Berlin

We got in last night on the train about 7:00pm and headed over to the hostel. We had a cabin all to ourselves on the train, so that was pretty good. After checking in we walked around to find a place to eat some dinner (I suppose I felt OK with paying for food after eating breakfast and appetizers for brunch and dinner for the last few days in the executive lounge of the Prague Marriott and thus paying nothing) at a place called Hot Dog and Hamburger, which was basically a kebab place with hot dogs and burgers.
We then headed down to the hostel bar to get to know some of the folks there and get started on the night. Hostel folk are pretty cool, pretty relaxed, and very talkative and friendly. We got some tips on which clubs would be best to go to, and so we headed upstairs to change and then dance until dawn.
However, after being denied entry to 2 different clubs within walking distance of each other, we headed back to the hostel for drinking and singing and darts at the weekly Karaoke night at the bar. It was quite a good time, and I was the first to call it a night at about 3:45am (the bar is open til dawn).
This morning we grabbed a spinach croissant from a bakery and headed out to do our own sightseeing around Berlin. We checked out the Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to European Jews, and Checkpoint Charlie (the primary crossing point form East Berlin into the US-controlled zone of West Berlin) and the remains of the Berlin Wall. We grabbed some Chinese food at a restaurant that was much better than the Chinese we got the first night in Prague and headed back to the hostel. People are doing laundry and taking naps, so I figured I´d head out to catch up on email and blogging.
Tomorrow afternoon, it´s off to Amsterdam.