Berlin Part 1a

The last thing we did in Amsterdam was to get Nick a souvenir shirt see the Anne Frank house and then go to the train station. This is where our adventures begin...the day before we had gone to the station to see if we needed to make a reservation. We ended up not needing to but the lady printed out a schedule out for us that had the times of arrivals and departures for the next day to Berlin. So we get to the station and the platform the next train for Amsfoort left at 16:06 or 4:06pm Nick in his infinite wisdom says lets get on, simply because its going to the same place. I was not to sure but by the time I figured out we were on the wrong train it was already moving. There was no room for getting mad only room to figure out what we were going to do next. We knew that we were going to get to our destination (Berlin) but we didn't know how or where we would end up sleeping. Everything turned out great though. We ended up getting to the Amsfoort station earlier so we just waited until our correct connection was made there and then we continued our journey. At one of those stops I go inside and get something to eat. I got this steak with some pickled onion in a loaf of bread. It was so good, I don't know if it was because I was hungry but it tasted really good. I also immediately notice the great appetite for sausage in Germany. There were all kinds of them! Well after we ate I went back to reading my book and I am close to finishing it. I think one more train ride and I will be done.
So we get into the Berlin Train Station and I am blown away. It is four stories each has its own thing. The top has railway platforms the middle two has restaurants and shopping and the bottom one had another set of platforms. The whole station was open you could see all levels from any level there is glass every where. It was very modern and technologically sound. I was very impressed already with Berlin and I had not even left the station yet.
We get into Berlin and we are like now what? We stay there and find a bench to sleep on. The station never closes and is patrolled by police the whole time. I felt very comfortable and safe perhaps due to the good lighting and police presence. Around 2 in the morning something funny happens. A 21 year old drunk polish kid tells us something in German. We say English and he talks to us in choppy English. He says to be careful with your wallets because Polish people are really good at taking them and he knows because he is Polish himself. He had a bag with beer and offers us some so we drink with him and he is excited that we are from California. He goes into detail about Poland and the make up of its people. It was very interesting and he eventually leaves. But it was very interesting to be approached like that in such a friendly manner. Very different from other countries that we have been to. We dose off and on until 5 in the morning and we decide to go to the metro to get to our hostel we got the right trains and when we got off at our correct station I was not about to follow Nick. Some of you reading might relate... So he suggested one direction and I did the logical thing and asked a local for directions and sure enough had I listened to Nick we would have been going in the completely wrong direction. So we go down the way we were told and run into it. We were relieved but wait that's not all folks. The hostel doesn't open so we wait around for a little bit but its cold so Nick goes out to walk around and I stay behind. Then I go into the entrance of some bank where it was warm. Nick gets scared because I didn't ask anyone if we could do that so he leaves and waits outside in the cold for half an hour while I dose off inside.