It was so fascinating. Our tour guide was this cute German guy with a hot accent so I paid extra attention. I sat in the front of the bus so I wouldn’t get motion sick and so I had a great view of the city. We drove all around East and West Berlin. We drove past the Berlin Wall for just a quick second, and later we will go back again. Seeing the wall really amazed me and brought up emotions of sadness and wonderment of what it must have been like to have lived when the wall was up. We also saw Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island and a million beautiful buildings. I am really in love with city and I have only been here 24 hours.

We ate an amazing dinner where I had spargel (white asparagus-which is currently in season and a delicacy in Germany) and schnitzel and potatoes. It was seriously so good. I was worried I would hate the food here, but so far I am impressed. The bar tender gave us all a free round of amoretto shots and my friend was excited that I gave it to him. He got tanked very quickly as beer is used like water here and mix that with a couple shots of hard liquor and I am sure life was good for him.

I slept well last night; full 8 hours. I don’t feel jet lagged anymore. Today we are going on a tour of the Cold War and I am so excited. I will blog and put photos on my picasa album for you all to see.

Most importantly, I will not be left out on May 27.

Love

Leah