Pergamon, I choose you

3rd August 2012 (Berlin, Germany)

We arrived in Berlin in a couchette, which, if you've never been in one, is a train carriage that gets converted into two rows of triple bunks. As you can imagine, space is tight and no one gets to sit up in bed. Boff and I thought, since we'd arrived at the station early, we'd get dibs on the biggest luggage space. Unfortunately the carriage already had four people in it from a previous stop so we were forced to take up what little floorspace there was with Boff's suitcase and my bag.

The good thing about couchettes: sleeping flat and a croissant and hot chocolate for breakfast.

We checked into Hotel Amadeus, which is a modest 2-star place in Charlottenburg, which happens to be right around the corner from a large erotic retail store (with kino!) but very handy to Charlottenburg Station.

We then wandered into town to see the Brandenburg Tor (gate) before heading to the Pergamon Museum. The Pergamon was on Boff's must-see list. I had no idea what it was but tagged along anyway. It turned out to be an awesome thing made of stuff, by which I mean, an archaeologist excavated at Pergamon, an ancient Greek city located in modern day Turkey, and then brought all the artefacts to Germany. Then he recreated the bloody thing in the museum so there is a scale re-creation (with real pieces from the original) of various ancient structures.

Photo of the day is the Ishtar Gate, which is actually from Babylon but whatevs, it's still a thing made of stuff.

We then had German tapas at a place called Zum Schwarzen Hasen (Black Hare) nearby. The food was really well presented and delicious and not too expensive—recommended, especially if you're not too keen on German food but want to try lots of different things without rolling home.

Finding ourselves at Alexanderplatz, we decided to take the lift up the TV tower to see Berlin by night. I can tell you now, it's not a very interesting view so don't bother going late. I did read all the corresponding info about the monuments and special buildings, though, even though I couldn't see them.

[I'm typing this on the day I'm to leave Warsaw. I had a bad night—some idiot in my room woke up at two-hourly intervals for a smoke out the window, which of course drifted into the room. In the middle of the night I think he also had a puff in the bathroom because when I went in shortly after, instead of just the after-smell of a smoker in the cubicle, there was actual smoke clinging to my hair when I left. Yuck, yuck, yuck.]