**Berlin**

So I know this is confusing, hell, I'm still confused and I am about to try and explain it to you all. I have no phone credit anymore, it seems not a single postbox exists here and this is the first internet cafe I have found that doesn't look like it belongs to a third world country.

Now, this blog isn't quite turning out as one might have expected it to. So everything is all over the place. I don't want to overload you all with information, so here is a quick summary of where i have been.

Day1: Hannover
Day2: Osnabruck
Day3: Hamburg
Day4: Rostock
Day5: Berlin
Day6: Florence
Day7: San Gimignano
Day8: San Gimignano (but visited Monteriggioni)
Day9: will be Siena [today]

For those areas I haven't yet told you about, I will come back to them at some stage in the future. But I need to get my time in Berlin off my chest, as so far it has been one of the most mind-altering. Here is what happened:

• Got a ride with some guy from the internet (some car pooling website) as advised by Mike (Nicole's b/f). Guy ripped me off, [note to self, learn to haggle before going to Nepal].
• Met my Welsh and English [from Hamburg, which you may or may not yet know about] buddies at the Brandenburg gate [on phone] Rob: 'seriously mate, I can't see the Gate, are you sure its near the station I got off at?' Jake:'OK, go stand in the middle of the street and look down it, see that big fuck-off gate with the horses on the top? well, that's it...' Rob:'Oh, that one...'
• Saw the Reichstag
• Saw the Jewish Memorial [which takes up an entire square, absolutely massive, which each cement block representing so many lives]
• Saw Hitler's bunker [which is now a car park, saying something about how the German people want to remember him]
• Finally learnt how to spell Tuice (as in cya later) thanks to Nicole in an SMS, however, due to a lack of the appropriate keys on this Italian keybvoard, you will all have to survive with my English way of pronouncing it 'Tuice!'
• Was almost physically sick at the site of the remaining Berlin Wall. THey have a series of photos showing the terrorism of the Nazi regime. The photos of Jews digging their own graves was a little too much.
• Saw Checkpoint Charlie and almost felt the tension that existed there until 1989.
• Went on a pub crawl with the Pommies for 12€. It seems that the only tourists in Berlin at the time were Canadian and British. And the 3 Aussie guys I met that I tried to dissassociate myself from.
• Saw a cool guy with ginger dreadlocks playing the cello in a rock band.
• Visited 2 bars and 3 clubs.
• Went to find a bar with 'real music' in it.
• Was almost tricked by nasty East Berlin girl to go into a gay club.
• Tried to learn how to use the S-Bahn & U-Bahn at 2 in the morning.
• Found myself in a cocktail bar with 3 near strangers (who were wonderful conversation) at 4 in the morning.
• Chased the M5 tram down the road as I was afraid it was the last for the night.
• Had an argument with a prostitute over whether I had a cigarette or not.
• Woke up super early.
• Checked out the Hauptbahnhopf (huge Berlin train station).
• Flew to Florence.
• Total time in Berlin approximately 24 hours.

Tuice!