We caught a train back to Munich and then on to Nuremberg. Really cool city with loads of medieval and modern history. Nuremberg is where Hitler held a big rally. When we got there we discovered that our hotel was not as close to the town centre as we'd thought. At the Hauptbahnhof (central rail station), or as Jackie liked to call it, the hoppity-boppity, we had some Subway for lunch. Somehow the conversation got onto to how kids compare their height by drawing a line in the air. I made some comment about how silly it was, as I demonstrated it quite expressively, then realised my demonstration looked much like i was heiling a certain Fürer. I instantly pulled my arm in embarrassed and we colapsed with laughter. I seriously haven't laughed that hard in ages!
The next day we had a day tour exploring the sites of WWII importance. Our tour guide was once again awesome, really knowledgeable and passionate. We couldn't remember his name so we just decided it would be Leonard. He was gay and lived in Munich and the girls decided that Stefan (Dachau tour guide) was his partner. I objected white strongly. On a bus that day I had a massive conversation in German with an old lady and it was really nice. That night we ate a pub and I had the best sausages and potato salad! I cleaned the plate completely!
BAMBERG
Another train trip and we arrived in Bamberg. Just for a night. We caught a cab to the hotel and the cabbie definitely took us for a ride. Very annoying. We were so tired. We walked around the city and went to see the Residence which was pretty for a while and then got incredibly boring when the tour, which was in 100% German went on too long. For dinner we ate at the hotel.
BERLIN
Wow, I don't know if I have the energy to write about Berlin. Such an incredible city. Definitely a favourite. So much history. We went to the Christmas markets that evening and then back to the hotel where we ate some takeaway Italian and watched a movie about Hitler (in German).
The next day was New Year's Eve so I was already apprehensive but trying not to think about it. I prefer to ignore but you can't unfortunately. Anyway, we went for a Berlin walking tour. Our tour guide was the absolute best of all. He was an Irish guy named Finn who had a PHD and studied history. He knew absolutely everything and did very well considering the size of his group. It was absolutely brilliant. If you read this and I haven't told you, ask me to tell you the Lenin story. There was also a man on our tour who was the most snap-happy person I have ever met. Even on the train he was taking burst photography out the window as Finn spoke, but there wasn't even anything interesting out there. He walked around all day just pressing the shoot button, not always looking at the view finder. He even photographed the guys setting up the NYE sound & lighting rig! I reckon he'd have had a couple of thousand photos at the end of the day and going through them later would have nad no clue what they all were as he couldn't have been listening, and he would probably have had to delete about 97% of them. I guess that leaves 60 photos which is pretty reasonable. But I'd prefer to take 60 good photos and listen and take it all in the rest of the time.
From about 4pm, the fireworks started. And what I mean is, heavy-duty fireworks are readily available everywhere. People let them off all over the place. Apparently they sometimes throw them into trains as the doors close. Berlin on NYE sounds like a warzone. It's nuts! We went back to the Christmas markets for their NYE party but it was a bit lame and lots of oldies. So we headed to wards the Brandenburg Gate. Berlin on NYE is supposed to be awesome. I admit, I hate NYE so I'm not the best judge. We got cramped in with minimal views of the Gate, I had Bradley Cooper's stunt-double pashing his woman next to me, some annoying tourists yelling and being obnoxious, Gene Simmons' look-alike blowing cancer in my face and a creepy old guy who groped me & Jenny. As soon as midnight hit I was outa there, so over it and annoyed and struggling to breathe with all the smoke from the fireworks.
Next day, I was on my way back to London. It was on this journey that I decided that (crying) babies on flights can only be described as nothing but dementors who suck all happiness out of everyone around them until they take your soul. I had a dementor in front of and one behind me. Me & the 2 guys in my row literally had our heads in our hands about to join in the exhibition of vocal chords! When we got to London there was no gate for us so they brought buses to the plane, but the company operating the stairs to get us off didn't turn up so we were on the plane waiting for half an hour while little Dementor #1 proceeded to giggle and look all sweet in her Burberry jumpsuit. Too late sweetheart! Anyway, after geting inside the terminal I then had to wait in an enormous line for non UK/EUR passport holders which was being manned by 2 people. This was while 8 people sat twiddling their thumbs up at the UK/EUR section! Madness! Anyway, finally got home and all that, had the next day off (public holiday) and went to the hairdresser and did my washing and got ready for my return to work the following day.
New Years Eve in Berlin
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