Train ride, and first night in Berlin

Six hours on a train cutting across Germany with a screaming baby, snoring old man, and some dude sneaking cigarettes in the bathroom. That pretty much sums up the train ride. 

The landscape was very nice at least.  I didn't sleep a bit. 

When I got to Berlin I had no hostel booked. Luckily the train station has lockers you can rent and put your luggage in for twenty-four hours. I took full advantage of this. 

My first impression of Berlin was intimidating. There was graffiti everywhere and it seemed a little more rough than Munich. At the time, I knew of one place in Berlin, Pottsdamer. Basically the times square of Berlin. I found this taxi and asked him to take me there. He didn't speak English. I was very hungry, I missed the lunch on the train. At Pottsdamer I saw parts of the Berlin wall that were uprooted from their original foundation and displayed. That really made the Cold War seem real. 

I found a resturant and had a German-Indian hybrid dish called "currywurst."  Basically it's a sausage in curry sauce. Very good I have to say. 

I was worried for some time I would be sleeping at the train station that night. As luck would have it, I found a hostel on the Internet with an available room. 

Quickly, I got a cab and told him, "Bitte Meineger Straße." (please, meineger street). 

He did not speak English. Which is probably why he took me to Meineker Straße. 

This was a blunder I have to admit. I got my bearings and found out Meineger Straße was [I have no idea how many blocks, I didn't grow up in a city] blocks south. So I footed it to see the city. 

That was a long walk. And I was very tired again. I found my hostel and it was quite an experience.  The check-in girl was really cute and we talked for some time. Later that night I was drinking a beer outside and saw this shadow eating a cardboard box by the trash can. I thought it was a giant city rat. Immediatly I went and got that cute German girl from the front desk and demanded she tell me what this varment was. She said it was an eagle. I told her eagles have wings. She said that she didn't know the word for the animal in English and that eagle was German. We got close to the varment and with a flashlight I saw it was a hedgehog. I couldn't believe a hedgehog thrived in a city. 

I slept in a room with 5 guys that night wiithout my luggage and set out the next morning to find another hostel (I could only book one night at the one I was at) and also grabbed my bag. 

I managed to find another hostel in the north part of the city, which was a relief. After a few bus rides, and subway hopping I had my bag and self at the new hostel. 

It was very early, around 8am. The new hostel told me my room wouldn't be ready till the afternoon but that I could leave my bag in their locker. Beggars can't be choosers. 

Now I had time to explore the town.  

My first stop: Berlin zoo. A sad place, really; prior to World War II the zoo was vibrant and teeming with species. During and after the war, the population of the zoo dwindled by more than 60%. On a sad note, during the devastating winter between 1945 & 1946 following the end of the war, some Berliners were reduced to eating some of the zoo animals. 

Today the zoo is great. I just don't like zoos. I think they're sad, animals aren't meant to be caged. I knew two things the Berlin Zoo was internationally known for, that was its giant panda and a bear named Knut. 

Knut (pronounced newt) is a polar bear born to the zoo not too long ago. Berlin's city flag shows a bear as its coat of arms, so when this furry baby polar bear was born the Berliners went ga-ga for Knut. Now Knut is an adolescent and not so cute anymore, but retains celebrity status. When I saw him, he was chewing on his playtoy (oddly shaped like a person) and jumping in and out of his very own pool. All the people who watched him with me went "ahh" everytime that bear moved. 

So I saw the bears, and headed out of the zoo. Wondering aimlessly, I ran into the Kaiser Wiheim Kirsche. A church built in the late 19th century that was nearly destroyed in the Second World War. All that remains is the steeple. 

There are mixed feelings about the church. It was extremely gawdy and only was built for the German monarchy during Germany's imperial days. It only gained reverence when it and most of Berlin was destroyed in the war. 

It was the first World War II monument I had seen that was directly affected by the war. 

----my train leaves early so I must stop here and finish later. Until the next post, tschüs.