Berlin has a superb public transport system especially considering it's such a spread out city. The U (underground) trains alone seem to cover every bit of the city, with stations just a couple of minutes apart and trains arriving very frequently. Add to that buses, trams and bike paths and it's astoundingly easy to get to anywhere in the city.
I take another tour, this time a cycling one that offers an introduction to Berlin. Today’s tour is a bit Mickey Mouse after yesterday’s emotionally and intellectually intense experience but offers a decent overview of the city. This is the sort of tour you should take as a starting point, not to follow up with after already having been to Sachsenhausen as I did. That’s the way the itinerary worked out for me so can’t be helped.
Marx and Engels, whose statues previously occupied pride of place at Alexanderplatz, one of East Berlin's main squares but recently moved to a less prominent location
The group is much bigger than the one yesterday. Two people I get talking to are a couple called Matt and Sarah from New Zealand. Matt works in a hospital and Sarah designs clothes at some sort of fashion company. Matt is the designated “sweeper” on the bike tour so has to be sure that no one gets left behind.
Halfway stop at a Munich-style beer garden
I’m collecting beer bottles all through the holiday as usual for my collection at home. On this day, I drop my bottle while cycling along – but it doesn't break! A few minutes later, I drop the case containing my passport!!!!!! Matt picks it up immediately and hands it to me with a grin.
After the tour, Sarah goes off exploring the malls nearby while Matt and I settle down with a couple of beers. Extremely nice guy, just like nearly every other Kiwi I’ve ever met. He tells me, almost embarrassed to be mentioning it, that he’s done a 3h10m marathon. I think it was his first one. What a maniac. An Ironman is the next thing on his agenda. I tell him that the two of them are welcome to come and stay at my place if they ever visit Singapore.
I head back to the hostel quickly so that I can take my onward train to Munich. I quickly grab my bags and start towards the bus stop. A car stops by the road and a window rolls down. Guy in the car asks me for directions (in German). I respond (in German) that I don’t speak English. D'oh. A true Homer Simpson moment.
I’ve been seeing Japanese people everywhere on my trip so far and, perhaps surprisingly, not the stereotypical middle-aged camera-warriors. More like youngsters travelling alone or in small groups. Often just a couple of girls or even alone. For a nation of fussy eaters, they're great travellers.
Randomly start talking to fellow passenger on the train to Munich who turns out to be a Singaporean from Bukit Gombak! That just seems like a whole world away. He's on a two-month Europe trip catching various football matches. I don't follow football but what a great idea! When I introduce myself, he asks me if I'm travelling to celebrate finishing National Service. This is even better than what Yudai said to me in Amsterdam. :-) He asks me to take a picture of him with his camera. Says he'll post it on his Facebook page for his friends back home, then poses for the pic under the covers as though he's fast asleep on the train. I tell him he should caption it, "Bloody Singaporean stole my camera out of my bag and took a picture of me as I slept."
Then I find out I have to take a conference call at 7 in the morning! That's about the time the train gets to Munich so I wonder how I'm going to manage. What a way to end the day.
More pictures here (no captions, free to access) or here (with captions but requires Facebook log-in).
This post is the fifth in a series. The full series:
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