I'm on permanent leave...

If there was one thing that I noticed about Berlin, it was that liquor was CHEAP compared to Ireland. DIRT cheap. So cheap, that buying a not-so-large amount could cover the travel costs to pick it up. It worked out like this:

20 euro plane flight to Frankfurt (Hahn) and back
28 euro in bus tickets to airports/cities
10 euro for a checked bag.

The price difference was about 10 euro... meaning that if I picked up 6 bottles of alcohol, the trip paid for itself. SIGN ME (and Joseph) UP. But he's a wuss. He was buying for other people.

I arrive in a German airport for the 2nd time in 3 weeks to get my passport stamped. A full page of Germany. I love it. Despite nobody really speaking english, we get on the bus just fine and are on our way to Frankfurt on a mission: Find and buy hard liquor.

It is funny that my past quests to obtain alcohol involved me walking downstairs to Brett and Mike and giving them a wad of cash and a list of what to buy. No, I get the wad out from the ATM, fly to Germany, ask a CLUELESS tabakwaren attendent where the grocery store is (ask germans where the supermarket is, not grocery store -- they understand that), and proceed to walk into the alcohol section with a duffel bag. My how life changes in 2 years.

I ended up picking up 1x .7L bacardi dark, 2x .7L bacardi (normal, white), 1x.7L Ouzo, 1x.7L Parliament Vodka, 1x.5L Tabu 73 Absinth. All in all, a pretty good haul (esp. for ~80 euro). Joey was in front of me with 2x apple wien (or something like an apple wien), smirnoff, tequilla, Jägermeister, and something else. The guy behind me bought 2 carrots and a pack of gum. We wrapped the bottle in towels and set off to lock it all up in the Hauptbahnhof -- the train station where our bus would pick us up.

We set off on a walking tour around Frankfurt after that. And what a gorgeous city. Andi (as usual) was dead on the money about what we should see. The weihnachtsmarkt was absolutely beautiful... and I wanted to buy pretty much all of the the toys and trinkets displayed. The food was outstanding, the alcoholic drinks sold on the street were.... alcoholic (some better than others). And the Germans were actually quite friendly. Even the guy that told us the story about his knife fight in dublin where he knocked a guy down, then went away to get a metal pipe and came back to beat the guy. Lucky (for the other guy), he'd left. At the end of the night, we ended up watching 2 soccer games in an american bar (oops) and watching some 30-something year old swiss girl get molested by her co-workers. All-in-all, a pretty decent, chill night.

We spent far too long in the airport the next day. And I couldn't buy the cigarettes I wanted (for a friend -- not me). Stupid taxation schemes. But we made it back and there was only 1 broken bottle -- one of Joey's apple thingie's costing a while euro fifty. I'm drinking on the cheap for the week!

I have to say that I had no idea what to expect out of Germany. Andi had told me language shouldn't be a problems, but it still made me uneasy. It was my first continental European travel w/o my parents and brother, so I actually was a little nervous about it.

But we get the the airport, pick up our bags, and find the train station no problem. Okay, now there was a problem. The ticket machines were completely unusable. Berlin was no where on them (apparently -- I didn't use that machine). After about 30 minutes of debating a cab, we found tried another ticket machine upstairs on the platforms. Bingo. A 5 person 1 day ticket was just 15 euro. Not bad.

We made it into the city and checked in, dead tired. We went out to have a little bit of explore around where we were and came across an AMAZING looking bar. Sad to say, I didn't go to it while I was there. But hey, gotta have a reason to go back, right?

At this point, everyone decides they are tired. We all stayed up all night to get the early ryanair flight out of Dublin. Unfortunately, "nap rules" were broken, and my four travel buddies were out like lights. I decided to walk around Berlin at sunset to get a better feel for the city (walking in both east and west Berlin and yes... you can still feel a difference today). I came back 3 hours later... nobody moved. Fine. I went to the local grocery store, got some cookies, a beer, and sat in the bottom of the hostel with a few others that had the same idea I did.

We got up the next day at set out for a walking tour of Berlin. In a word, it was amazing. Our tour guide had been there during the fall of the Berlin wall (and events leading up to the fall of that government) and talked about it with a passion that was moving at the least. There are so many buildings, such great architecture, and so much history I can't begin to describe it all. It is pretty much like the entire 20th century took place in Germany. The four hour tour ended up taking 5 and a half... but it was obvious that it could have taken more. The quide glossed over a TON of stuff.

That night was the pub crawl. To make a long story short, it was a lot of fun, and I got home safely by some miracle of drunken memory and a very large, very golden jewish temple.

The nex day was the event which I will not soon forget. We got on a train to Oranienburg where we walked to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. And I think that no matter how long I ponder what when on there, I will never really come to terms with it... Being in the barracks, seeing the remains of ovens, seeing the trenches where ashes were spread. Being INSIDE of one of the guard towers, 2" thick steel door slamming shut behind me.

That night was Russian Disco night. It was a lot of fun too, despite being WAY too hot. Drinks were cheap, but I was still feeling sick from the day before. That, combined w/ Matt and Amanda having a really great time together, prompted me to go. The sleep would do me good anyway.

Anyway - the next day, we flew back to Dublin, and all was well. The public gallery for Berlin is at Berlin (public). If you want to see the in-bar pictures, well, you'll need to know me.