I'm pretty much in a dodgy area (what do you expect for R400 a night?). Heart of East Berlin and all that. Tons of graffiti on the walls, cold-war era style architecture. Sleet and snow everywhere. It's amazing though. I had to carry my laptop bag around with me (which has all my gadgets) and I'm not really appropriately dressed, but it didn't stop me from taking a two hour stroll. I found a park and there was snow! White, fluffy, sugary snow! Snow is rad! I love snow! Yeah, it's my first time in the snow. I enjoyed actually just walking in it (it was about two feet deep) - although there's also dog turds in the snow, which are less cool.
Snow! I sat on one of the benches in the park here and watched the Berliners go about their business until I got too cold
I grabbed the hottest cup of coffee in the entire world and walked down Frankfurter Allee for about an hour. It was a brisk 2˚ outside, and I quickly realised why the coffee is served here hotter than lava - within a few minutes it's ice cold. I also ventured into the subway system to buy a transit card, but soon realised I have no idea what I need - AB? AC? ABC? No idea, so I'm back at the hotel now on the wireless (yay for internets) to figure out which one I must get. I've also grabbed a few brochures - while I'll probably go explore and just walk around tomorrow, I want to do a walking tour of the Third Reich sites of interest on Monday, and a trip to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp the day after.
There's a lot to do. I saw the Brandenberg gate in the way in, and drove over the line where the wall once stood. As soon as I get into my hotel room, take a shower and change, I'll be headed out for a walk. I'm actually feeling a bit wrecked from the flight - I was fortunate and had a double seat to myself, but I struggled to sleep and probably only got five or six hours, so I'm feeling a little rough around the edges.
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