赶 8.02am 的火车 (S$81.87 each) from Krakow in Poland to Berlin in Germany... walked a bigger round through the carpark cos shopping mall which was linked to the train station was not open yet... 😅
8+ hours on this train was definitely more comfy than 8 hours on the plane as seating area was spacious even with my luggage kiap in between me and the seat in front...
first impression of Berlin - a lot of graffiti too!!!
happy to see McD @ the train station!!! ... value meal with 2 burgers (S$10.42) as our first proper meal of the day at 4pm...
a short metro ride + a short walk away and we reached Mercure Hotel Berlin City @ 5pm - our room sweet room for 2 nights cost S$350.14
Ampelmännchen (East Germany traffic light green & red men) keychains sold at our hotel lobby... really 独一无二... somehow the red man reminded Angela of a scarecrow while the green man reminded me of Rumpelstiltskin... =P
took a nap and jolted awake at 840pm... we were supposed to be out for dinner by 8.30pm... Angela got ready in record time and we were out of the room by 9.10pm
My regret on this trip; i should have just went back to sleep then i wouldnt have to go through the awkward + angry + disappointing + traumatic experience ... 😑😑😑
Very yummy Vietnamese Pho & Grilled Duck Rice for dinner at $60.34
the activity that we rushed out for; Pub Crawl @ 10pm... i 脸红红, 眼朦朦 with just one bottle of beer... 😅😅😅
paid S$29.43 for myself to 找罪受... basically it was 3 pubs + 1 club hopping with one free shot from each pub... had 20+ signed up including us & people from Italy, Perth, Brazil, Argentina etc etc
i had assumed the pubs & club to be along the same stretch of road but no, we had to take a train in between two of them and a bus between another two of them... being the 路痴 i am and thinking that i was in safe hands, I didnt bother to take note where i was and what number / name of the train & bus that we took... 😥😥😥
though it was interesting and funny to be among a big group of rowdy, alcohol - high adults on the street in a foreign land, it was max level awkwardness to have conversation with so many strangers ; one after another, all repeating the same thing... What's your name? Where are you from? How many days in berlin? Where are you heading to next?
Last stop @ Maxxim Club Berlin... I liked the music in this club but i hated the whole time spent in this club; from what i saw to how i was made to feel...
by 2+am, i was ready to call it quit and was challenged to go back first if i know the way... woah!!! what a get-back!!!... really is 越是懂你的人, 便越能伤到你...
took me 45 minutes to check this, check that, download this, download that to be 150% sure that i had a safe trip back to the hotel at 2+am in a foreign land all by myself... i have a very serious case of 被害妄想症 oversea; as if every one wants to kidnap me for god knows what reason!!!... that's why i will never do solo travelling...
so paranoid was I that i didnt dare board any of the cabs that were 'queuing' outside the club... i only wanted a ride-hailing app cab cos i felt safer knowing that the journey would be 'recorded' in a system... took a while to scrutinize which ride-hailing app to download, took a while to confirm with the bouncers the address of the club and if there's only one Mercure hotel in Berlin due to the language barrier; they were not very fluent in English and i had difficulty understanding their accent and it didnt help that they looked very intimidating to me... and lastly, i filmed the whole cab journey as if i was doing a live!!! the journey cost $30.64...
after the most self-induced traumatic 15 minutes i had in ALL my years of travels, i reached back safe & sound to find the main door of the hotel 'locked'... stood outside like an idiot but at least i was safe... the staff must have spotted me on their cctv and came to unlock the door for me... how unsafe is Berlin to have to lock the main glass door of a hotel in the middle of the night seh?!?!?! 😅😅😅
why so many fire extinguishers at every level?!?!?! @ 3.15am
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simple breakfast (S$18.16) @ 12nn before exploring escape tunnels below the Berlin Wall for 2 hours (Tour M with Berliner Unterwelten S$29.39 each)
sad that no pics were allowed during the tour... our guide was really good; clear & captivating in her narration of the escape stories through the many many self-dug tunnels...
these metal poles (above) indicated where the Berlin Wall once stood while the metal plaques (below) indicated the location of one of the former escape tunnels between East & West Berlin
Book to read 《 The Story of Tunnel 29 》
a quick yummy lunch of currywurst & sweet potato fries (S$69.22) before another hour @ Berlin Dungeon (S$29.20 each)
interesting interactive show with very good performers... there was even a 12m freefall tower which we got to play twice!!!
what a neat display of alcohol at a convenience store
it was still early, still have many many hours before sunset so we went around Berlin to look see, look see...
waiting for the bus near St. Mary's Church; the oldest church in Berlin dating back to 1380, positioned right in front of the Berlin TV Tower
section of the Berlin Wall, disgustingly covered with gums, on exhibit at Potsdamer Platz
The bright pink pipes of Berlin that look like an art installation zooming all around Berlin... they are actually functional water pipes !!!
outdoor exhibit @ Topography of Terror, where the longest standing section (200m) of the Berlin Wall is.
i wanted to... but but but.... nvm !!!
@ Charlie Checkpoint
souvenirs from the checkpoint giftshop (S$17.63):
mustache comb for Alfred even though he doesnt have a mustache... it just reminded me of how he described Stalin with a brush mustache and Hitler with a toothbrush mustache long, long, super long ago...
Berlin was once divided into 4 occupation zones, each zone 'belonging' to one of the cute-ti-fied countries on the magnet after WWII which eventually resulted in the Berlin Wall
malatang (S$45) for dinner, a dinner we rushed out for and reached half an hour before its closing!!!
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