berlin and eyjafjallajoekull

So in the end it turned out not to be about the things i saw and did but the people who were there. Open, joyful and generous - I was so content to be "stuck" there that I began to believe that volcano exploded just for me. At the train station Wednesday (5 days after my planned departure) my heart sank as the kind woman behind the Deutsche-Bahn counter informed me that I'd be able to leave that night. No more excuse to stay. I thought I'd be so sad to leave, but as the train pulled out of the station I couldn't help smiling to myself as I relived the week's events. Did all of that really just happen to me in a week? To the best of my knowledge it did...

conclusions reached:

1) couchsurfing is a wonderful network of fun people functions fantastically, judging by my first experience.

2) There is no city like Berlin.

This is the view from the roof of my host's apartment

being a good tourist at Checkpoint Charlie

at Brandenburg gate

some other peeps also getting their picture taken infront of the Brandenburg Gate

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Kurfürstendamm

Karl-Marx-Allee

Tuesday market in Kreuzberg

Schloss Charlottenburg

ALL the appartments were like this. (Kidding! But this oddball made me happy!)

The Wall.

Köpenick - lake country

karaoke at Mauer Park. There is a giant flea market in the background.

Lastly, quite possibly the coolest thing I saw in Berlin which I would never have found without the aid of my fantastic host Caro. There's an abandoned US radar station just west of Berlin which is officially closed down (you had to sneak through a hole in the fence) but which was full of people anyway. The site itself was super interesting. Someone had tried to rennovate themselves a little flat in one section of the tower (had hardwood floors and everything) and there were large concrete slabs on one level that served as the structure for a graffiti gallery. also: best. view. EVER. 

door to nowhere...

echo...  echo...   echo.....

"I'm flying..."