28th June

Calais.

Arrival 54800 km.

Approaching Calais, I made attempts to get into a huge 'Carrefour' hypermarket in order to get fuel, booze and fags. There were 2 metre height barriers at every entrance to the car parks though, so I guess that they didn't want business from motorhome or caravan owners! As I left to try to find somewhere else, I got stuck behind an articulated lorry, the driver having lost his way off the beaten track, and was heading down a narrow road into a residential area. The driver tried to turn the lorry around at a mini roundabout, and more or less succeeded, only big fat Hermione was sitting at the entrance to the roundabout as he came back around! With a line of cars behind me, there wasn't a lot that I could do other than inch my way forward closer to the kerb and the railings, then reverse back a bit. Eventually, after much to-ing and fro-ing, he managed to squeeze the lorry trailer through the gap and we were clear, but with long traffic jams in both directions. I decided to just head for the camperstop area and do my shopping in town by bike.

The 'Aire de Stationment' at Calais is fairly large and just across from the navigation channel where the P & O car ferries from Dover come in to dock. It probably holds around 50 motorhomes or so and cost was 7 euro to park up for 24 hours. Stay longer than that and they will charge 13 euro a night, presumably to discourage people from using it like a campsite. I took the bike off the back and cycled in towards 'Centre Ville', past 'La Mairie' (town hall) and into the shopping area, where I found a Tabac to buy the cigarettes and packed them into my rucksack. Returning to the van, I ditched the rucky and 'de-hoodied' as it was a bit warm for cycling in, then returned again to the centre for a decent look around.



Calais, I'm afraid, wasn't very impressive. I soon got bored of the streets away from the town centre and it seemed to have more than it's fair share of 'wee ned types' with skinheads and sports gear, reminding me too much of home. Saltcoats was the vision that I had in fact. Scumsville-On-Sea. So, I headed back to Hermione and had some lunch with the French bread I'd bought, and relaxed for a bit. By 9pm I'd had enough; was bored and just wanted to be moving, so I thought I may as well chance my arm at the Eurotunnel terminal and see if I could maybe get an earlier train than the one that I was booked on at 6.50 the next morning.



As luck would have, when I arrived at the automatic check in, I was given the option of catching the 22.50 train that night at no extra charge, so I decided to go for that one instead. I actually ended up catching the slightly earlier train, as it was quiet, and we were off and moving by 10pm. Half an hour later (or earlier, since the clocks went back and we arrived in Folkestone at 9.30!) we had arrived.
The tunnel was fast, smooth and efficient; a really good quick way to get across the channel.


sitting behind the motorhome in front of me in the Eurotunnel train....

The next part of the journey was going to be long. The trip from Dover to Pembroke Dock in South Wales was 500km. The one plus point was that travelling through the night, there wasn't much traffic on the motorways. I stopped for one pee break and then one fuel stop where I stuck in £15 as diesel is very expensive in the U.K., as I wasn't going to have enough fuel to quite make it to Pembroke. I finally arrived at 4.10am at Pembroke, the rain having lashed down for the final 200km of the journey, and a fair old gusty crossing of the Severn Bridge. I parked up on the pavement at the Docks only to discover that the skylight above the bed in the back had blown open, and the duvet was half soaked! Grrrr.....
I set the alarm for 7am and settled down for a few hours kip, before moving the van in the daylight to a better parking spot.

At 7, i drove away from the Docks as things were starting to come alive, and I didn't want to be moved on, but I soon found a good parking spot down by the yacht haven in a car park and got about another 4 hours sleep there before getting some breakfast and showering. I headed back to the ferry terminal and once the booking office had opened at midday, I managed to get my booking changed to the 14.30 that afternoon, so I'll be home 12 hours earlier than expected and will give me a full day to recover.

So, journey just about over. Only the hop from Rosslare to home to go.


waiting on the Ferry to Rosslare

27th June

Antwerp, Belgium.

I finally found the campsite. The GPS co-ordinates were a bit off; well about 2km off really, but I punched in the address and found it that way, and when I got there, I think I'd found the cheapest official campsite ever! The cost for the night was 3.75 euro, no lecky and it didn't seem too far from the city, although across the River Schelde. My main issue was going to be the fact that I was mapless, and there didn;t seem to be a bridge spanning the river anywhere near.


