The title here of 'Ich bin ein Berliner' is a famous quote meaning 'I am a Berliner', originally taken from JFK's speech to West Berlin to show their support of West Germany, back in 1963. Anyway, on Friday night after work I met up with Lozzie at Victoria and headed through to Gatwick, with a couple of Savannas on the train to see us there. We got to Berlin and through to the Hostel Aloha a bit after midnight and checked in. The entrance and stair well was proper dodgy but the hostel was excellent. After dropping our bags we headed down for a walk and found Mein Haus am See, a pretty funky bar/cafe set up with a DJ in the front pushing out some tunes. We didn't stay too long, opting for some decent sleep before a big Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was not too early a start, but in time for the free walking tour around town. It was quite quick, but got to see plenty, starting off in the main square Pariser Platz, which on one end stands the impressive Brandenburg Gates, a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. From there we walked past the Reichstag, a building originally constructed to house the parliament of the German Empire. Further on down we stopped off at the The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial. It consists of 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. According to project's architect, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. It definitely had that cold feeling about it.

After the Memorial, we headed over to a sandy carpark, which turned out to be the site of the Führerbunker - Hitler's former bunker where he controlled the war and lived for the past five months of his life, and also where he got married to Eva Braun and both committed suicide. Other than a small sign at the one end of the car park, there is nothing more that stands out as a memory of the bunker - mainly to prevent it turning into a Neo-Nazi shrine. After the Führerbunker, we headed past the Luftwaffe HQ which was home of Hitler's air force. And then onto the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie - the two most popular, and tourist packed, sights of the city I guess. We briefly moved past both of these, and rather decided to return the following day to allow a bit more time there. There isn't much left of the original wall, most of it was pulled down towards the end of 1989, and today on most streets the former course of the wall is marked by a doubled row of paving stones.

After lunch, we walked over to Gendarmenmarkt square and then onto Bebelplatz square - both surrounded by beautifully old buildings, all restored since they were bombed in the war. The Bebelplatz is known as the site of the infamous 'Nazi book burning ceremony' where Nazi students burned over 20,000 books. Within the square there is a memorial consisting of a glass plate set into the cobbles, giving a view of empty bookcases. After the squares, we made our way to the Neue Wache (New Guard House) which houses the sculpture Mother with her Dead Son, directly under the oculus and is exposed to the rain, snow and cold of Berlin - symbolising the suffering of civilians during World War II.

The last part of the walking tour involved a bit of background history behind the Fernsehturm (television tower) known as the "Pope's Revenge" with the glass stained cross on the front. And then finally as the last part of the tour it was over to Museum Island - a grass park surrounded by five beautifully old museums. Finally we finished up at the DDR pub for a quick beer with a handful of the people on the tour. After a walk back to the hostel, we met up with Heike and her mates and went to the White Trash Fast Food restaurant for dinner. It used to be an ex-Irish bar, now with Chinese decorations, set out as a 60s and 70s American burger joint. It was highly recommended - both for the decor and for the burgers, and I understand why. After dinner we headed down to the Pony Bar, just down from the hostel, and then back to the hostel for a couple of drinking games before making our way over to Dunckerclub - a smallish club in the northern part of Prenzlauer Berg, mainly playing indie/rock music. The club seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and even though we couldn't hear the music from outside, a suspicious knock on a massive door opened up into the club, very matrix like, and we all had a good night out there.

Sunday wasn't a very early start and since we had seen the highlights of the city on the Saturday, decided to make our way back to the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie and have a proper read up about the history of them both. Saturday was fairly rushed, the amount of information around the boards was a bit too interesting not to go back to. We spent a good part of the day reading the info scattered around, and then took a walk through the Terror of Topography outdoor museum which was just behind the one stretch of the original wall. Towards the afternoon we were starting to fade, so decided to head back to the hostel for a quick nap before the evening. Dinner involved a good little Vietnamese restaurant just down from the hostel, and then back to watch the Hangover with a few Jagers thrown in as well. After the movie, we took a walk over to the Berliner Republik - or otherwise known as the Stock Market Bar. They have prices on the wall, which move up and down as the beers are less or more popular, and about every 5 minutes there's a 'market crash' where all drinks are at their lowest prices and start moving up again. Just a novelty bar really, and open til 6am everyday. We got there quite a bit after midnight, and being a Sunday night, it wasn't very busy. But you got an idea of the concept which would be good in the busy evenings I can imagine.

Then yesterday, our last day in the city, we checked out the hostel in the morning and headed off for a walk up to the local flea market which was recommended to take a walk around. Full of weird and interesting items, plenty of second hand junk, and even people selling a single shoe, and broken mechanical parts. Bizarre. From there, we headed into the city, to the East Side Gallery which is a 1.3 km long section of the Berlin Wall and an international memorial for freedom. The Gallery consists of approximately 100 paintings by artists from all over the world, painted in 1990 on the east side of the Berlin Wall and is possibly the largest and longest-lasting open air gallery in the world. Continuing along the wall, we then crossed over the Oberbaum Bridge, and headed towards the Badeschiff - a floating public swimming pool situated in the East Harbour section of the River Spree. The river is far too polluted to allow swimming in it, so the concept of a man made beach, floating swimming pool and wooden decking was amazing. Plus a stream of chilled out house music to add to the vibe. We met up with the others there and spent a good part of the day chilling in the sun and in the water. The temperature was about 30C in the sun with perfectly clear skies, and the water was brilliantly blue and cold - the perfect afternoon end to a busy few days in the city.

After a good while at the Badeschiff, we stopped off for some food, headed back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and made our way to the airport before catching our flight home. Got in around midnight last night, which wasn't too bad, as expected. But struggling back at work today - it definitely felt a lot longer than just a long weekend there - but I guess thats one advantage of a short, busy break - feels like a good length holiday. So now that's Berlin ticked off the destination list... even though I'll definitely be back sooner rather than later.