In case you were wondering where i'm living in Berlin, I thought I'd put up a few photos. I moved into this joint on Friday. I'm so happy to finally be out of the Studentendorf (read slimey old crumbling to bits student village).
My Apartment here is on the 3rd floor, so theres lots of steps to climb, and I have an awesome view over the neighbours backyards and rooftops. I'm at the back of the building, so you can't see my windows in this pic. It's a lovely residential area in Lichterfelde, south west Berlin. Bit ritzy actually, but there's still lots of students here too, which means I still have Pennymarkt and Aldi, my cheap supermarket friends.
Inside it"s pretty simple. Basically one large room in which I have a double bed, desk, dinner table, etc. Off of this room comes a tiny but functional kitchen. Theres a small entrance hallway, and the also small but functional bathroom comes off of that.
The girl I'm renting it off is doing a similar study abroad thing in Egypt, where she's learning arabic. This is perfect for me, as it means that I have almost all of her posessions, and really want for nothing. She even left behind her box of pantry staples and a bottle of Schnapps for me.
So this is where I live. As I'm writing this on my birthday, my next entry will be full of birthday celebrations. We began to celebrate last night, but I figure it's best to just make the one concise entry thereon.

I've been pretty busy lately, trying to see as many of Berlins sights as possible before the weather turns nasty, partying (just a little) and studying too (also just a little). I went to Kurfurstendamm to check out the shops and the Gedächtniskirche. The tower you see behind the church is the bell tower for the new church on the site. Its almost completely made from stained glass which is lit from the inside at night and looks awesome.

The Fernseheturm as seen on a very foggy afternoon. I caught the famous bus# 200 across town from Kurfurstendamm to Alexanderplatz to see it, to find the pinnacle hidden in clouds. Of course I've been back since (mostly at night for some reason), but I still like this photo, it's very Berlin in Autumn-esque.
The Sonycentre at night. Photos don't do it justice. The roof is lit up and changes colour. The fountain in the middle is pretty awesome too, but i didn't take a picture, I already felt like a flaming red zebra for taking pictures using flash. I was being stared at...

There's a festival of lights on at the moment. Most of the major landmarks are lit up with coloured lights at night. Once again photos don't do it justice. The Tor is a sight to behold.

Oranienburgerstraße, with the Synagogue and Fernseheturm in view. I went out with a few friends here on Saturday night. Was a great time, lots of laughs and wonderful people (even if they are Yanks!), but it would have probably been a good idea to get home before 6:30am

Of course I had to take a picture of the Ampelmännchen. These little guys are on my way to uni. Half of the crossing goes green before the other side does, so you can see red and green Ampelmännchen at the same time!

Checkpoint Charlie as seen from the Western side of the border. Everytime I tried to take a picture of the front someone walked in front of me. I'll try again on a weekday. I went yesterday (Sunday) despite having had only three hours sleep, to find the place packed with tourists. It's a good idea to avoid anything even slightly touristy on weekends here, I really should have known better.
Haus am Checkpoint Charlie is an awesome museum. I spent over three hours in there wandering through the exhibits, trying to find the english/german version of the information. It's huge, to think they started in 2 1/2 rooms. Some of the info is a bit out of date, the earlier info predates the fall of the wall, it gives warnings about how not to try to get out of East Berlin for example, and talks about the hope that one day the Wall will be gone. I kind of liked having that old stuff there though, helps to understand how people felt about everything whilst it was still going on. On the otherhand it got a bit annoying in the first couple of rooms, which were arranged chronologically.
So there you go chickidees, sorry about my longwindedness. I'll have to include pictures of my new apartment in my next blog entry. Until then stay tuned.

There has been a request made for more pictures of the Spree, and as I am not one to disappoint, here are more pictures of the Spree.

Welcome to BERLIN! Population wise its about as big as Melbourne, just in about a third of the space. They still manage to have heaps of parks and greenery around, more than in Melbourne, though of course the green shan't stay for much longer.
I caught up with Frans friend Hayley on my second day here, I can't tell you how good it was to have a familiar face. I was feeling a little fragile that day, so having to get out and about in Berlin was really good for me.

We spent most of the day at the Brandenburger Tor (though i took this shot at a later date). There was a mini carnival thing going on there for the Tag des Deutschen Einheit (Day of German Unity)

We then headed out to Potsdam, and wandered around for a bit, cos everything was shut for the public holiday.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday at Uni trying to get enrolled and doing the orientation thing. Oweek here is boring, you go to lectures where they tell you how fun Uni life is going to be, and then tell you about all the rigmarole you have to go through to actually get enrolled!

This is my Uni anyway, or at least the building I'll spend most of my time in. Its called the Rostlaub, thanks to it's colour. The SIlberlaub is attached to it, and I'll spend a lot of time in there too, you just can't see it in this photo.

Friday was spent running around like a headless chook to organise health insurance etc, followed by a leisurely cruise along the Spree. I took so many pics on that boat trip, but I'll just give you a taste of them here.

There are more bridges in Berlin than in Venice or Amsterdam. We passed under 32 on our short stretch of the Spree.

After our trip I went out for coffee with a girl called Dana who I had met on the boat. We had fantastic hot chocolate right around the corner from the playhouse Brecht opened. I had to take a pic of this hot chocolate. Dana can be seen in the background doing the same.

We went out for dinner together in Kreuzburg last night. We found a really good little indian restaurant and ate way too much! Plus they had cheap Bombay Sapphire, if i'd had more money on me...

Classes start on Monday, I'm looking forward to getting back into it. I've been out of uni for too long.

Until next time, over and out.

Ok guys, I promised you pictures, so here they are. First up we have little old me at Schönbrunn palace.









Then the entrance to the Hofburg leading to the Lipizzaner riding school.














A slightly blurry picture of the Lipizzaner horses and their riders.













The Austrian Paliament. This place is seriously so white that on sunny days it hurts to look at it.

The Stephansdom with its famous patterned roof.









And a sideways shot of the Riesenrd (I haven't quite got the hang of this computer system yet, all of the functions are in german!)


That should just about do for Vienna. I've taken a bout 200 photos already, about half of those were in Vienna, but I'll save them for fantastic slide nights back in Melbourne (Oh JOY!)
Next entry, BERLIN!

I know guys, i've been terribly slack. 12 days in Europe and no blog entry to speak of. Well I'm doing it now, so be satisfied. No pictures this time around but i promise they're coming.
Aaahhhh Vienna. Such a beautiful city. I managed to visit most of it in my three days there too. I went to Schöneburg palace, the Hofburg (also a palace, but Hitler used it to annex Austria), i rode the Riesenrad (giant ferris wheel for the non germanics out there) which is soooo terrifyingly high, the Prater, the cemetary... Yes I know that's a little weird, but it meant i got to see the graves of Schubert, Brahms, Beethoven, Strauss, AND Mozart. Pretty cool cemetary hey? The city is just full of history, and what's best is that it's still living history. The Lipizzaners still ride (yes i went and saw them too), and these gorgoues old buildings and Denkmals (monuments) are part of everyday life.
Anywho, I'll try to get pictures working tomorrow, so that you can get a better idea of it all, and I'll even tell you about my travels in Berlin!
MWAH! Love to you all.