Ich bin ein Berliner!

Ah, JFK's famous words can still extract a giggle from any German when muttered by some ignorant foreigner. But let's face it the Germans haven't much of a sense of humour.

Yesterday I moved on from Berlin to Hamburg, so it is now time to recount my time in the German capital. I was in Berlin for the four days of Easter so it was a bit quieter than it might have been, but nonetheless it was still heaving with tourists and the nightlife I sampled didn't show any sign that it had slowed for any observation of religiousity.

Friday night I picked an area and club at random (I didn't fancy relying on lonely planet), which proved quite a shrewd move on my part since it was so good I almost saw sunrise. Things turned sour the following morning however when I woke to find my bag and it's contents (ie my clothes) soaking wet. It seems that one of the girls in my dorm had come back drunk during the night at some point, opened a bottle of water and spilt it all over my stuff. The evidence was all about for me to see: wasted girl asleep upside-down and still in party rags, half empty bottle of water by her bed (bottle top removed), bottle top half way across floor. I rest my case your honour. That is certainly the version I prefer to believe, the alternative of course is that some git took a piss in my bag. I washed all wet garments just in case.

The whole washing and drying routine consumed time on Saturday, but eventually I did get out to see some of the sights later on Saturday and Sunday. Berlin is particularly fascinating since it has been at the centre of so much recent history. Many cities have claims to historic events and people, but few could claim as much important history as Berlin during the 20th century. Inevitably much of what there is to see is connected to the war or division of the city during the Cold War; I did the whole holocaust memorial and Jewish museum thing, went up to the top of the Reichstag, had a look around Check-point Charlie and checked out the remaining stretches of the Berlin wall.

Just for a change, or to get away from all the war stuff and blokes flogging Soviet fuzzy hats (you actually bought one of these didn't you Nick?), I went to the museum for the Bauhaus design school (who I believe have an outlet on Rundle st?). This is quite interesting, but even there they have a section dedicated to how the war and Third Reich adversely affected them.

Well, not much else to report. Given Hamburg's location on the Elbe river and it's reputation as one of Europe's largest and most important ports (second only to Rotterdam I think?) combined with my justly reknowned nautical prowess, many more adventures should ensue. I return to the UK on Thursday so will update on Hamburg from there.