(View from campsite side of the river over to the city)

I cycled around for a bit (in a large circle!) finally spotting one of those town maps on an advertising hoarding type things, so was able to consult that and found out that there was a foot tunnel nearby to cross the river. Finding the tunnel proved to be slightly more troublesome, as i was expecting to see an entrance going downhill or whatever......
In the end, I found the entrance inside a large square building with double doors that led into a large lift. The lift travels down 31 metres below the river and opens out on the opposite pair of doors into the tunnel mouth. From there, it's about a 600 metre cycle across to the opposite side, where an identical lift awaits to take you up top again.



I got out at the other side and had soon found the main market square, 'Grotemarkt', and the buildings looked excellent; all very old and authentic 17th Century type stuff, little cobbled streets leading off the square, and lots of taverns and restaurants. It really is a pleasant old city to visit. Where the campsite is situated is in a nice neighbourhood on the opposite side of the river - mainly residential, with a mix of modern apartment blocks and individual houses, some with thatched roofs, but not that old. On the other side of town, there was a rougher, edgier feel to things, and I seemed to be in the red light district. It felt a little less safe to be in, and there seemed to be lots of people just 'hanging around'.







I ate dinner in the evening in a nice little cafe / bar, where the pasta was excellent and the beer cheap, so that was my carbohydrate requirements taken care of for the day! The bill came to less than 12 euro which was grand. I was in two minds at to whether to go out on the lash afterwards, but I felt a bit tired, so I made my way back to the campsite, read a few chapters of my book, before retiring to the bunk for the night. Antwerp is a city I'd like to come back to for a weekend on a cheap flight to explore for a bit and sample the nightlife.



Tomorrow I will leave for Calais, stock upon essentials, plus booze and fags for the family and bide my time until my Eurotunnel crossing is due...........

26th June

Rotterdam- Day 2

I cycled into the centre and locked the bike to a railing. When I returned, the bike had vanished and all that was left was the broken lock lying on the ground. The thieves had tried to cut through the cable, but when that didn't work for them, they managed to break the lock section apart. I was really annoyed. out of all the hundreds of bikes lying around, it was mine, and it wasn't even it was a particularly expensive bike; it was pretty much a bottom of the range 10 year old MTB with no suspension or anything.





So..... off I trudged to the Police station to report it gone, but it seems that bike theft is rife, and the chances of getting it back are very slim. The irony of it is, only yesterday I had hummed and hawed about buying a traditional Dutch style bike, as I've wanted to own one for years, since I first visited Holland in fact, but I scolded myself that the bike I owned was perfectly good and that it would only be an extravagance! So, as fate would have, I ended up buying a Dutch bike, with it's comfortable 'sit up and beg' riding style and turned back handlebars, no brake levers on them; pedal backwards to slow down! Once I'd cycled back to the campsite on it, my spirits had lifted a bit and I'd perked up. C'est la vie, and all that.



I got packed up and made plans to head for Antwerp in Belgium.....

25th June

Rotterdam

Well the rain has finally let up (mostly) and i headed in to Rotterdam centre this morning on the bus. They're in the middle of building a new station or something and all the roads are dug up around Centraal Station. The architecture is a strange mix of old Dutch and 50's / 60's then really modern stuff. Definately a city that has a lot of modern influences, and even the 50's / 60's stuff looks ok, as it seems to have been maintained!



The city centre is quite compact and plenty of shopping opportunities, but when you've seen a Jack and Jones or H&M in one city, the next is just the same. I did buy a bicycle pump so that I can maybe get around to fixing that puncture I have on the bike! I worked my way back towards the station and found the tourist info shop and made some enquiries there, got a map etc. from there I headed into the Chinese area then along another street into what seemed to be the turkish / Afro Carribean area. All quite interesting. More older Ditch tenements here and finally found a net cafe! I can't access my memory card, hence the previous posts still need to be filled in. After last night's staying at home, i really would like to get out into the city this evening and see if there's any nightlife....... I'm running out of books to read again! My probelm is that I can devour small novels easily in one evening.....





