Day 5: Berlin.. Berliner Dome, Brockwurst

Arrived at Berlin Schoefeld airport at around 9am.. we proceeded straight to collect our car which we rented at Budget Car Rental.. At the rental counter, they told us that the standard stuff like insurance n stuff like that.. we could choose to pay 5 euros per day as insurance so that if anything happens, there will be a 200 euro subsidy off damage charges of 700 euro.. doesnt really seem like a good deal.. We r renting the car for 10 days n will be returning back at this airport..

We were informed of countries that our rental car could not go n one of them is Czech Republic.. Oh crap.. they said that our car, an Audi, do not pass security tests in Czech so its not allowed in.. oh man.. i thot our travel plans spoil liaoz.. we were told other cars such as BMW, Volkswagon and Opel could enter the country.. we enquire for a change in car but was told there was none available here.. oh crap.. we just take the car n adopt a see how attitude.. the bridge will be straight in the end mah.. haha

n so our adventure begins on this rental car.. we navigated all the way up to Berlin.. took abt an hour plus.. we went straight to the Reichstag.. this is the German parliement building.. it had quite a history.. was heavily bombed by the Allies during the war..

Entrance to teh Reichstag is free.. but we decided to come another day with Dom.. n the queue is also very long.. Currently just SC, LL n me are travelling.. DOm will join us in Munich.. he is having his exams now..
A very big library beside the Reichstag..

we drove to the street opposite Unter Den Linden where we parked our car n got out for a short walk.. Unter Den Linden is a very famous street in Berlin which starts from the Brandenburg Gate towards the famed Musuem Island.. This entire street is in the East Berlin area during the COld War.. The wall was just outside the Brandenburg Gate..
We walked towards the Brandenburg Gate..There is a tourist office there but its a terrible one.. There are signs everywhere in the office that states all brochures n maps r not free.. first time i see a tourist office like that.. usually Tourist Info provides simple maps but not this one.. we improvised.. we took some advertisements by Bus Tour COmpanies.. those r free. n we tried to figure out our way by using the simple maps there.. we were also provided with a map booklet at the Budget rental company

The region around the Brandenburg Gate r full of embassies.. i tink this is carried on from teh Cold War era when this area contains the embassies of the French, US n British since this area is pretty near the wall n the Reichstag where the West German govt was briefly at b4 being moved to Bonn..
The British embassy.. being protected with concrete barriers n stuff like that.. heavily guarded place.. the road outside the embassy was sealed off..


We proceeded next to try out the famous German sausages.. Its only 2 Euros n its big.. haha



There r a lot of car showcases along the street n this BMW bike in the showcase. It costs abt 2000 euros.. wah..

We went to our car after this short walk.. along the wat we noticed that there is a parking facility nearby which costs just 2 euros for 4 hrs.. super cheap considering the fact that it costs abt 1 euro for an hour at other parking facilities..
At Berlin, the P sign for parking is everywhere.. prices varies..
2 buggers standing in teh middle of the road supposedly advertising where the parking facilities r.. but they r toking to each other n moving around so much.. the arrow signs pointing to the parking place moved around with them, changing every few seconds as they fidget.. haha i wondered how many drivers were misled by them..

After we parked our car at the cheap parking place.. we noticed a branch of Budget rental.. we approached them asking if its possible to change the car to an Opel so that we can drive to Czech Republic.. they checked for us n said that there is an Opel available at the Berlin Tegel Airport.. we immediately jumped on this oppotunity n drove towards the airport to change our car.. Phew.. luckily we managed to finally change our car...
But we sort of lost our way on our way back to Berlin Central.. after abt 1 hour plus, we made it back where we continued on our walk along Unter Den Linden..
We passed by Babelplatz where Hitler n his gang burned books that they tink is not good for Nazi rule of Germany.. cant find the place as indicated on our German guide bk.. but we found this sign stating Babelplatz.. shld be aroudn here..

We passed by this church.. pretty unique interior.. just some sculptures..




Its exterior..


The famous landmarks of Berlin.. the Berliner Dome n the TV tower..

Look Ma.. Four Arms.. haha

The entrance fee to the Berliner Dome was abt 3 euros.. i was tinking why pay moeny to see a church.. but once i went in, i felt it was worth it.. it was nice..

Super big organ..



A model of the Berliner Dome

We were even allowed access to the roof.. where we could walk n get a very nice view of Berlin.. But it was a very tiring climb cos it was pretty high up..




The Sunset view from the top of the Berliner Dome..



This looked like HDB flats in Singapore.. these r i tink apartments left over after the Berlin Wall came down.. this entire area used to be East Berlin so buildings in this region r usually quite obiang.. n functionlity counts more during the Soviet regime than asthetics..


We took some more pics with the Berliner Dome..


I was fascinated by this very ugly looking building beside the Berliner Dome.. It sports the word "Zweifel" I thot this is like a East German version of IKEA.. it is closed to public.. turns out i was wrong.. did some research on the net.. found out that this was actually the Palace of Republic building in East Berlin.. it served as a multi purpose building such as the parliment building for East German govt as well as other functions n exhibtions.. However it was closed down as a result of the massive amounts of asbestos used in its construction. A rather poisonous environment in that building.. but the East Germans had used it for like decades b4 being closed down in the 1990s.. Recently, a Norweigen artist Lars Ramberg installed the word "ZWEIFEL" (DOUBT) in massive (white) neon letters atop the Palast der Republik. He's entitled the work "Palace of Doubt."

Back to our carpark.. better go to our hostel asap or else its gonna be difficult to find our way..

We lost our way again.. pretty confusing streets n the map we had was inadequate.. the small streets were not labelled here.. arrghh.. LL took this pic of SC n me being stressed in front..

Finally, we found our hostel.. it was pretty cheap abt 9 euros per nite.. (std price for hostel is 20 euros is Europe) There is also breakfast., just simple bread toast with jam, magarine n butter..
It was a pretty unique experience becos its sleeping on mattresses on teh floor.. there r some rooms with proper beds but we just happened to get the one w/o beds.. but its fine for me..


The living room of the hostel.. where ppl could watch TV or chill out..

according to LL n SC, that nite i snored super loudly.. that i woke the whole room up.. there was this one guy who was super pissed off with me.. SC said he heard that guy keep on repeating fidgeting on his bed n keep saying "Shut the F**k Up" n even stood by my mattresses to look at me n threw a piece of paper at me.. but i guess i m too tired to realise that amt of attention that i m receiving from the rest of the room.. haha.. Dont Care.. just wanna sleep..