The best part of my trip happened after I checked out of the hostel on December 29th and made my way from the Kreuzberg district to another place the in Charlottenburg district.
On my way to the Berliner Straße station
From the window of the place I was staying in Charlottenburg.
I had an awesome host who showed me almost everything about Berlin. He practically told me all the history of Berlin. It was wonderful. We took a tour of the city on the bi-level city bus. I also had a tour of the city via U bahn and S train.
The awesome bus. An all day pass for the bus and the u bahn is 6.80 euros.
I spent my days in Schöneberg at the argentine tango workshops( http://www.berlinfestivalito.com/) and I spent my nights touring the city with my host Jan (Yahn). We walked around the city a lot. I saw and toured the foreign embassies, a museum dedicated to Kennedy, the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), the Pergamon museum, and the Charlottenburg Palace.
U bahn station named after Richard Wagner
I also went to the Berlin TV Tower and discovered Berlin 360º. The top revolved slowly so we were able to see the entire city. While at the top, we sipped on some Spezi, a German soda that consists of Coke and Orange soda. Yummy! The price was outrageous! I mean 5 euros for a glass of soda. Really?!
We also we ate typical German food, toured Jan's university where he studies theology, and went to discotheques for free with the passcode "nightout".
On New Year's Eve, Jan invited his friends over for dinner before we made our way out to see the fireworks. They were two French guys and one German guy. We ate spaghetti, cheese puffs, and toffee candy. Yes. I remember Jan saying "this is the dinner of a single man."
As we ate, we watched "Dinner for One" which Jan said is only showed on New Year's Eve. He said that New Year's Eve is the only day when people have the duty to laugh. After the sketch, one of his friends hogged the computer and played electronic music the entire time. Ugh!
After dinner, we went to Viktoria Park to see the fireworks. On the way there, everything was crazy. It's illegal in Augusta, GA for individuals (but it happens anyway) to light fireworks on the street, so it was scary for me. People were lighting firecrackers and aimlessly throwing them on the sidewalks, on the streets, and in the U bahn station. I was afraid the first time I heard one outside my hostel in Kreuzberg, because I thought it was a gunshot.
When we made our way to Viktoria Park, we had to run up the hill and dodge firecrackers. Jan had to pull my hand and guide me up the hill until we made it to the Leipzig monument (Leipzig 1813). We lit some fireworks in a bottle and watched the show from all over the city. For the first time in my life, I wasn't looking at a clock when the New Year came in. I was looking over the city, waiting for something to happen. It was spectacular. It was maybe the third or fourth time in my life that I ever had fun on New Year's Eve.
We stayed there in the freezing cold for maybe 2 hours and then went an Indian restaurant to have some warm chicken soup. Afterwards, we went to a discotheque for a while. It was a lovely night.
The next night, Jan and I went walking around the city some more and ate some traditional German food at nice restaurant. We sat next to some Greek guys who were vacationing in Berlin. Before they left, they order us some drinks which, of course, I passed over to Jan since I hate beer.
The person who invented currywurst (sorry the photo is blurry- 1949. Here is a better picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Curry_schild.jpg)
The meal we ate. I don't remember the name. :(
On our way home, Jan lit a final firecracker in front of the Charlottenburg Palace. It wasn't so successful. Instead of flying up, it flew sideways and a man had to run from it. Oh well. No one was hurt.
That night, I went to bed a little sad but also very content.
The next day, I woke up early to catch my early bus back to Frankfurt to reach my next destination: Trier.
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