End of Berlin

Berlin Tours 8/25/08

So we get to the station and the Bike Tour meeting place about 10 early. Thankfully it was somewhat sunny but still kind of cloudy. So there were a ton of people and the guide lady said "oh we don't have anymore bikes but stay right here and i will be right back I'll see what i can do" She came back with an opening for 6 bikes so we barely made it in I was really thankful because it was going to be our last day in Berlin. So we get our bikes and head on out. There was a girl in our group from UCLA and her friend from Cal Poly (oh but not the real one, the imitation Cal Poly in Pomona hahahaha). They were cool people to talk to just because we were all from California.

So on our tour we got to see and do a lot. At first glance Berlin as a whole didn't really impress me. I was used to seeing old buildings and elaborate decoration on buildings. In Berlin most everything is new which makes sense. The tour guide gave us the entire history of the city at some park early on in our tour and then she took us on our long journey through the city. I must say that by the end of the tour I had a greater appreciation for Berlin and so did Nick (he felt the same way), I took a lot of pictures.

So after the tour we had about 45 minutes to do nothing until our next event which was the Pub Crawl. We went go our bracelet and then went over to... check this out; picture this: a five story building that is black from the front, dirty as can be, from the back the walls are LITERALLY blown off there is artistic graffiti everywhere. This is where our pub crawl began. Here is the crazy part. You walk in and the back yard is like this cool urban dump looking place with light and tables and chairs all over the place. It made me think of Rosarito, Mexico. They gave us a cup of some beer which was bottomless until 9 so we drank as much as we could and then towards the end they gave us "orange juice vodka shots" they was probably more juice than anything else but people would know the difference at this point. We go to the next place and it was smaller so about 80 people crowd into a place with a capacity of about maybe 40, so thankfully there was no fire marshal nearby otherwise we would have been in quite a jam...literally.

Funny story time: remember those girls from California okay so we weren't really hanging out with them during the pub crawl but we had seen them. At this pub they see me and say hello and give me a hug. They were talking to some Canadian guys and naturally I was introduced to them. We were close to the bar so they offered to get everyone a round of drinks which included me. They grab some shot glasses and put them next to the beer because if you buy a beer you get a shot. Well this didn't go well with the again huge German bartender man and he got pissed off. I was like whatever I am happy that I even got a free beer. So the girls talk to the Canadian guy and I talk to his friend they like my name Pepe and start calling me Senor Pepe because of some Canadian thing I don't remember. Later I go to the bartender and talk to him and say hey I never got my shot with my beer can I "redeem" my shot? He went into his rant but the Canadian guy said he had nothing to do with it. So the bartender reluctantly gave me a shot of who knows what, it was good though. I had half of it and offered the rest to the others because you know I am selfish and after all they did get the beer so basically they bought 4 beers and we get one shot that we had to fight for. I had drank about 1/4 of the beer when all of a sudden we had to empty the bar to move onto the next one. I had to make a difficult choice...do I finish it now, leave it here, or better yet take it with me? I made the logical choice.

So we walk to the next bar and I loose the Canadians and start talking to some new people. Then at the new place some girl wanted to dance so we go and dance then Nick comes and does his thing and I leave then I run into the Canadians and this point they give me one of the greatest compliments I could ever get. "Hey man you remind me of Scarface" I flip out with excitement (for those of you know know me you know why). They said I kind of talk like him and in retrospect I think that my English does change when I am surrounded by people who speak English with an accent and so I went along and said a few Scarface lines. That was fun.

So we then ventured out to the first club and we hung out there for a bit. The Canadian guys again were hanging out with me so I started talking to some girls and brought them into the circle to entertain the Canadians. Sure enough the beers started to flow soon enough and I got another one BUT I didn't see this one get opened so it was given to me open....and that just was not going to fly with me. So excused myself to the restroom and ran into Nick and talked to him and said oh by the way I got this free beer but I don't want it because they gave it to me open. He didn't say anything and just started to drink it...naturally he keeps his pet snake tightly wrapped around him so he drank it (joke of the day hahaha remind me to tell you it involves a bird a snake and a monkey). I was like okay. I know that it was probably safe but still I am about minimizing risk and plus I already felt good. So I went to dance instead and then we had to leave after like a song or two. We go on a journey to some place under a bridge and take more "orange juice shots" hahaha I had some more shots and got some American folks to drink with us and we continued to have fun. We then followed the railway line to some station and got on and we went to another station I was a lost soul for all I know. But anyways I followed the crowd and then we went to some club under the railway!! Again this was weird but cool I liked it because from the outside it looked very bad, but it was so nice inside. They had two or three dance floors and a bunch of places to just chill and hang out. We hung out until like 3:45am. Nick decided to leave early and then on our way to the station we run into him. He had said that the station didn't open until 4am so he tried to walk home but then ran into some road blocks and then came back and wandered. So we said our goodbye to the people we hung out with and me and him went home.

He needed to pack up to leave for Rome so I went to sleep at 5:23 am and I fell asleep. He wakes me up at 6:09am to say goodbye!! I probably went through and entire REM cycle because I remember the dream I was having!! Boy was I exhausted. Anyways, I say goodbye and then I wake up again at 9:30am to pack my stuff. I get ready by 10am and then go and have breakfast. For the first time I felt lonely and weird to not have someone to talk to and or complain to or anything for that matter. I was officially on my own, walking around at the station I found myself saying "Okay, if I was with Nick what would we do." I found my way around and was about 45 minutes early so I read my book.

A young Italian couple sat next to me at the platform and I stuck with them because it looked like they knew what and where to go and plus it was an opportunity for me to practice my Italian. They were kind of shy at first but then they opened up later on as the trip progressed and then they talked to me in a little bit of English. Then we watched a movie on my computer. And then the unthinkable happens....the train ahead of us catches on fire so what was suppose to be a 30 minute delay turned into a 2 and half hour delay. We were shuttled via bus from the station we were at to another station where another train would take us on our journey. Here is the cool part in my hostel I had met a Czech girl who was studying in Oxford, England and was going from Berlin to the Czech Republic and I run into her on the same coach that I was on. So she translated for us from Czech to English and then I translated into Italian for the Italians that I was with it was a mini Babel. So she joined us and we all followed her.