想い出は遠くの日々

I stand at the cusp of my graduation. I have to make a choice soon… that worries me a bit as I leave my university life. It’ll be alright… one step at a time – along the path.

大学校はもうすぐ終わりますね。僕は前の道を選べなければいけない、ちょっと心配があります。大丈夫だよ、道でゆっくり歩きます。

My UK bank decided to arbitrarily charge me 50 pounds on my account. Now I must spend time to find out why they charged me.

And to think that I had all the charges figured out before leaving the UK… in hindsight, I should have just closed the damn thing.

Way back in the second week of December, I ended up in Berlin; the last destination of my European adventure. Just getting around to blogging has been difficult… with moving back from the UK and all.

I had to get up super early, at 3 am, to catch the first train into the airport. Flight was at 6:30 am and I was certainly not pleased. Arthur actually took the last train to the airport and slept there overnight instead.

Reichstag + Brandenburg Tor

Ended up in Berlin at around 10-ish, albeit, I was damn tired and cold (much colder than London). On the way to the hotel, we paid a visit to the Reichstag (the German parliament) and the Brandenburg Tor. Also paid a visit to the Soviet war memorial.

After checking into the hotel, it was time for lunch… we decided to grab some lunch. We wandered off to the largest department store in Berlin, Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe for short). They had a food court up on the top floor so I got a seafood bake from one of the vendors… quite tasty but I was getting increasingly tired (also probably from the beer). I went back to the hotel to take a nap so I could have a better time that evening.

Night Markets

By the time I woke up, it was time for dinner. Since it was Christmas time, there were many street vendors that sold various holiday stuff. True to German tradition, I got myself sausages for dinner. Might I add that it was probably one of the cheapest meals I ever had during my European trips.

More night photos
As with every trip into Europe with Arthur, he had to get some night shots. Then back to hotel for some much needed sleep.

Berlin Tour
To put it short, we went on the Berlin city tour with a guide… and ended up visiting various landmarks of the city. It’s really neat that there are still remnants of the old Soviet Berlin. For now, I’m just going to throw up pictures and if you’re interested in knowing more, give me a shout.

After the tour, we had some more sausages then Arthur and I parted temporarily to do our own things. Arthur went to the Holocaust museum, and I went back to KaDeWe to buy a new coat. We met back up for dinner.

More Food

Had some traditional German food in some pub down in downtown Berlin. Thankfully, the pub staff spoke English because we couldn’t have ordered anything in German. After dinner, we went up the Berlin TV tower. It sorta sucked since the interior lighting in the tower caused a lot of glare. Then back to the hotel for the second night.

Legoland Deutschland

The next morning, we decided to do non-sightseeing stuff and ended up in Legoland in Berlin. To say the least, the place was aimed for kids and I certainly stood out. Back when I was a kid, one of the things I coveted was an unlimited supply of lego pieces.

Dome Cathedral

I think this is the last cathedral I’ll go to in awhile… the lucky thing was that we caught a choir practice. The entrance fee was paid by this impromptu performance. Also, there was a great view of the city. Much better than the TV tower.

I think this is where I’ll stop. I ate some more sausages for dinner; spending the last remnants of my euros.

All in all, I think I would come back one day, but stay a bit longer to absorb the culture. Europe is certainly a fun place.