I didn't talk at all about the night train in my last post, so I will do that real quick. We opted to take a sleeper car, which basically means we pay a little bit more (even with a Eurail Pass) but we both got full beds in a separate area on the train. The space isn't big at all. It had just enough room for a sink, 2 beds, and a little bit of floor space to move around. The beds are actually stacked and the room fits up to 3 people. We, however, got the place to ourselves because the 3rd bed hadn't been booked, so it was a little more spacious and a lot less awkward than it could have been.
After an 10 hour ride that was only supposed to be 8, we arrived in Berlin. Of course Josh and I hadn't contacted Stephanie in enough time to grab directions, so once we got to the train station, we had to wing it. Immediately the internet cafe was the next stop. I got an hour and had recieved an email from Stephanie saying that she would come meet us. We arrived late, though, so I had to email her back and wait for her response. Luckily she has a blackberry (because what church planter doesn't have a blackberry), so it was a quick process.
We took a quick tram over to where she and her team were helping a family pack up for a move back to the States. We were happy to help them for an hour or so, and then we headed off to lunch, which the family was happy to provide for us. We ate at this great Indian restaurant. I had chicken with peanut sauce and josh had fish curry. Both were exceptional. It was probably the first really good, hearty meal I have had since arriving. After lunch, we headed back to Stephanie's place to drop off our stuff, and turned right around to go back out for a walking tour of the city...
Who was our tour guide you might ask? I will tell you. One Stephanie Johnson. you might ask, is she also a tour guide? Well, at this point I guess you could say that, considering she gives about one tour per week (this is according to her obviously). Honestly, her tour was really amazing. We went on a walking tour in Amsterdam and this was just as informative and definitely more entertaining. Some interesting highlights include... waving at all tour buses no matter what, extremely loud human siren sounds (I will post video soon), and a group picture with a statue of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. We also some some cool historically significant sites such as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews and the Reichstag.
After the amazing tour, we showered up, grabbed a bite at an awesome pizza place which had a signature with fresh mozzarella which is one of my favorite things, and headed out for a night on the town. I guess I should explain who we is real quick. Stephanie always has visitors and right now she has several guests from the states whom we are hanging out with. They are all girls and include various friends, family and coworkers... Ok, we went first to a beer garden (the oldest in Berlin) and grabbed a quick beer before they closed. Next, we stopped at a more trendy bar where we grabbed some cocktails. This would be the point in the night where Josh hit a glass of beer which broke and somehow cut one of my knuckles while also soaking April, one of the girls we were out with. It was a funny moment, though, and the bleeding stopped soon enough. After drinks, we grabbed a quick bite at a local late night food place (honestly not sure what I ate, but it included some sort of hanging cooked meat, lettuce, tomato, and some white sauce. It reminded me of a gyro. Maybe it was a gyro. Who knows. 3:00am or so was bedtime. Another day in Berlin awaits tomorrow... which is actually today because I am writing it the next afternoon.
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