Hello everybody from Berlin! I just got in here a few hours ago and I think I can say this is easily one of the biggest cities I've ever been too! I walked around a bit just to get the feel of my area and it took a little longer than I expected, so I have a lot to do tomorrow! I just hope I can walk most of the city and don't have to spend too much on transportation because I'm trying to make this a very low budget trip. Another frustrating thing is that the z is in the y spot on the keyboard and vice versa. I can't believe how many y's I've already had to type!
I just got here from just under two days in Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a very beautiful city and very walkable as well! Like I said, I am trying to spend as little money as possible so I didn't go in any museums or anything because they usually cost about 15 Euro a piece... It was a great place to look at though, with the Red Light District and Chinatown and all the old buildings on canals. It reminded me a lot of Venice, which is appropriate because it is called the Venice of the North. It has around 165 canals that make up the city and go pretty much anywhere you want. The main difference is the complex lock system that Amsterdam has for its canals that keeps the water at a constant level uneffected by tides. It also keeps the water circulating through the city so that there is freshwater about every 3 days. This helps so it doesn't get that nice garbagy aroma in the summer nights.
The first night I got there I took a 3 hour walk from my hostel and at one point got completely lost. I just kept following random signs though and eventually figured out where I was... It turns out I saw almost all of the city!
The next day I went on a free walking tour where they showed us around more of the city and told us about the history. After that tour I signed up for a tour of the Red Light District that told us more about the histroy and politics behind the infamous area. There were also quite a few very good looking ladies working in the windows! I don't have any pictures of that though because I heard they chase you down and break your camera if they catch you taking pictures... On the note of pictures as well, I won't be posting any for now because I can't upload them at this computer.
Today I got on the train around 11 am and took the nearly 7 hour ride to get here to Berlin. It was a very nice ride and I ended up finishing the book I was reading, The Catcher in the Rye. I can see why almost every serial killer has been found with a copy of this book in their homes... the main character is just a whiney, angsty teenager that is a little different but generally doesn't like anyone or anything. I suppose it was a decent book but it didn't really live up to the hype for me.
That's all I got for now. I would make it longer but the hostel only has two public computers and I don't want to spend too much time on here.
I will be going to Frankfurt next then probably Paris and Brussels and back to the UK. I'll try to get on and post again soon. Hopefully the y's and z's will be in their normal spots again too! Sorry for any typos or mistakes on this one, I was going fast and this computer doesn't have any spellcheck and I probably won't proof read...
Adios!