The weather the last 5 days or so has been very poor, with lots of rain, and today is also very windy and there are bikes blown over everywhere in town. My travels are drawing to a close. Probably only 1 city to go after this and that will be Antwerp in Belgium as it has been recommended over Brugge and Brussels looks to be a nightmare to get camped in, so it has been ruled out.

25th June - part 1

Edam


I left Amsterdam on the Monday morning and decided to head to the little town of Edam, north of the city about 30km. I'd been to Edam and it's very close neighbour, Volendam, before so I knew what to expect. I stopped off at a car park just next to the marina and camp site. I made myself some lunch and pondered what to do. The weather didn't look very promising at all. Grabbing my brolly, I hoofed it into the town centre and had a look around; all very pretty and picturesque, little houses and shops, and they're celebrating the town's 650th anniversary, so all the flags were out, but the place was very quiet.





By the time I got back to the van, the rain had started and didn't look like letting up, so I decided to head for Rotterdam instead. It rained heavily all the way and the grass on the campsite was soaking. I stayed home and read my book. More from Rotterdam to come later.....

22nd June

22nd June
Bonn to Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Arrival 54223km



An uneventful journey by motorway the whole way, over the border with not even a checkpoint to go through, and finally reaching Amsterdam at lunchtime. The first campsite I arrived at, although closer to the city, looked to be a bit of a hike to get to any transport, so I decided to try a different one. The site I ended up at is out in the Amsterdam Bos,or woods area, near to Schipol Airport.

I got organised and walked about 15 minutes to the metro stop at Spinnerij (there's also a bus that will take you to the metro) and made the 30 minute trip into Centraal Station. It was raining by the time I got off, so I was glad I'd remembered to pack my umbrella, and I admit to finally having bought a small 'manbag' to pack it in, along with various maps, guide books and my camera! The city is interesting, with so much water around, from canals to the River Amstel, everywhere you turn, there's another bridge, and navigation can get a bit tricky as all the radial streets run in ever increasing semi-circles rather than any kind of grid pattern. I'm sure everyone's seen pictures of this city and in terms of romantic, pretty scenery, it has the lot, from the old merchants houses with their tall, narrow architecture, to the houseboats and barges, pretty bridges and lots of flowers. Oh..... and what seems to be MILLIONS of bicycles! Everywhere you look, there are just row upon row of bikes, and don't get in the path of them on their cycle tracks or there will be a furious ringing of bells urging you to get out of the way!



I had a stroll around the shopping areas, trying to find my bearings, ended up at the Dam and then at the river, finally found a net cafe, and then had a bite to eat. I was in 2 n=minds as to whether to head back to the campsite early evening and rest up for a bit before going back out, but in the end I just stayed in town and had a few drinks, got chatting to a couple from South Africa who's next stop was Dublin. It ended up a fun night and the rain finally stopped by the time I was heading home, exhausted and falling asleep on the tram. I slept until the early afternoon, before heading back in to the centre, and the weather was finally looking like it might stay dry for a bit. The forecast isn't great for the next couple of days though, with lots of rain expected.




As I walked along, I realised that I felt far safer this time round in Amsterdam than I did when I was there previously; an experience that had me constantly on edge and looking over my shoulder. Maybe I'm just a lot more city streetwise this time round, but i don't get that edgy feeling that was what had put me off this city before. I'm liking it now, although I think my favourite city of the trip still has to be Berlin. The city was busy and by early evening I was sat in Rembrant Square in a small park eating chips! There was an international soccer match on a giant screen in the square, showing Holland and Serbia, and there was obviously lots of interest from the locals in that. By 10pm I was flagging and decided to have an early night. For some reason, the bars didn't seem that busy, although they probably would have been later on, but I was wrecked and headed for the bunk.



I suppose I'd better actually try and see some of the tourist sights on Sunday. Maybe a canal cruise and a visit to Anne Frank's house. By Monday, I may head north slightly and see some of the pretty towns and villages around the Isjelmeer lake, such as Edam and Volendam, but hopefully the weather will be kind.

Bonn

Not the most interesting of cities. A nice old part of the town, but all else is a bit bland......

