The Cold Has Arrived!!

Winter in Eastern Europe officially set in - on Friday the 13th!! One day I was walking around in shorts and a T-Shirt, and the next, I was reaching for everything I owned!! As I started this trip in the middle of August, I didnt bring anything warmer then one jumper, so spent a whole day searching for a decent coat...ah the heady life of a traveller!!

Berlin was really good and I'm so glad I went. I recomend anyone to check out New Berlin Tours, who run a free walking tour that goes for 3-4 (or in our case 4.5) hours through most of the main sights of Berlin. They also have other tours, including a pub crawl which costs just 10 Euro, and includes a few free beers at the start and unlimited vodka/orange shots between pubs. Theres also plenty of drink specials at each place - the 1 euro jagermesiters had me done! I think I crawled out of bed at about 3pm the next day!

The Berlin wall isnt like I expected. For the most part it was jsut a narrow wall, not the sort you can stand on top of like we've seen in pictures (that was only a small section).

I also visited the Olympic Stadium, home of the 1936 Olympic games, and built by the Nazi's. That stadium was the scene for two of the most famous moments in sport; Jesse Owens win at the '36 games, and Zinadine Zidanes infamous headbutt in the 2006 World Cup Final!

I also visited the "Reichstag" which is the Parliament building, and has a viewing platform type thing at the top. As its where all the politicians work, you have to go through a metal detecter and security to get in. When I went through, i was pulled aside and asked to take the knife out of my backpack....knife...what knife? Oh my butter knife!! Luckily it still had the jam on it to back up my story!!

After leaving Berlin I went back in to poland, to a little town called Torun, which is really very pretty, but also very quiet. I tried to find a good place to drink one evening and found what was definately a locals bar. They were laughing and joking, and all went quiet as I went in. Um...er...prosze jeden Piwo...idiot!

The hostel in Torun was really nice, but oh so quiet. on one night there, there were only 4 people, and this included the staff member! Very friendly though.

I'm now in Gdansk on the coast and it is freezing! but its another very pretty city.

I have recently added some more pictures to my photobucket sight, and will add heaps more as soon as the trip is over!