Berlin as seen from a Segway

By the time we got to the hotel in Berlin, it was quite late so we went for a traditional German dinner. I was in heaven! We took a stroll out to where we were going to meet our tour group the next morning so we could time how long it would take us to walk there. Their parks are pitch black at night, and felt a bit dodgy, so we headed back to the hotel and hoped for the best in the morning. We had a Segway tour. Those cool two wheeled things. It was perfect for my sprained ankle and for Ben's interest in technology. By the time we got to the hotel in Berlin, it was quite late so we went for a traditional German dinner. I was in heaven! We took a stroll out to where we were going to meet our tour group the next morning so we could time how long it would take us to walk there. Their parks are pitch black at night, and felt a bit dodgy, so we headed back to the hotel and hoped for the best in the morning. We had a Segway tour. Those cool two wheeled things. It was perfect for my sprained ankle and for Ben's interest in technology. We had an English tour guide, guide us through the city. We covered early Berlin history up through the end of the GDR. We had ten stops along the way learning interesting tidbits over the four hours. We had a great time riding the Segways in the street, passing cyclists. Top speed was 30 kmh. Ben was the one encouraging me to go faster.

We explored a few other things on our own once the tour was over, the large aquarium in the Radisson hotel and toured through the GDR museum. It was a great hands on, touch things, interact with exhibits type museum. I know a lot about Germany history, but East Germany was one of those things I knew very little about. At the time, I was bored when my father made me watch live video of the wall falling, but now I am glad I have that memory and can now fully appreciate what those people went though and what the wall falling truly meant.

The following day we went out to a Stasi prison, way out of town, that was guided by prisoners who had spent time in there. It was depressing the conditions that the inmates had to endure, both Russian’s, after WWII, and East Germans who were suspected of bad things. I was heart wrenching and instead of doing something more upbeat, we went back to the holocaust memorial and toured through the museum there. As I was quietly sobbing after reading diary entries, and being overwhelmed by so many emotions, Ben reminded me that it was our actual anniversary. I love history, but I wish I had picked happier touring things to do that day. As we walked home that night after another fantastic dinner, did I mention I love German food, we noticed many scantily clad women who seemed to be soliciting men. When we got back to the hotel I had to look up prostitution and sure enough, it is legal in Germany. They were the hottest hookers I had ever seen, even put most strippers in Portland to shame. They were good about not approaching men who were with women, so one look at Ben and they quickly looked away since I was with him. I was the one who could not tear my eyes away.

The best day was the third zoo in a third country within a month. The Berlin zoo has been remodeled so recently due to wars so it is very modern. They was no point in having a map as the paths serpentined around but we still managed to see everything. It was a beautiful day, as we were tired of having rain. The monkeys were going bananas it was great. A spider monkey even fell in love with Ben and made faces with him. She followed him around as he walked through the monkey enclosure. With Ben's camera in great working order, he was having a great time capturing them as they frolicked around their cages. We even managed to be at the big cat enclosure as they were being fed. The lions and tigers were growling so much, roaring like crazy. You could hear them all across the park. I could feel their roars in my chest as we were only a meter away from them. As always I made Ben take photos by the rhinos as they both have great grumpy faces. I saw my first panda, but he was sleeping, and I caught sight of a foot and his bum. As the day grew to a close we took a snooze on a bench in the sun to really enjoy our holiday. We spent the entire day at the zoo much to my pleasure, and left as they were closing. We were tuckered out after so much walking.


The next morning I stuck Ben on a train to the airport, as I got on my own 8-hour train ride down to Sarrland to visit my bestest Germany buddy Katrin. I was to stay with her over the next 5 days to see her new place, visit her new office, and of course meet the new man in her life. I had met a few of her friends before, so it was great to catch up with them, and head out for a night on the town! It was a relaxing week as I wrote, read, slept at Katrin’s while she worked. The weather was not all the cooperative: rain profusely in the morning but then sunny just about the time Kat got off work. One night, we had a great walk from Saarbrücken, Germany over into France. So funny to think the boarder is about a 20 minute walk. It was a great relaxing visit spending time with my buddy and seeing how fantastic she is doing since I have missed so much since she moved back home.