Cologne, Düsseldorf.

Aaargh! I had made written notes and forgot to bring them with me to the net cafe, so this will need to be done from memory!

From Hamburg, I made the journey to Osnabrück as a stopping off point on the way. It was late-ish before I got going or I could have probably made it all the way in one go, but I don´t like doing silly mileages in the same day. Osnabrück wasn´t anything exciting, but the Stellplatz, next to the municipal swimming pool, was safe and the rain it did come down, so I retreated into Hermione´s comfort and got an early nite, post of some shopping at the local Lidl grocery store, where I bought, amongst other things, a punnet pf fresh strawberries for all of 39 cent! Unfortunately, i got suckered by paying the Pfand, or deposit, on all the plastic and glass bottles I had bought, so those will need to be returned before I leave Germany!

Anyway, next day, Friday, on to Cologne, or Köln as the locals say. I found the Stellplatz, which is fairly new and not in the book, luckily enough it´s well signed from the main road into the city. It´s by the river and handily placed for the city centre. I cycled in along the banks of the Rhine and was soon at the quaint old Altstadt, with it´s many traditional ´Brauhauses` and restaurants. Beer, obviously, is a favourite drink here, although it´s not as cheap as one may think, as the glass sizes are small. But the beer is good anyway!



I found my way up to the Cathedral, which is really massive and Gothic.



Sadly, it wasn´t to be a good day for the weather and the rain came down again and I needed to duck into a shop and buy a brolly. The centre is all pretty modern architecture, since the Allies basically bombed the city to bits in the last war. It´s nice enough though and has a good buzz about it. There are many tour boats plying their trade along the river and quite a few ships doing full cruises of the Rhine from France to switzerland, which would probably be lazy fun.....

I had a few drinks Friday eveing after returning to the van to get dry, and frequented various bars, the first one had a Jägermeister promo on and had the ´Jägerettes´ in dancing on the tables, along with their hilarious dancing stag (a guy in a furry suit) who must have been sweltering. They were handing out little test tubes of Jägermeister free (tastes like cough syrup!) and also silly garlands and necklaces that light up. It was all good fun though and lively pre- late night drinking before hitting yet another bar which was jammed and then a club that played the strangest mix of bad cheezy music. The Germans all loved it though. It was about 4am that I tumbled into bed, so next day was a late start.....

The weather had dried up and was looking nice. Again, I cycled in and locked up the bike and had a proper look around the city. I decided that I´d do a river boat tour on Sunday. During my meal on Saturday evening, there were no free tables, and 2 guys asked could they sit at my table. We got chatting, 1 German guy, Lothar, and his friend from New York, Meade who was on holiday. Anyway, the conversation was buzzing along and it turned out that they were going on a Rhine tour on Monday, but from further down the river, and asked would I like to join them on that, so I agreed. We all went to a club later, which was quite good, but by just short of 3am, I felt wrecked and headed home. Sunday was spent as a lazy day, swimming and lounging around.

Monday, we all met up and took the train to koblenz, then to Boppard where we joined the boat. The cruise was very nice. castle after castle!





Pretty town and the river at that point is very picturesque. We got off at Bingen and had dinner and beer! More beer!! On Tuesday, I moved on to Dusseldorf and initially had to park up on the street and go and check out info on the net for a proper parking place. I found that there was one down by the river, so moved Hermione there, then met up with the 2 lads again and we had some lunch, then Lothar drove us out to Essen in his car to a place called Sollverein; an old coal mine that's been adapted into galleries and workshops, as well as a museum of the mine that you can wander around. The complex is vast and you would probably need a full day to explore it completely. We visted the 'red dot' museum; an exhibition of items as diverse as pens to cars that have won the red dot design award. It was quite interesting in it's own way. We also stopped in to a resaturant that has been built in the old boiler room, and they've managed to keep some of the old machinery and incorporate it into the building. We sat and had a drink there. I found it slightly pretentious to be honest. Lothar and Meade were going to vivit Lothar's mother in Essen, so they dropped me at the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) in Essen and I took the train back to Dusseldorf, although for the life of me I couldn't get a ticket out of the machine!





