Oh dear oh dear,

I've just read my previous posts, and spent around a minute cringeing.

And I think I'm going to have to take a different path with the blog. There's no theme or direction, and its starting to exasperate me.

Oh well, for now I'll just keep blogging as I am learning how.

(a.k.a waffling about nothing.)

As I disclosed in my previous post, I went to Berlin, and despite the soggy weather, it is a place which with a little more sunshine, I would love to revisit.

But the city is not just a collection of famous monuments and museums, though there are plenty of those, but an example of a lifestyle and an attitude to life. I love the way it can be one of the most productive and economically active cities in Europe and indeed the world, and yet maintain such an unwinding atmosphere. Worries must just ebb away as one strolls the evening streets lit with tangerine.

And it has come a long way from its past shrouded with murk and murder. There is not even a whiff of that deathly miasma that seeped from the heart of Germany's government. A new era has come for berlin; one of enlightenment. We visited the Jewish Museum and to my delight I can say that in the face of the crumbling ruins of the Berlin Wall, and the impressionable Jewish monument, the people of Berlin have not shied away from the plight their ancestors inflicted on these people. Total unity could well be a contributing factor as to why Berlin is the place it is today, and symbols of this shared hope reach through to the far corners of the city; from the renovated Gedächtniskirche to the television tower, representing a new age of communication and understanding.

I LOVE BERLIN. Overall, I was lured, as I'm sure many tourists are, by the feeling that people are happy there. Everybody we spoke to was friendly. Two times we were offered directions from two amiable Berliners in perfect english. This city is obviously home to some very hardworking, friendly and welcoming people, the polar opposite of how many germans might be percieved, especially in English society, due to what we hear about in textbooks.

So the that was my opinion on Berlin. There is so much more I could say about the food, architecture and culture. I mean, people ride bikes! There are cycle lanes! That is so civilised and just a dream come true I think.

Highlight: being absolutely knackered after trudging through pouring rain to get breakfast...and then having the priveledge of eating a freshly baked sugar coated bun. Serious culinary pleasure. Like eating pillow.