11th July. Day 27

Berlin

The road to Berlin was seemed to be quite short. May be the reason was that Mac took with him 3 bottles of beer:) Real German!

In the morning, before going, we heard on radio that in train Hamburg-Berlin ac stopped working, so some people have passed out as temperature in the train was +50, Hm... before going somewhere, do yourself a favor and don't turn on news.

Luckily, most of the time our ac worked. AC in neighboring carriage didn't. So at some point we made unplanned stop and friendly voice said that it will take 4 minutes to repair it. she didn't lie. In 4 minutes Ac there was repaired. But OUR STOPPED WORKING!!!! My guess- is that they just replaced ours with the one which didn't work. Let's say they thought that suffer, as pleasure, should be shared. 30 (or around) minutes without air conditioner...hm... Not that bad, but you can feel the difference. So we stepped to Berlin with its +38 wet, red, a little bit tired.

What a coincidence- my dear friend Natasha appeared to be in Berlin at the same time as me! So we this night we spent in hotel Ramada, on a big bed with several airy pillows.

However, no matter the weather was horrible, we went to a tour with Nata first. as she has been staying in Berling for 3 days already and had guided tours, she became a good uide herself!

So, Brandenburg Gates, for sure, Fernsehturm, Neue Wache, Reichstag...eating currywurst, and chatting, chatting, chatting...The best place was a cafe with fresh apple juice with ice:) Visited a monument to jews dies as a result of genocide, what has left from Berlin wall...passed through Embassy of the Republic of South Africa. I liked the gates of it, graffited with people playing football. Was impossible not to go to the forrest of tears and take photo of monument to the unknown soldier.

At 7 we met with others. Mac was with his friend, a nice man, who smiled a lot and with whom we had really interesting conversations about politics of Germany, asian countries (as hi has spent more than year in Asia). Especially exciting for me was to hear about what has happened after falling of Berlin Wall in November 1989 and how life of people changed. Ingman remembered everything and as freelance journalist could give a professional point of view and personal one.

Funny that many people who knew I was going to Berlin told me to try "typical german food which is great there- döner". Tried it in Kazakhstan, in Turkey. So now tried in Berlin as well. Ingman showed us turkish district,where döner was so delicious! If it wasn't so hot outside and I didn't eat currywurst, I would totally buy the second doner. Even now, while writing eat, I feel my stomach mumbling:)

When I got to turkish district, couldn't believe I am in european country. Turkish people have implemented own design, everywhere is turkish speech.

What is the best drink for doner? of course, beer! and what is the best with beer? Right, World Championship! So we didn't think a lot and went to some cafe with big screen and could enjoy getting 11 yellow cards and 1 red card by both sides.

Football was disappointing in sense of that there was only 1 goal:( So after it we went to one of the oldest parts of Berlin, old buldings and hospital. Wanted to take pictures with prostitutes, but well, they said it is forbidden after their photos were uploaded in internet. Well, cannot believe they were so naive to think people are taking pictures with them for home use:) Did you notice prostitutes in Berlin are cute? They got nice bodies, long legs, pretty faces. Loved some tatoos, calligraphic style of which was great!

While walking to Ramada got to some place with alternative style, where could see galleries with junk art. According to tripadviser, "this trendy art gallery is located in a dilapidated building, a symbol of the manner in which art thrived in the bleak atmosphere of Cold War Germany". Tacheles:)

The world is mine!