Next day I walked a good bit around the old and new parts of the city, ate lunch and headed back to the van. I twiddled around for a bit down at the river. There are a number of bars just in front of the Altstadt that were fairly buzzing with life. One is a cocktail bar with an old fire engine set up as part of the bar area and in and around the decking area where the seats are, they've poured in sand, so that it's a bit like sitting at the beach! I headed into the Altstadt later on around ten and had a few drinks in a bar called Engel that was playing (to me!) good music and called it a night around 2am, heading back on foot to the van where it was nice and cool in the night breeze.

The 2 lads flew out to Barcelona Tuesday evening and it was a bit strange doing my sightseeeing alone again..... Tomorrow I'll do the short hop south to Bonn, then from there on Friday to Amsterdam. My journey is coming towards it's end and this will be my last weekend, so I'm hoping for good things from Amsterdam!

13th June

Hamburg continued....




When I got up from my slumber and poked my nose outside the door, I could see that the weather wasn´t going to be as nice as yesterday. It wasn´t cold, but overcast and the threat of rain was in the air. I decided to head out on the bike though and explore the city some more. I headed for the St. Pauli district where the Reeperbahn is, although it´s quiet during the daytime, then from there I tried to head back towards the centre of town via a different route and got myself a bit lost, cycling for ages until I found road signs for Zentrum and followed those, as the spits of rain began. It didn´t come to anything much though, and by the time I´d found my way to the railway station, and stopped off for some lunch, the sun had started to come out.

After lunch I checked out the St. George district; lots of cafes, restaurants and pubs, and a large Turkish / Iranian / Afghan community, so plenty of ethnic eateries too. I locked up the bike and wandered by foot, did a small bit of shopping and nosed around the antique / bric a brac / assorted crap shops; didn´t buy anytrhing though. Later, I made my way back to the van and lazed for a bit, reading my book and suddenly feeling really tired, so went for a snooze for an hour.




Late in the evening I headed to the Altona district by S-Bahn train from the Hauptbahnhof as I wanted to go to a club there that had been recommended as being good on a Wednesday night. as I got off the train, i could hear faint music in the distance and as I got closer to it and rounded a bend, there was a rock band set up in the street, under a railway bridge on a kind of traffic island thingy! Folk were milling around and watching the band as they kicked out tunes into the night air. Quite bizzare at midnight on a Wednesday! I found the club easily, paid my 6 euro in and got a token for 3 euro handed back to me for a drink or something to eat. The club was just starting to fill up and the dj was playing a good mix of music; chart stuff and some indie stuff too, so i was quite happy there. I was knocking back the Becks Bier and soon fuzzy enough to get some Dutch courage to go dance and I had a good laugh. I called it a night around 3am and got a taxi back and headed to the bunk. Tommorrow I head for Osnabrück...........

12th June

12th June

Coppenbrugge to Hamburg
Arrival 53274km

I headed off early from Coppenbrugge and predicted an arrival in Hamburg around midday, hoping to give myself a decent chance of finding the Stellplatz and getting on it, in case it got busy later in the day. The journey was Autobahn the whole way, and we made good time. The Stellplatz is very central, down by the old port and only about 1200m from the centre of the city. I found a decent place to park (loads of Hermione's sisters around!) and paid the 38 euro for the 2 nights. A bit on the expensive side, but thye fact that it's so central makes up for it. I unloaded the bike and reversed Hermione back up to the fence so that she wasn't sitting too far 'nose out'. After some lunch, I headed in to the city centre by bike to try to get a map, find a net cafe to upload the blog, and to get my bearings.

The map was no problem, as the tourist centre next to the Rathaus has maps, but finding a net cafe proved to be more difficult, as there didn't seem to be any at all in the city centre. I eventually found one on the Reeperbahn, the notorious red light street which was an interesting cycle trip. Cinemas, shows, bars, shops; you name it, it has it. After a small bout of retail therapy in H&M (where I managed to drop my sunglasses and break them), I cycled around the lake in the afternoon sunshine. Hamburg is better than I expected; again like Berlin a mix of old (rebuilt) and modern, and the lake gives it a seaside feel with lots of leisure activities available. There were dayboats out sailing, and dinghys racing, steamers for the tourists too. All very pretty. A great place for bikes too, as they seem to have put in cycle paths everywhere. Loads of folk were out on bikes and it seems to be a favoured mode of transport. After a small stop off for ice cream, I made my way back to the van and will try to plan out my next day or so on the map and guide.

