Berlin day 1

First official day of inter-railing almost over, I thought I'd take the opportunity to update you all on a rather pleasant day.

Last night, I got but 5 hours sleep, probably due to excitement and perhaps a little dehydration, remedied with a good few litres of water. I started the day by exploring the centre of Berlin, stopping at the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Cathedral and many other things that caught my beady eye.

My first impression of Berlin is that it is so huge and full of buildings. Sounds like a strange thing to say, but as a chick who's just spent 7 months in rural France, it was something of a culture shock. Another thing which occurred to me is how much awesome stuff the Germans can lay claim to. Perusing the vast amount of shops in the city centre just proves this. There's an entire shop devoted to Nivea.

In the afternoon, I had good intentions to do some serious cultural investigations, much like in the morning, and set out on the train. Unfortunaly my straight laced intentions were dashed rather, when I spied with my little eye a zoo, and an elephant casually strolling around in its enclosure. As a lover of all animals, I couldn't resist and popped inside for what I thought would be a fairly quick tour of a few impressive animals. How wrong I was. 6 hours later, I had seen polar bears, brown bears, Canadian wolves, tree frogs, basically any animal you can name and I saw it today. There was even a massive aquarium to look round. Although this may seem like a strange thing to do, I really enjoyed my day and especially appreciated the freedom that the animals were given, as compared to many zoos I have visited. I even treated myself to some tasty noodles and homemade lemonade on the way home.

This evening, I think I will see what's happening in the hostel and surrounding areas before hitting the hay, as a full day in the glorious sunshine looking at animals has really taken it out of me.

Plans for tomorrow are to get myself down to Potsdamer Platz to check out the Holocaust memorial, followed by a trip to Checkpoint Charlie and a visit to some of Berlin's many gardens. To top it all off, I think it would be rude if I didn't finish the day with a wurst and a beer. Next stop, Warsaw!