THIS BLOG IS NOT YET COMPLETE. I already published it anyway, because of all the nosy people! ;)

Last weekend Paul, his brother Henk and I went to Berlin (slideshow) by car. (From Friday to Monday)

On our way back (which took about 8 hours) I was thinking about what I should write about Berlin (slideshow). It kept impressing me from the first second to the last one and it's so much I experienced those few days. So let me just try to tell about things chronologically:

Friday:

• left Kerkrade at about 12:30h
• arrived at about 20:00h at Hotel & City Camping Berlin (Spandau)
• setting up tents
  
• have a drink at bar (stamkroeg ;))
• first Döner (declared to be Danish by drunken man)
• nearly drowned in rain and collapsing tent

Saturday:

• went to Unter den Linden
• breakfast at subways
  
• fooling around at Brandenburger Tor
  
• free tour with tour guide Rachel
  
  
  Rachel probably read/heard this quite a couple of times, but it's true non the less:
  Right from the beginning - when she introduced herself as dancer and once more declared her love for Berlin - her eyes were sparkling. Combined with her everlasting smile and happiness, she proved her love time and again when she provided us with details of the history of Berlin.
  
  Those are the places she showed to us and told us about:
  - Pariser Platz
  - Brandenburger Tor
  - Checkpoint Charlie
  - Schlotzky's Deli
  
  - Gendarmen Markt
  
  - Denkmal für die Bücherverbrennung
  
  - Neue Wache
  
  - Berliner Dom
  
  - Lustgarten
  [I'm sorry for the list being incomplete, but I've to ask Henk for it...]
  
  So thank you, Rachel for letting us see Berlin through your eyes. It has been impressive, funny, alive, interesting and emotional moving. :)
  If you'd like to stay in touch check the contact section at about-alboe.de.
• XYZ quarter
• Kreuzberg Libyan restaurant (after searching around)
  
• Climbing the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz
  

Sunday:

• Breakfast at Tiergarten
• Siegessäule
• Jewish Museum
  
  Even the jacket of the museum is impressive. It looks like a piece of metal which has deep scratches (which are the windows). Inside it's somehow like a labyrinth, which is because the architect used three crossing axes spread through 3 floors.
  The exhibition is supported by lots of new media, which makes everything very interactive and keeps you interested and busy all the time.
  Unfortunately we arrived only 1,5 hours before closing time, while needing about a whole day to go through everything. So next time in Berlin I'll go there again.
  
  More information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Museum_Berlin
• Grauburgunder & Saumagen at German kitchen restaurant
  

Monday:

• packing tents in the rain
• Edeka for breakfast
• Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer
• Potsdam "Holländisches Viertel"
  
• Arrived in Kerkrade at 23:30h

Concluding Berlin to me is:

• pregnant with history: everything, really everything has it's very own history. Since there happened so much in Berlin history is omnipresent: In the peoples minds, in the words of tourguides, on the signboards, in the buildings, in stones within the street (showing the course of the former wall), in the monuments, in the atmosphere, the names of streets, the rooftops of buildings...even in the absence of things (e.g. no buildings on the course where once has been the wall, so-called voids in the Jewish museum)...
• crossing of times: with all the history on one side, there are futuristic, gleaming new buildings on the other side (e.g. sony center); history sometimes is told with use of the newest interactive media (e.g. Jewish museum)
• a place of contrasts: a world-metropolis as busy and hectic as it can be with in the very centre a huuuuge park that lets you forget about everything with its beauty and quietness
• a city I'd like to live in for some time

Thanks

Finally I'd like to thank Paul for his passionate and detailed preparation of the whole trip, Henk for providing us with a car (thus making the trip possible) and both of them for their pleasant company and for getting along with my irritating nature. ;)

Furthermore I'd like to thank Cees Nooteboom, the authors of the Lonely Planet Berlin and Rachel for providing information about Berlin that make Berlin the most interesting city I've seen so far to me.