European Escapade

This one relay is just a quick update. I know I say that every time but this time I mean it.

Last few days have been spent sleeping more than usual to try and catch up, and get over a slight cold I have. The rest of the time I’ve been out and about seeing sights, or sitting in a park, catching up on my journal and planning my trip going forward. Yesterday I booked it all, so the plan going forward looks like this:

• Berlin until Saturday evening.
• Fly to London, arrive late Saturday night.
• To new hostel for one night. Call Tink. Go out and party.
• Back to Ashlee House, the first Hostel I stayed at, until the 9th when I fly out of London.

At some point in there I’m going to be making a day trip to Bath or Bristol to see Elly and Emily but I’m waiting on them to help me coordinate what day that should be. And then it’s off to Thailand, get measured for a suit, fly to Koh Samui, chill on a beach, come back, fit suit and then fly out. On the 18th I’ll be winging my way back to Australia. It seems so close!

Yesterday I went to a fantastic exhibit of Egyptian sculptures and papyrus. It was really great and all my old interest in Egypt came flooding back while i was there. It was incredible to think that the bust of Nefertiti which I was looking at was over 3000 years old and still in such impeccable condition. It really is a beautiful piece of work.

I also went inside the big cathedral here and climbed to the top. Just as I got up there it bucketed down with rain. Yup, the beautiful whether which I have been experiencing the entire time I’ve been away, has finally broken. But I waited it out and went out on the ledge and took some photos. Later that night I also went up the tallest structure in the city, which is the TV tower, and surveyed the landscape from 205m up at sunset. Got some good photos.

When I came back I could here the Spanish dudes in my room from the opposite end of the hall, as I’ve gotten used to. They are always up to something. really good guys. I stepped into the room to find all the lights out except for one, which was shining like a spot light on a table. Behind the table two of the guys sat with towels or other things obscuring their faces and head, dark glasses and caps on. The table was draped with a Spanish Flag and sitting opposite them was another guy with a camera. They were filming a mock terrorist video. I couldn’t help but laugh.

After that was done, they filmed the counter-terrorist component. They each have a SWAT shirt and they got dressed up all in black, went outside, then burst into the room with their cell phones and other things out to look like guys, and arrested… me. I think they’d all wanted to be SWAT and failed to leave someone else to arrest in the room Maybe you had to be there, but it was bloody funny.

The night before they had come in, with a new guy having just checked into the spare spot in our room, and walked over to my bed. Al stood above me and said “OK Jesse, you know what time it is” banging his fist against his other hand, as though he was going to beat someone up. The new guy looked very taken aback until we all began to laugh.

The boys are checking out today, so I’ll no longer have their antics to keep me entertained when I get back late from sight seeing. Others included playing soccer in our little dorm, or standing in a pentagonal shape and headbutting the ball to each other, around and around, like a game of hacky sack. The only different is as you head but it you have to scream as loud as you can, or say the next word in an agreed sequence or something. They really have been fun to room with, for me at least. I’m not sure that the others in the room have fallen in with their style of comedy enough to enjoy it… they just looked continually perplexed.

Anyway, today I think I will check out the new national art gallery because it’s all modern art, which I’m finding I really like. I’ll also swing by the Jewish museum if I can and maybe a few other places. My original deal with F was that I had to come at a weekend so we could see Berlin’s nightlife, which i still haven’t really done, but since today is Thursday I’m hopeful there will be something good on.

And that, my friends, is that. I’m collating a few things I wanted to write about into a separate page in my journal and will come back and write about them in the next few days probably. Other than that, I hope this finds you all happy and well, and I’ll look forward to heading from you all soon!

Love, j oxox

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 3rd, 2006 at 7:51 pm and is filed under Germany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.