10 - 11 August 2013
Day 1: Meet and greet
The meet and greet was meant to be in the common room but because I was expecting a big group, like a Topdeck or Contiki, I didn't notice the 5 people sitting in the corner. After running around like a headless chook for a few more minutes, I finally figured it out and found them.
New friends
The group was 10 people plus the leader with 7 Aussies and 3 kiwis and an English leader; a good mix. I'm writing this after the trip so I know this to be true now but at the time, everyone seemed nice. This was great because the main reason I signed up for the trip was to spend more than 1 or 2 days with the same group of (hopefully nice) people.
Pool
After the meeting we had some time to kill before going out for a group dinner and a few of us played a couple games of pool with a conclusive result; most of us aren't that good at pool. It gave us a good chance to start the "where have you been and where are you going" conversation though.
Dinner
Dinner was a good chance to have a chat with everyone and the restaurant was pretty good too. I ordered a schnitzel and it was good but you seriously just get a plain schnitzel and fries whereas Australia has taken the schnitzel and made it so much better. I can't wait for a parmy when I get home (anyone from the eastern states who's thinking "it's a parma" is clearly wrong by the way). A few of us went for a drink at the hostel bar after and made some cool sounding plans for the next day; bunkers and spy stations.
Day 2: Free brekky
Free and good breakfasts are a rare thing in hostel life but when you're in a flashpackers (hostel in a hotel) then things are much fancier. Naturally we all made sure to eat as much as we could. It wasn't as good as the one in Dubai but it was close.
Bunker tour
The first goal for the day was to explore an air raid bunker that was built in one of the S-bahn stations. We knew which station it was in but once at the station, we had a hard time finding the place to get the tour. We were lucky enough to walk past the tour group just entering the bunker so after a sprint up the stairs to the tourist office and some sweet talking, we were allowed to join that tour group (otherwise we'd miss out). The tour was really good; we were shown through a bunch of rooms in the bunker, told stories about the era it was used and shown artifacts from the war. One of the coolest things was the room for the firefighters that was completely painted with glow in the dark paint so they could still prepare without lights.
Rubble mountain
In the bunker we were shown a photo of a mountain made from a blown up flak tower and rubble from the city which was really close so we decided to go climb this rubble mountain. The photo was from the end of the war and it depicted a bare mountain where you could still see the part of the tower protruding but in the present day, it was surrounded by a garden and covered in trees. At the top you can walk out on the remains of the tower and get a view of the city that's definitely worth the short climb.
Teufelsberg - the abandoned spy station
Berlin has two popular abandoned areas; a theme park and a spy station. As a member of our group had already seen the theme park we decided to check out the spy station, which none of us had seen yet. We knew that there were fences around the place along with people in there who are apparently squatters but pretend to be officials and charge for tours. However, we'd also heard that it was possible to sneak in but after a walk around the whole perimeter and noticing that every hole was patched and that there are up to three layers of fences in places, we conceded and asked the people at the gate. There was a tour running but it went for too long and we wouldn't have made it home in time so we had to miss out on exploring. We did go over to a nearby hill and take some photos of the elusive spy station on the way home though.
Finding food
As we had a whole night of train travel coming up we were told to organise some food for the trip. Sounds like a solid plan until you realise that it's a Sunday and Europe shuts down on Sundays so food is hard to find. I ended up with a trusty old doner box although in hindsight, it wasn't really a problem because there was a kebab shop at a Polish train station and they served massive, tasty kebabs; definitely worthy of the top 5 kebab list.
Sleeper train
I wasn't sure what the expect with a sleeper train because we were meant to have beds but we couldn't be certain until we were on the train plus there's the whole movement and noise thing. It turns out that it was fine and after a beer and playing some cards, I had one of the best nights sleep I'd had in a while.
Day 1: Meet and greet
The meet and greet was meant to be in the common room but because I was expecting a big group, like a Topdeck or Contiki, I didn't notice the 5 people sitting in the corner. After running around like a headless chook for a few more minutes, I finally figured it out and found them.
New friends
The group was 10 people plus the leader with 7 Aussies and 3 kiwis and an English leader; a good mix. I'm writing this after the trip so I know this to be true now but at the time, everyone seemed nice. This was great because the main reason I signed up for the trip was to spend more than 1 or 2 days with the same group of (hopefully nice) people.
Pool
After the meeting we had some time to kill before going out for a group dinner and a few of us played a couple games of pool with a conclusive result; most of us aren't that good at pool. It gave us a good chance to start the "where have you been and where are you going" conversation though.
Dinner
Dinner was a good chance to have a chat with everyone and the restaurant was pretty good too. I ordered a schnitzel and it was good but you seriously just get a plain schnitzel and fries whereas Australia has taken the schnitzel and made it so much better. I can't wait for a parmy when I get home (anyone from the eastern states who's thinking "it's a parma" is clearly wrong by the way). A few of us went for a drink at the hostel bar after and made some cool sounding plans for the next day; bunkers and spy stations.
Day 2: Free brekky
Free and good breakfasts are a rare thing in hostel life but when you're in a flashpackers (hostel in a hotel) then things are much fancier. Naturally we all made sure to eat as much as we could. It wasn't as good as the one in Dubai but it was close.
Bunker tour
The first goal for the day was to explore an air raid bunker that was built in one of the S-bahn stations. We knew which station it was in but once at the station, we had a hard time finding the place to get the tour. We were lucky enough to walk past the tour group just entering the bunker so after a sprint up the stairs to the tourist office and some sweet talking, we were allowed to join that tour group (otherwise we'd miss out). The tour was really good; we were shown through a bunch of rooms in the bunker, told stories about the era it was used and shown artifacts from the war. One of the coolest things was the room for the firefighters that was completely painted with glow in the dark paint so they could still prepare without lights.
Rubble mountain
In the bunker we were shown a photo of a mountain made from a blown up flak tower and rubble from the city which was really close so we decided to go climb this rubble mountain. The photo was from the end of the war and it depicted a bare mountain where you could still see the part of the tower protruding but in the present day, it was surrounded by a garden and covered in trees. At the top you can walk out on the remains of the tower and get a view of the city that's definitely worth the short climb.
Teufelsberg - the abandoned spy station
Berlin has two popular abandoned areas; a theme park and a spy station. As a member of our group had already seen the theme park we decided to check out the spy station, which none of us had seen yet. We knew that there were fences around the place along with people in there who are apparently squatters but pretend to be officials and charge for tours. However, we'd also heard that it was possible to sneak in but after a walk around the whole perimeter and noticing that every hole was patched and that there are up to three layers of fences in places, we conceded and asked the people at the gate. There was a tour running but it went for too long and we wouldn't have made it home in time so we had to miss out on exploring. We did go over to a nearby hill and take some photos of the elusive spy station on the way home though.
Finding food
As we had a whole night of train travel coming up we were told to organise some food for the trip. Sounds like a solid plan until you realise that it's a Sunday and Europe shuts down on Sundays so food is hard to find. I ended up with a trusty old doner box although in hindsight, it wasn't really a problem because there was a kebab shop at a Polish train station and they served massive, tasty kebabs; definitely worthy of the top 5 kebab list.
Sleeper train
I wasn't sure what the expect with a sleeper train because we were meant to have beds but we couldn't be certain until we were on the train plus there's the whole movement and noise thing. It turns out that it was fine and after a beer and playing some cards, I had one of the best nights sleep I'd had in a while.
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| Me cursing Teufelsberg from a nearby hill |
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| The beds in the sleeper train |
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| Looking out over part of Berlin from the hill near Teufelsberg |
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