One of our stops was Checkpoint Charlie.  We also saw where Hitler’s bunker is located.  It’s actually a parking lot right now.  But, the bunker is still below. 

There was the last watch tower in Berlin.  Of course, we saw the Berlin Wall. 

They have a fence around it, so people don’t steal parts of the wall for a souvenir.  You can buy small chunks of the Berlin Wall in the souvenir shops on a postcard or alone.  Our guide was really informative and kept us laughing throughout the tour. 

Berlin is very flat so it was easy biking around it.  Luckily, we had nice weather.

We stopped at a Beer Garden named Schleusenkrug.  I had a banana and chicken salad.  Ivan and Jennifer shared the tomato soup, roasted pumpkin salad and oyster mushrooms with tagliatelle. 

The food was awesome!  Ivan and Jen each got a warm glass of red wine.

The tour went to many other places like the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. 

The memorial contains 1217 blocks of different heights.  You could definitely get lost in there.  It would be a perfect place to play hide n’ seek. 

Other places we saw were the Reichstag and the Victoria Column.

Our tour was supposed to only last 4 1/2 hours, but it actually ended up being 7 hours long!  We loved it though.  The hours just flew by.  This is our second tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours – our first one was London. 

Randall was a great guide!  We had a fun time riding around Berlin and learning about its history.

We grabbed some bagels for dinner.  We got a train back to the hostel.  We retrieved our luggage.  We hung out there for a few hours.  We all used the internet.  It’s great that the hostel offers free internet for it’s guests.

We got a train to the train station.  We waited a couple minutes since the trains were running behind.  We got on a sleeper train headed for Amsterdam.  Our beds were at the top with three beds on each side.

At night, we met up at the Yesterday Bar for the 666 Anti Pub Crawl.  The bar had some great decor.  Our guide was an American lady with dreadlocks.  We waited a few minutes in the bar to wait for other people to arrive. 

The group took a train to the Ping Pong bar.  People were playing the game Around the World.  Anybody who wants to play goes around the ping pong table.  Each person must hit the ball – if you miss, you’re out of the game.  So, you keep playing until somebody wins.  Everybody was taking it so seriously – how boring!  Plus, there was no prize for the winner.  The bar was really plain inside.  Ivan played two rounds but he didn’t stay in the game long. 

Next, we headed to a goth bar called Last Cathedral.  It had lots of kewl decor inside. 

Ivan and Jen each had an Absinthe drink.  I had a nice cold banana juice.  We chilled for a little while.

We went to a gar bar.  It was pink and fluffy inside.  It was far too busy inside though.  We decided to go outside.  Our leader was nice, but she wasn’t very talkative.  She would just tell us what kind of bar we were at, but she didn’t provide any further details. 

We were going to head to another bar.  It was stupid because we were recently near there.  We had to take another train there.  So, we weren’t sure why we didn’t go there before.  The tour wasn’t very good.  We did see some kewl bars.  It would have been nice to have a better guide.  We wanted to check out the Panorama bar.  Ivan hailed a taxi.  When we arrived, the line was really long to get in.  We just told the taxi driver to take us back to the hostel. 

Ivan, Jennifer and I grabbed a Subway for lunch on October 18, 2009.  We got a taxi to the start of the Alternative Berlin Tour.  We got there a few minutes late.  The group must have left already.  Ivan ran to try to find them.  Thankfully, he found them. 

First, we went to an old department store that is now filled with squatters, artists and graffiti artists.  It was an interesting place.

We walked around and checked out lots of graffiti. 

There was another squat house.  It was filled with lots of art, postcards and jewelry.  We had a great tour guide who was very informative.  We enjoyed the tour seeing all the great graffiti and the squat houses where the artists work.

We went to Liquidrom next.  It’s a spa that has steam rooms, pools and a jacuzzi.  The jacuzzi was located outside but it was boiling hot.  Ivan and Jen ran to the jacuzzi and sat there for awhile.  I chilled on a lounge chair and read my Growing Better Bananas book. 

Ivan and Jennifer went to check out the Floatation pool. 

It’s very dim in this huge room.  There’s lovely electronic music playing.  They both put some floaties under their arms and head.  Then, they put their ears in the water.  They could hear the music playing underwater.  It was really relaxing floating around and listening to the cool music.

Ivan and Jen had an awesome avocado bagel.  I had a great banana bagel.

Ivan and Jen went inside the steam room.  They went in the Floatation pool again.  They got dressed and then we left the spa.

We walked to an Italian restaurant nearby.  Ivan and Jen shared a tomato soup.  It tasted okay.  They also had some wine that wasn’t very good.  I had a baked ziti with bananas.  It wasn’t very flavorful. 

Ivan and Jen shared a ravioli and pasta with tubes.  It was very tasteless. 

We got a train back to hostel.  We decided to use the internet and then get some sleep.

It was sooo very cold out.  The wind was freezing.  Ivan and Jen each bought a jumper to wear over their jackets. 

We walked down the main street.  We stopped and went inside a bar.  Ivan had a tasty banana beer. 

I had a few sips and it was really good!  Jennifer had a cherry beer.

We walked to the Sony Centre.  We watched the movie Away We Go.  It was good. 

We walked to a German restaurant near our hotel for dinner.  The food wasn’t very good.  Ivan and Jen had a chicken dish.  I had a banana schnitzel.  Germans are not known for their food.  It was pretty tasteless.

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of the Best Western City OST on October 16, 2009.  We got the train to the Alcatraz Hostel.  We checked in there.

We walked to Subway for lunch.  It seems to be the only place nearby that serves lunch. 

I stayed at the hostel to work on the blog.  Plus, Ivan and Jen were heading to a place only for adults.  Jennifer will now write about the show they attended.

Ivan and Jennifer hopped on a train to the Venus sex trade show.  The fairgrounds was really big.  There were a couple different rooms like the Fetish Room, Web Area and the Show Area.  There wasn’t many porn stars there.  There were plenty of booths with sex products, dvds and clothes.  The show wasn’t as crazy as we thought it might be.  The Show Area had different shows like a naked dj or a lesbian show.  We saw Ron Jeremy.  He’s not very known in Europe because he had no line at all.  Jennifer took a picture with him. 

We watched some of the shows in the Show Area.  There was a Girls Only section.  Jennifer went in there and saw a bunch of guys dance and play with the girls in the audience. 

Jennifer got picked on since she was right in the front.  It was like a naughty Chippendales show since there was nudity. 

We walked around and got lots of free stuff. 

It was a good show!

We took a train back to the hostel.  We walked to an Indian restaurant near the hostel.  I can’t recall the name.  Ivan and Jen shared some tasty chicken tikka and chicken jalfrezi. 

I had a banana naan and a banana tikka.  We had a great meal!

We got a train.  We walked to the goth club called K17.  Tonight, we were going to see one of Jen’s favorite bands Clan of Xymox. 

Ivan and I didn’t really know any songs.  Jennifer loved it though.  I couldn’t believe how many people were wearing black.  I felt a little out of place.  Jennifer was wearing colors as well.  But, she didn’t care – she was enjoying the music.  She danced around and sang to most of the songs.  After the show, we went back to the hostel to rest.