1 week around Germany

Well, basically it is a trip around Germany, starting from Munich, going anti-clockwise and back to Munich again. Most of the preparation work was done before we set off. Hostels were booked and transport was settled. My friend and I bought the German rail pass, 4 day twin pass and it costs €135 for each). It would be good for us, as tickets for long distance fast trains are very expensive if you don’t book in advance (just like air tickets).

So now, the journey started. We took ICE to Munich. It took 6hrs. The only thing remarkable is that my first glass of beer after I came to Germany was consumed on that train, in the dinning car. I was part of my lunch, but couldn’t remember what brand it was.

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at Berlin. The central station was huge and impressive. Trains come inside from one end the station and go out from the other, unlike the one in Munich which is a dead end. We then walked to our hostel. It was cold outside and walking kept us warm. You know what, it was snowing that day in Munich! After 20mins or so, we got to the hostel. It was actually an apartment near city center, as its name suggests – House Inn the Middle. The guy in charge of the hostel was from Brazil. He was actually working for the owner of the apartment (or hostel), and was on his around-world trip. It had been 6 years since he left home, and along the way he got some job to finance his next trip. That sounds so fantastic to me. How I wish I could do the same someday. But I’m not hopeful about that.

Oh ya, by the way, apart from my friend and I, there were another three from NTU travelling with us together in Berlin, but we separated later on. So, after dumping our luggage in the hostel, we started exploring Berlin. We had some Turkish food for dinner first and then walked to the Berlin Wall (not the well-known East Gallery, but another remains of it). The wall is kept apart from passengers by fence. It is said that after the demolition of the wall in 1989, many people went there and knocked debris off it, and either kept it as a souvenir or sold it to others, like tourists. So the government decided to protect the wall which they were once eager to destroy.

We then walked to Potsdamer Platz, follow by the symbol of Berlin – the Brandenburg Gate. I have to say that the gate looks much more impressive under the lightings. We walked pass it in the afternoon, and we were like “ah? So this is the gate?”. But now our reaction was “wow, so this is the gate!”. We ended the day here.