11th June

11th June

Berlin to Braunschweig, Hannover and finally Coppenbrugge....
Arrival 53064km

Autobahn all the way to the city of Braunshweig, which was supposed to be the day's stop off point. I had absolutely no fresh water on board though, and the 'Stellplatz' had no services and was very small and on the edge of the city. I stopped and took a breather anyway, but decided that the lack of water would be a pain, so decided to press on the further 70km to Hannover instead. This proved to be another aborted stop, as the 3 Stellplatz listed in the guide book couldn't be found, and the GPS co-ordinates loaded into Maisy must have been completely wrong, as they were hundreds of KM off course. With no mention of street names in the guide book, I couldn't even try to get to them that way using Maisy, so I checked for the nearest actual Stellplatz on the GPS memory and decided on Coppenbrugge, which was listed as being next to the campsite, so if all else failed, that would at least give a back up plan!

The drive to Coppenbrugge was scenic, on country roads that were tree lined and super smooth. It's a real pleasure driving in Germany. They take such good care of their roads and the drivers have impeccable road manners on the whole. I arrived in the small village of Coppenbrugge and found the Stellplatz, which looked fine, but the services were behind a locked barrier, and my German isn't good enough to decipher where one was meant to go to get the key or whatever. I suspect that it was in the next door swimming pool, but since the campsite was literally next door, I decided to try there. In the end up, once I'd found the campsite owner, it was only 9 euro for a place there on the hardstanding and with electric and full use of the showers and services, so I decided to go for this option. I filled up with fresh water and dumped the grey and parked up for the evening, throwing open all the windows to try and get the van a bit cooler. Thankfully, by the early evening, the temparature had dropped to about 22c and things were nice as I sat out on my deck chair and drank my last beer (a remnant from Slovakia found lurking in the wardrobe the day before!) and started another book. I had a walk down to the village to see if I could find a supermarket, but the only place that I could find was more like a drug store and didn't sell any fresh food, so my plan for a nice salad went oot the windae. The village itself was nice, if a bit (a lot) too quiet for my liking. All 300 year old half timbered houses, leaning at various crazy angles as the timber frames have settled over the centuries.

I headed back to the campsite, made some dinner and settled down for a nice relaxed, chilled out evening. Tomorrow the plan is to head for Hamburg.

10th June

8th, 9th and 10th June

Berlin, Germany.
Arrival 52664km

The journey from Poznan was ok, but the quality of the roads wasn't all that great. The border crossing at swiecko was a strange one. The road on the polish side goes from single carriageway to dual close to the border in order that you can get in the correct lane for the type of vehicle that you're travelling in, but it was a nightmare to get up to any speed on it, as the inside lane is severely tram-lined and rutted, caused by all the heavy lorries using it. At one point, it actually felt quite dangerous to drive on; there was such a significant step on the road surface that the wheels would just get caught up in it as though one was on rails. At the border, the Poles and the Germans share the same checkpoint and the Polish border guard checks the passport then hands it to the German guard, who decided to come into the van for a cursory check over inside. Once formalities were cleared, I was on my way into Germany, on a perfectly surfaced Autobahn. It was bliss. The kilometers ticked away in no time, and soon I was in the outskirts of Berlin.

I found the parking spot easily enough. It's not a campsite, more of a camperstop with showers thrown in for 15e a night, but it's dead handy for town, right next to an U-bahn station at Reinickendorfer Strasse, that's only about 6 stops into the centre of Berlin. I was given a map of the u and S-bahn system and so I headed in to the city, unfortunately no street map, so i found a net cafe and checked things out on the net and on google maps and marked the various stops on my map. First port of call (completely by accident!) was Checkpoint Charlie, the infamous Allied powers' crossing point to and from East Berlin. There's a really interesting gallery installation next to it, with photos and text telling the story of the wall and it's demise. It felt quite humbling to read the description of how people had to survive and attempt escape back in the days of communist rule. The actual checkpoint has been rebuilt to resemble the original and for a small fee, an 'American soldier' will stamp a visa in your passport....ahem. There are also folk hawking Russian hats and the like, but minus the tack aspect, it's a very interesting place to stand and think back. I'm not sure if it's because of the age I was when the whole system was falling apart in East Germany, but I can quite vividly remember some of the images from TV at the time; the 'wall woodpeckers' chipping away at pieces of the vast concrete structure. Most of the wall has disappeared of course, but a section has been preserved as a monument, and all along the route that it took, 2 rows of cobble-stones in the ground or road mark it's course.









