Here it is

World Trip 2006

San Francisco
New York
Helsinki
Berlin
Bangkok

Berlin

10th Oct - Guten Morgen Berlin! - The rest of my day in Berlin was fairly unspectacular. After several nights of just 2 hours sleep I decided that the nice and quiet Stars Guesthouse was the perfect place to catch up on some sleep. I stayed here last year and the place is quite exceptional. Huge rooms. Friendly owners who run the place. In the heart of everything, but still far enough away for that quiet neighbourhood feel. Eventually I woke up and wandered up the road to a small mall of restaurants and had a nice dish at a vegetarian restaurant which was about to close. After some quick web work it was back to bed. Oh... 30 TV channels and only one in english. Oh well... BBC news it is then.

11th Oct - Tiergarden - Only my second day here and I'm already headed off on a photo shoot with Jonas in the Tiergarden. A massive park in the middle of the city. Apart from the beautiful park and the ponds and streams that run through it, I was amazed at how many people go out nude in the park. I couldn't help but stare! Jonas tells me that anything goes in Berlin. So it was no problem doing a shoot in the park. The photos will be posted in the Private Room shortly. Later we went for lunch at Burger King. Afterwards I decided to wander home... which could have taken 10 minutes. Almost 2 hours later I was back at Burger King. It seems I don't know how to read a map. Okay... this time with concentration I found my way back to the guesthouse.
Oh... I went out late for dinner and ended up having a sausage and some hot chips at a street vendor's stand. Surely not a healthy day of eating.

12th Oct - Shopping - There is a strip of shopping on Kurfertendamm which runs for about 2 kilometres.   Department stores, specialty stores and fast food joints.   I particularly like Peek and Cloppenburg for their range of labels and stock.   But I absolutely hate their process.
1. Give goods to store assistant who will give you a ticket and take the goods away.
2. Go to registers near entrance and pay for goods.   Only certain cards are accepted... not VISA.
3. Go to another counter to collect your goods from another person.
4. Hopefully leave the store with what you once thought was an impulse buy.
It's not the kinda place you would just pop in to pick something up....   it doesn't work.   I once chose an item that had no label on it, and it was the last one... so I was not allowed to buy it.   But I did shop there as well as a stack of other places.   The problem though is that every store is stocked for winter now....   not a lot of help for me as Australia's summer is just starting.
Oh... the bad eating is continuing.   Tonite I met up with Ricardo who took me out for a late night doner kebab.... mmmmm.

13th Oct - Schoneberg - I really love this area. Even though it is in the middle of the city it is so quiet here! It kinda reminds me a bit of St Kilda. There are lots of streets with trees hanging low and old coble pathways leading up to grand old buildings. My guesthouse is one such grand old building. After you enter the main entrance downstairs you can either enter a cage (which holds 2 people) and take the elevator up, or work your way up the twisting old timber stairway. And the rooms here are HUGE! My room is almost the size of Jake's room at home... which is enormous. And all the doors are sold timber which open with big creaking noises. And every room has the big double windows which open out to a courtyard garden. Its getting cold here now so I have the heating running in my room most of the time.
I got out to check out some of the stores nearby. A place called "Butcher" something like that, sells all this fetish wear. I got talking to the staff there and ended up buying a t-shirt. It was probably the cheapest thing in the store. I'm actually amazed at how expensive the gear was in Butcher and Rob of Berlin. That gear is much cheaper in the US. I also checked out Bruno's and another bookstore and found some great photography books... there goes my luggage weight limit.

14th Oct - Fishy Bits - Hmmm.... I have to stop waking up so late. It seems I have been moving my sleep patterns to time in with the time shortly before the free breakfast time finishes. So I always end up eating alone. But today I met Ricardo and we hung out for a while walking around Berlin. He is going to go to the airport with me with his new pushbike to see if he can get the tax back on it.. ie. pretend I am about to take it out of the country.... now that should be interesting. Afterwards I went to the top of KaDeWe (a department store) where there is an amazing floor full of amazing foods. I found an empty stool at the seafood bar and had the cook fry me up some salmon with a delicious salad and a huge beer.... mmm.... this is one of the high points of Berlin... I will be back there tomorrow. It makes up for my dinner at McDonalds. It seems the places I would eat at all close at 8pm. Who eats before 8pm when they are on vacation?
McDonalds have a Malaysian (Malasien) theme going right now, offering Malaysian flavoured burgers and spring rolls. But the kicker is the McDonalds fortune cookie they give you.... from Malaysia??

15th Oct - Sunday in Berlin - Last night I bailed on going over to east Berlin to see Berghain.   After hearing that the meet up time was 2am I decided that I wanted to start earlier.    So instead I went to some local bars in Schoneberg and ended up at Connections (which is quite close to the guesthouse). And then when I noticed the crowd starting to think out I went home around 4am.    Of course this is very early to be going home in Berlin.   Most Saturday night's out here are all nighters.
On Sunday morning I had brekky with Olaf, the guesthouse owner.    Later I took my book down to the Zoo Gardens and found a place by the river to read for a while.   It was so nice to be out in the park today... until the temperature dipped quite low.   So it was time to leave.   Strangely it has actually been colder here than it was in Helsinki.
On Sunday's most stores are closed, but I am told that is slowly changing.   I could not see anything but fast food chains and small cafes open.   Oh...   my diet has to change soon... I had the Currywurst (sausage and chips) for dinner again tonite.   Tomorrow I will eat at KaDeWe again before I leave...   I love that place!

16th Oct - Leaving Berlin - My last day in Berlin and I'm up early so I can wash clothes and post some things home... so I can close my suitcase again.

PHOTOS

Jonas shows me round the Tiergarden			Rental transport in Berlin		This guy swore he was a model and McDonalds helps him keep his figure
	Down comes the mist blanketing the city		Schoneberg	Schoneberg	Hanging out with Ricardo
Grrr... the food at KaDeWe	KaDeWe	Zoo Garden
				Shopping at Peek & Cloppenburg
Washing time again	Mmm... I ate the Curry Wurst too many times	The dining room at the Stars Guesthouse	Street performers at Zoo Station	The Oktoberfest BBQ	These are my new GStars
Ricardo	Ricardo's bike			Last meal at KaDeWe	My Thai chefs