Aimee’s World Tour

I had approximately 28 hours in Berlin.  After das Happy dance and a little anticipation blogging, I set out for The Pegasus Hostel which I had booked online the night before.  A whopping 17 Euros to share a room with 5 of my favorite strangers.

The staff was going through a shift change when I arrived so I was asked to wait about 10 minutes to check in.  I decided to take a look at my map of Berlin and noticed an ad for the same free tour I’d taken in Paris.  The guides at this company are excellent, upbeat and full of fun facts.  Contrary to my 2008 edition of Lonely Planet, there was still a chance to catch a late tour at 4 pm.  As I asked  for instructions I noticed someone peering over my shoulder.  Turns out this slender Argentinian girl, and her slender Argentinian friend, also wanted in on the action so we set out together for the meeting point – The Brandenburger Tor Starbucks.  We had just 30 minutes.  A 7 minute walk back to the Ostbahnhof (train station) and just several stops away.  Shouldn’t take long. 

And it shouldn’t have.  Only the S/U bhan train system of Berlin is much like a math problem you can’t figure out.  No matter how long you’ve worked at it, it is obviously a stupid problem.  It’s only when the teacher explains the obvious that you realize you’re the idiot.

I can’t really express HOW the Berlin metro system is difficult your first time.  It just is.  Platforms on different floors.  U’s and S’s.  Numbers.  All kinds of nonsense.  We spent probably a good 30 or 40 minutes just trying to get one station over.  And still we managed to get out off course.  Half an hour late would have been ok but really an hour?  The tour would have to wait till the morrow. 

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