Berlin, part III - the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor)

I think I had too many pictures in my last entry and not enough for this one.

Visited the Brandenburg Gate, which in my opinion looked a lot like the Arc de triomphe de l'Étoile in Paris.

Lots of photobombs here!

Swimming in visitors, of course.

And I am just another idiotic tourist trying to get in a selfie.

The two guys on the left grinning my way.

Got better lighting from the other side.

So, finally a picture in which the people I accidentally photo'd don't feature.

Perspective, perspective.

This is what the Brandenburg neighborhood looks like.

And this.

An exhibit on Hitler, but I can't read Deutsch. I have an excuse for that, by the way. As Oscar Wilde said, "Life is too short to learn German." No wonder I wrote my master's dissertation on him. The man's a genius.

I caught a bus to Dresden, and arrived there around 11pm. Journey took around two hours. The hostel looked really easy to navigate from the bus station according to google maps, but it was so dark in Dresden, add to the fact that there were NO STREET LIGHTS whatsoever, that it took me a good 15 minutes to find it, when it should have been a 5 minute walk. Although Dresden was gorgeous, I didn't care for it that much.

In conclusion, Berlin was probably my least favourite part of the trip, but to be fair that had a lot to do with my cold and the unrelenting German sun. I genuinely liked the Wall and I feel that I would have liked the Tor a lot better too if I hadn't been so sick. The Gedächtniskirche however was rather boring but since I happened to be in the neighborhood anyway I'm not complaining that much.

Pierre was a good kid - he was one of the high points of Berlin - but I'm annoyed that he'll probably remember me as the Asian girl who had a terrific cold and one hell of a nasally voice. What a thing to remember someone by! Then again, he'll probably forget all about me and consign me to the oblivion of hostel hasbeens.

Vignettes: waiting for the bus to Dresden and watching chubby German pigeons peck around me in a hopeful bid for food. When I was in Ghent, I ate my sandwich  next to the canal and fed a lone duck that was waddling around and looking peckish. The next thing you know, all the other ducks in the canal have waded out, and are plodding around me, doodling for their share.

TBC..