Monday, 26 July 2010
Technical Difficulties
Sorry for the slighlty erratic placement of photos. I haven't quite worked out how this whole shebang works. x
Berlin Part 1 - The Adventure Begins
19th July
After a somewhat emotional send off from Heathrow,we were in Berlin before we k
new it. Next we were collecting our bags and battling with the cling film the rucksacks were wrapped in. We caught the bus to Rosa Luxembourg Platz and went hunting for our hostel. We found the right number building, but there was no sign to the hostel. To be honest it looked pretty sketchy! The door was covered in graffiti and the paint in the corridors was peeling. We had also forgotten about the 3 flights of stairs we had to climb! However once we made it to the right floor, we found a fantastic place. It was decorated in really bright colours and full off lovely people. If you're ever in Berlin I can't recommend this place more highly!
We ditched our bags, freshened up and hit the streets. We walked down to the River and had lunch at Ammpelman restaurant. The Ammpelman is the German version of the Green Man, similar to his British counterpart apart from one exception... he has a really awesome hat. He appears on a lot on Berlin City Merchandise. We then went on to the Neues Museum, which is full of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts. My favourite part had to be the bust of Nefertiti.Her name means ' the beautiful woman has come'. The circular room was pitch black apart from a single column of light falling from the ceiling illuminating the Royal Wife's face. Magnificent!
On our way back to the Hostel we bought some bread and salami and a huge bottle of wine for only 3 Euros! There were lots of people chilling in the common room when we got back, so we got chatting with some guys from Kent, some Danes and the fabulous owners of the hostel Jess and Arthur. It was really random, Steph and I were chatting about SOAS when suddenly a girl who worked at the Hostel called Alice who was originally from Italy announced that she was going to apply to SOAS next year. After a few more hours Jess announced we would all be going to a Ping Pong bar and it was time to roll. A bottle of Limoncello in hand, 10 of us ambled up the road.
The bar itself was ridiculously entertaining. You bought a beer and hired a bat and joined everyone in the bar as they formed a circle around the table, the first person hits the ball and then the next and then the next. If you miss the ball you’re out and that keeps going until there are only two people left. They’re left to battle it to the death until the ping pong champion survives! Of course yours truly failed miserably, the combination of the wine and my general lack of coordination meant that I didn’t make it past the first round!
After, we headed on to a club called Franz. Steph forgot her ID so we had to sprint back to the hostel , but soon we caught up the others and had a bit of a boogie to some hardcore German techno! Weirdly enough there was another Ping Pong table at this club. The Germans really do like their Ping Pong. We called it a night after a few more hours, wandered home and fell in to bed around 5.
Much Love x
After a somewhat emotional send off from Heathrow,we were in Berlin before we k
new it. Next we were collecting our bags and battling with the cling film the rucksacks were wrapped in. We caught the bus to Rosa Luxembourg Platz and went hunting for our hostel. We found the right number building, but there was no sign to the hostel. To be honest it looked pretty sketchy! The door was covered in graffiti and the paint in the corridors was peeling. We had also forgotten about the 3 flights of stairs we had to climb! However once we made it to the right floor, we found a fantastic place. It was decorated in really bright colours and full off lovely people. If you're ever in Berlin I can't recommend this place more highly!
We ditched our bags, freshened up and hit the streets. We walked down to the River and had lunch at Ammpelman restaurant. The Ammpelman is the German version of the Green Man, similar to his British counterpart apart from one exception... he has a really awesome hat. He appears on a lot on Berlin City Merchandise. We then went on to the Neues Museum, which is full of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts. My favourite part had to be the bust of Nefertiti.Her name means ' the beautiful woman has come'. The circular room was pitch black apart from a single column of light falling from the ceiling illuminating the Royal Wife's face. Magnificent!
On our way back to the Hostel we bought some bread and salami and a huge bottle of wine for only 3 Euros! There were lots of people chilling in the common room when we got back, so we got chatting with some guys from Kent, some Danes and the fabulous owners of the hostel Jess and Arthur. It was really random, Steph and I were chatting about SOAS when suddenly a girl who worked at the Hostel called Alice who was originally from Italy announced that she was going to apply to SOAS next year. After a few more hours Jess announced we would all be going to a Ping Pong bar and it was time to roll. A bottle of Limoncello in hand, 10 of us ambled up the road.
The bar itself was ridiculously entertaining. You bought a beer and hired a bat and joined everyone in the bar as they formed a circle around the table, the first person hits the ball and then the next and then the next. If you miss the ball you’re out and that keeps going until there are only two people left. They’re left to battle it to the death until the ping pong champion survives! Of course yours truly failed miserably, the combination of the wine and my general lack of coordination meant that I didn’t make it past the first round!
After, we headed on to a club called Franz. Steph forgot her ID so we had to sprint back to the hostel , but soon we caught up the others and had a bit of a boogie to some hardcore German techno! Weirdly enough there was another Ping Pong table at this club. The Germans really do like their Ping Pong. We called it a night after a few more hours, wandered home and fell in to bed around 5.
Much Love x
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Bon Voyage!
Right folks, the day is finally here! Tomorrow around 9am Stephy and I will be 30,000 feet in the air somewhere over England on our way to Berlin. From there we're heading to Bydgoszcz in Poland to stay with the lovely Agnes (a friend from SOAS). After that we'll travel to Warsaw to catch a flight to St Petersberg where, if all goes to plan, we'll meet up with Alex(Another SOASian). Next we'll be jumping on and off the train for a month whilst passing through Moscow, Krasnoyarsk,Irkutsk and Ulaan Baator. Finally we'll end up in Beijing on 30th August!
If you want to keep track of my travels, check back here now and then. I'll post photos and notes whenever the internet connection allows! The best method to contact me will be via email, 249473@soas.ac.uk or pink_kat31@hotmail.com. Once I sort out my house I'll let you know my address!
If you want to keep track of my travels, check back here now and then. I'll post photos and notes whenever the internet connection allows! The best method to contact me will be via email, 249473@soas.ac.uk or pink_kat31@hotmail.com. Once I sort out my house I'll let you know my address!
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