Berlin Chaos

I arrived in Berlin in the evening of Friday March 30^th. I stayed with a couple, Julin and Chang, that lived in the center of the city. My hosts, Julin’s brother, and I went out to dinner. We cycled to the place- that was pretty far away (by American standards!). On our journey, we went through an Airport Park. It used to be an airport but is now a park- hence the name. =P Not sure what type of restaurant it was- but we each had our own little frying pan and the brought out a bunch of little bowls with meat, fish, and plenty of other stuff. It was delicious! Afterward we cycled back to their flat and hung out.

So much food! =D

 On Saturday I explored the city a little in the morning and went to the German History Museum. Afterward, I joined my hosts when they went to Potsdam! Potsdam is this beautiful area where there are castles and awesome architecture everywhere! When we got there we cycled more, so I didn’t take too many pictures because I was on a bike. Lol Also, I left my camera battery charger in Brugge. =( My host is going to send it to me once I stay in one place for a bit! =P We cycled through Potsdam more and got dinner. Once it got dark, Chang and I headed ‘home’ and Julin stayed behind and met up with a friend. …Should mention that the weather was ridiculous all day. It would rain like crazy and then start snowing even! Then it would be sunny again. Ah!

On Sunday, I booked a walking tour. I cycled to the meeting point, on the way there- there was a big marathon going on! So it took a while to get around that! My tour was really good, learned a lot about Berlin- and Hitler! Learned that Hitler actually hated Berlin and wanted it to get bombed to pieces so he could build his new empire- Germania. He even had a layout determined for the town. The picture below shows the main building, it was so massive that it would have created its own atmosphere apparently! Look down to the right- yeah, that’s the Brandenburg Gate! To put into perspective how massive this town was planned to be.

One huge main building of original Nazi architecture was unharmed during wars and such. It was very ugly, but interesting! The top floor’s windows were smaller than the rest to make the building seem bigger than it was. On the tour, we went through the ‘Ghost Station’- A station that was sealed whenever the wall was still up. The train would slow down so much that it could not be heard as it passed through a portion of East Berlin. On the tour, we got to go through the ‘Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe’. What I loved about the memorial was that the reasoning behind the design was never revealed, so it is up to interpretation by each visitor. Those are just a few highlights, learned so much more! =) 

Brandenburg Gate

Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

After the tour was done, I was planning on meeting up with another surfer for dinner.

As I was cycling to meet him, I wreaked my cycle. There is a tram that runs around the center of Berlin, so there are tram tracks everywhere. I was aware I was cycling beside the tracks, to not get caught in them- but I looked up to see the street signs and boom- my tires were in the tracks. And next thing I knew I was smacking my head off the pavement. It all happened really quick. The bike I was using only had a back pedal brake (of which I got used to) but I might have tried to stop using the handle bar brakes which added to the crash. I didn’t fly over the handle bars, I fell off the side of the bike. When I crashed, a cycler in front of me stopped and took my bike off the road. I thought I was fine, but then felt my head and saw I was bleeding. I took of a headband/ear warmer thing I had on (because it was so cold) and the guy that was helping me just looked at me in shock! I started thanking him and was going to get back on my cycle when he was like- you have to go to the hospital! I looked at my head in a car window’s reflection, and saw that my head was gashed open! Ugh it was a bloody mess- literally! So I took a taxi to the hospital on my own. 

The shock finally started wearing off when I got to the hospital. Thankfully I had my passport with me, because I had to make a reservation for a train I was taking that night. But they took my information and such, and just sent the bill home! I was able to get help right away. As the doctor was preparing to stitch me up, I was trying to get a hold of one of my hosts to see if they could come meet me- but no luck. The surfer I was going to meet was going to come, but it would have taken him too long. The somewhat attractive doctor stitched up my battle wound. It was a bit painful- only because the doctor told me to tell him when/if it hurt- to see if he needed more anesthesia. Therefore, I was focusing on the pain- which I don’t like to do! lol  When he put the anesthesia in my skin, I thought it was excess juice running down my face and into my ear- but it was blood. That freaked me out too! lol So once I was stitched up, I cleaned the blood off my face. Then the doctor asked if I had a tetnis shot, or if I needed one. For some reason, I thought I had one- but had no wifi to ask my mum to make sure. The doctor let me use his computer to contact someone. My mum didn’t answer quick, so I asked anyone to tell me my mum to answer me! It ended up that James, Nikki, and Uncle Bill all tried contacting her at the same time! Ended up needed a tetnis shot, and managed to extremely stress out my mummy in the process <3 As the shock continued to wear off, my neck started hurting- so the doctor made me get x-rays. Eventually, I was released and began to search for the nearest s-ban station. I was very weak from not eating anything and the loss of blood, so it took me far longer than it should have!

Eventually got to the station and got some Burger King. Yeah Burger King. lol Then headed back to my host’s apartment building. Was anxious to talk to my mum again to calm her down. My hosts gave me spare keys for the day, but when I tried getting into the flat (apartment), the door would not open and they were not home (because I was planning on leaving that night). So at this point I was extremely exhausted and defeated, so I just sat outside the door, ate my food, and talked to my mum on my itouch because I could access the wifi from outside the door.

I kept on trying to open the door with no luck. Eventually my ipod and phone died. I was so exhausted and defeated- I slept on the doormat. Yes, a doormat. =P It was inside, safe, and was only for a few hours. Then I tried the door again and got in.

So all day Monday and Tuesday I just stayed in the flat and was just pretty pathetic. I was going to go to the dog hotel that I was going to work at early- but more bad luck- the owner didn’t think I was coming and filled my spot because she didn’t hear back from me soon enough. Because I was busy rewriting my term papers -.- So adding insult to injury (literally), I had nowhere to go. I skipped out on Munich because I wanted to take it easy. I searched like crazy both on help exchange and couch surfing to find a place to stay to recover at. On couch surfing, when you send someone a couch request- you can post an ‘open couch request’. Therefore, hosts invite you to stay with them. Thankfully, a couple near Rothenburg invited me to stay with them as I recovered.  So I headed for Wursburg Wednesday morning to meet one of my hosts.

Although I am angry about the accident, I’m lucky. It could have been so much worse. The headband I had on saved my face from getting scraped, so I’m thankful for that. There were also were no cars on the road, thankfully. Always going to have a scar to remember Berlin =P

Oh, and please don’t tell me to be careful! I am careful and responsible, shit just happens- and apparently just to me! Ok! =) <3