PRAGUE to DRESDEN

Day 172 - 173

Berlin, Germany

Here we are again, in Germany! Back to EUROS! Yay. Currency we understand!!!

SO COOL!

Our final day in Prague was pretty eventful. We went back to the Prague Castle and saw what we didn´t the previous day..had lunch there...climbed the tower which had 284 steps...and afterwards checked out the Andy Warhol exhibition and spent some time relaxing beside the tranquil river before having subway and sleeping our last night in the accomodation that was forgettable! (We decided later it was only cause it was noisy, toilet and shower was so far away and there was no tv, kettle and only a scrap of a towel that made it miserable! But otherwise...it was clean..and ok!).

But now we´re here in Berlin...in gorgeous accomodation..we don´t think it was all that bad..but really, it was pretty bad!

It´s good being back here in Germany..

But it´s different to when we were last here (Munich) because now we´re in Berlin, which is really the eastern side of Germany and it has a completely different feel to Munich. Not as many beer houses, vegetable stalls, internet cafes and the feel is different.

There´s a lot of building going on here and today we found out why!

I´ll tell you a bit more about that in my next blog because i think the whole explanation needs a blog of it´s own!

We arrived here on Monday after leaving Prague pretty early. We caught the 6.16am train and first of all headed to Dresden, 2 hours from Prague and 5 hours from Berlin, which is a beautiful city.

A lot of it got bombed in 1945 so there´s a lot of building going on there too..but it has a different feel to Berlin. It´s the Florence of Germany! The buildings, baroque in style, that are intact, are simply beautiful.

And the cultural side of Dresden is more evident too. We strolled along the beautiful River Elbe and just loved all the markets and the whole feel of the place...We regretted not staying here longer but our packs were in the lockers at the station and we had planned to get to Berlin that night so we headed out after spending a few hours looking around.

Arriving in Berlin was a bit strange at first..because we didn´t have accomodation and there were 3 main train stations to choose from to arrive at, so we hoped for the best and picked the central station.

This station, Hauptbahnhof, is massive. It only opened in 2006. It´s the largest and most modern train station in Europe we later found out! And of course, trying to navigate such a station is a nightmare. There were information points on each floor but not what we wanted.

After finding an english speaking info centre we finally found accomodation. It only cost 3 euro for them to book..and we trusted their judgement. It was CHEAP so we did wonder what we were getting into!!! 41 euro a night, shower incl including breakfast!

We navigated our way out of the train station and to our accomodation which took us 2 metro lines to get there.....

AND....it´s gorgeous. Very German. No English, but somehow we seem to get by these days with our gestures and the help of learning simple words of the language before we arrive.

Our room is dramatic. Red silk sheets...and our own balcony. Breakfast has been delicious. German bread is to die for. I love it. Very brown and nutty, yum.

So we´re happy.

And we´ve been shopping..................

We bought a kettle after me whingeing for so long about not being able to make my own coffee and tea....(only 9 euros) and we bought a new camera as our old one clapped out! No wonder. We´ve been taking 2000 pics a month!!!!!!

This camera is so cool. We should be able to download more pics as well. If we get time. It´s a little digital, optical 7.2 Samsung and has a wide angle lense and it´s half the price as the old one. Only 200 Euros. (We´re enjoying the fruits of selling shares..hope it gets us to America and we dont spend it all!! haha)

God knows, the shop we got it at is the biggest i´ve ever seen in my life..for electronics and electrics!!! SO tempting!

Floors upon floors and isles upon isles of camera´s, electrics..everything. Called Saturn. HUGE.

I tell ya..i was tempted to buy a little laptop to put our photos on and to write on and use as a wireless laptop at all the hotspots they have here in Europe..BUT..it was all set up in German and had a German Warranty....and was not that cheap really....so i daydreamed for about a minute and realised it was just nice having a new kettle.

BUT then......i had to buy cups..and coffee..and it goes on. And now..i also have to carry it all in my pack. But..it´s worth it, just to be able to have a cuppa when want. Just think, i´ve gone for almost 6 months without a kettle!

And Greg was happy to have a camera that works!! Now i don´t have to listen to him saying, ´BLoody camera!´haha..

Oh yeah, we also bought some new jeans!!!!!

First time we´ve shopped in SO LONG!!!! And what a place to do it. Germany has to have the best value for money of anywhere!

Now our shopping days are over......

And it´s back to travelling and looking like grovellers. But at least we have new jeans to do it in hehe