I walked around for a bit but to be honest, without a map, was a bit lost as to where things were, so I headed out of town a bit and wandered around the Schoneberger area, with it's streeet cafes and bars. Very pretty and very pleasint to stroll around in the warm late afternoon sunshine. I strolled back up through a park area and eventually found a U-bahn station again. The city seems to be quite a strawl, with the centre and txen various stand-alone neighbourhoods that each have their own buzz(about them. I returned latev that evening and sampled a0few beers and chatted to some Americans. Things don't get busy until quite late and I was surprised when I walked out of the pub and into the dawn. So I slept in late that day; well until about 1pm, then began day 2.







The public transport system is impressive, and Berlin is a really easy city to get around, day or night, which has made the stay all the more enjoyable. I bought a 'tageskarte' day ticket which covers all the modes of transport, bus, tram, train and metro within selected zones and it cost 6 euro for all day which isn't bad value at all. Germany certainly isn't as cheap as Poland or the Eastern countries, but I wouldn't day that it's expensive either. Beer is about 2.50 a bottle or half litre and eating out is reasonable outwith the really tourist parts. I stopped and had lunch at a small restaurant and ordered the large chicken salad, including a drink - 4 euro.... happy days. The next area visited was Prenzlauer Berg, just beyond the centre and again a neighbourhood with it's own distinct feel, not as pretty as Schoneberg, but lots of shops, bars, take-aways, cinema etc. There's really just about all you would need in each of these districts without having to venture into town proper. It was a really warm day, temperatures were in the high 20's from early morning, but happily, later on when the sun set, it cooled down a bit and a few beers helped sooth my aching body and feet! I headed back to the van tired but having had a good poke around. I still hadn't really scratched the surface of this city yet though, so I made up my mind that I would go on one of the sight-seeing bus tours next day.



So, Sunday and I got up bright and early, mainly due to the already ramping up temperature inside the van. I had the 2 fans on constantly to try to keep things cool, but by about 10am, the thermometer was hitting 34c inside Hermione and with no shade to be had on the camperstop, I bailed out and headed into town. I jumped on to the Berlin City Tour bus at checkpoint Charlie having taken the U-bahn to Stadtmitte station and eased my feet for a bit, flip flops not being the best walking footwear anyway, but it was just too hot for anything else. The guide was very knowledgeable as he pointed out all the sights. It's amazing how so many of the old important buildings that were destroyed or seriously damaged during WW2 have been rebuilt or repaired. The old memorial church has been left in it's damaged state as a reminder and a monument. It's incredible to see the amount of damage inflicted, but hard to guage what the whole city must have looked like after the amount of bombing it took. The majority of the city is new though, and it has a very modern feel to it. Legacy's of the former east Berlin remain; the shell of the Palace of the Republic stands grimly near Alexandersplatz, the steel skeleton now only remaining and it will be torn down. The city has plans to rebuild the former Royal Palace that once stood on the site, but was torn down by the Communists in 1950. The Brandenburg gate was what I wanted to see, but I actually thought it would be larger than it is. The TV tower is quite a sight to behold, but I didn't spend the 8.50 to go up it, instead, I ate 'Currywurst' and drank beer below it!

The shiny, new railway station looks amazing; a super structure of glass and steel. Lots of really good modern architecture, mixed in with remnants of the old, but it all holds up well, without looking like too much of a mish-mash. I'm left with very favourable impressions of Berlin, but really I know there is so much more to see. It's definately a place that I'll be returning to, cheap flights and hostel or whatever to try to see more of it.