Germany

So we left Prague, and the Czech Republic behind us (and the train made it this time!) for the spoils of Munich (passing back through Dresden, to minimize our ticket cost, and maximize our use of the Eurail pass). Straight out, Munich is a lovely city – beer halls, parks & gardens, old buildings, and lovely people (well almost all of them – we will get to this later). Our first night in Munich consisted of us checking into our accommodation, about 5 min walk from the station, then heading out for a bite to eat and something to drink. Walking the streets for the first time, not knowing were we were going it wasn’t long, literally 2 minutes, before we stumbled on our first Munich beer hall… We need look no further. ...

We laid awake this morning at about 4.50 am listening to the pouring rain, and claps of thunder didn’t put a positive spin on the day to come. After drifting back to sleep, we eventually go up and began to get ready for the day at about 6am - we had an early train to catch to Prague, at least the rain had stopped. We got ourselves to the train station with plenty of time to spare for our 9am departure. As is our general experience with German public transport, the train pulled in exactly on time. We boarded and headed for our seats - we were in a 6 seater booth with only two other passengers. ...

We arrived into Dresden on the ICE train from Berlin and immediately fell in love with the city - despite it being a Sunday, and (almost) everything being shut. If we had realised how cute Dresden was we would defiantly penciled it in for a few more nights than just one - it defiantly deserves more! Our hostel was about a 20 minute walk from the old town, but was situated in a new funky part of town with bars, cafe’s and restaurants. ...

Today is our last day in Berlin – we are currently in the train station having breakfast and a coffee waiting for our train to Dresden. Berlin has been an experience! It’s not quite what i expected as a city, but everything and more than I expected as an experience. The history here is so immense – and its not all to do with Nazi’s and the Third Reich either – Berlin is so much more. ...

So we are in Germany now – having arrived from Tampere, Finland into Bremen the other day. We have been in Bremen for the last few days, staying with friends (Suzanne & Richard) in their lovely apartment which is just a short ride from the heart of Bremen. We quickly realised that the Euro 2008 Cup (soccer) is in progress – and on the night we arrived Germany were facing off with Austria (the hosts), and it was a must win type of situation for Germany to allow them to progress through. ...