From Amsterdam to Berlin

My final day in another city and Amsterdam must have realised, as it turned on the sun for a change. With my camera in hand I set off to wander the suburbs and snap a few photos before that beautiful shine disappeared.

Walking along canal after canal and stopping off at a little bakery for a bite to eat I was finally enjoying my time in Amsterdam. Sure hanging with the Canadians had been fun but there was just something about the place that wasn’t drawing me in like Paris and Brussels had done.

It may have just been the horrible weather that turned me against Amsterdam but in those few hours walking around I finally felt something for the city that appears to live and breath on that faithful tourist dollar.

Ending the day with a beer at a local cafe I people watched before having an early night to be ready for the 7 hour train ride to Berlin.

Catching the train has to be the easiest way to get around from country to country. At least it is as long as there isn’t a breakdown or your engine section doesn’t turn up. Reaching the border between the Netherlands and Germany we were left waiting an hour or so until the train to pull us to Berlin turned up. Sure they handed out pretty refund forms but when your an EURail customer you can forgot about that.

The delay meant my meet up with the one and only D from www.dtravelsround.com was being held up. After the great time I had meeting Elke in Brussels I knew this was going to be a fun time with D in Berlin, so any delay was bad news. Eventually our little train began moving and some 8 or 9 hours later I arrived at the train station in Berlin.

Trying to find out which of the 5 levels of the Berlin train station I needed to be on to get to my hostel was quite the task. The place reminded me of Paris Airport a little with its escalators going in all directions.

Finally paying a fortune for a one use ticket I was on my way to the correct stop. At least I thought I was, it just so happened that the train stop I should have got off at was called something else. Some maps had the name I was given but the majority did not. So after riding the train several stops past where I needed to be and then back again I asked for directions and got to my hostel.

Dumping my gear as quickly as possibly I headed back out to meet up with D and prepare for our Pub Crawl. Ashamed to say it was my first pub crawl in Europe so I was glad to meet up with D and go straight for some food and beer.

It’s funny but first meeting Elke and now D, I’ve never felt like there is that usual awkward moment when meeting someone you’ve only ever spoken to online. Maybe it’s our united joy for travel or our willingness to just talk to anybody that listens, its just nice to connect with people so well.

Hitting up the pub crawl was easier said than done, especially when the people running the show appeared to have left the meeting point early. None the less we found some other lost party goers at the first pub which was next door to Tacheles and shortly after found the rest of the pub crawling group out the back in the beach area.

You know a pub crawl isn’t all that when your finishing the night early so that you can get home via the train. Maybe it was just the group of people that attended or the hosts being less than excited about the whole ordeal. I just knew I wasn’t drunk and wasn’t enjoying myself so it was time to depart.

Tomorrow I was to change to the same hostel as D and I knew that was a combination for an awesome time in Berlin.