Even it took a while for me to believe I was standing on one of the platforms waiting for a train at Berlin's impressive crystal Hauptbahnhof. Even more so, trying to figure out the highly efficient if slightly complicated Metro system.
And yes Berlin is every bit as impressive, big and brash as I thought I'd be. And I'm so glad that given how short my time in the former Eastern bloc is this time, that my hostel happens to be in the old East Berlin and quite near to Alexanderplatz and its famous Television Tower. Just to show you how times have changed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, I bought a SD memory card from the Saturn store at Alexanderplatz - 10 Euros for 16 GB card which makes it cheaper than Singapore!
And then there's the Pergamanon Museum which must be the most cavernous museum in the world - it houses literal buildings, facades in there. It could house Cologne's Dom if it wanted to. As it is it has got the Ishtar Gate, it's star attraction and a fabulous collection of Hittite, Assyrian, Greek, Roman and Muslim artefacts.
Anyway, what will Berlin hold next? Surely I'll see a glimpse of the famous nightlife - if it stops raining outside. After doing 2 football Fanzones in 2 days - for Poland v Czech Republic in Warsaw; a bit of a good warm-up for Berlin, and for Germany v Denmark at Brandenburg Gate last night - it'll be good to spend one in the bar especially if the rain gets heavier following a day in the late 20s. But who knows..
Tomorrow, more from West Berlin and hopefully a picture of the Reichstag.. Might try and see if I can get in but security measures recently put in place have meant the walk inside Norman Foster's penis - I mean the glass dome - can only be done after an appointment.
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