First night in Beliln

After the great train ride into Berlin we were instantly blown away by the city at night.  Even the train station was amazing.  It was immediately apparent how different this part of our trip was going to be from our other German leg of the trip in Munich.

There was a very helpful gentleman in our train compartment along the way.  He gave us some tips about Berlin and Germany in general.  He was also kind enough to show us the way via PT to our hotel.  However, we were beat from our travel and ready to just hop a cab to the hotel (after finding a place in the station to change in our Czech Crowns for Euros).  The cab was really nice too.  In fact, it was a Mercedes, and the only time I've been in cab as nice was in Japan when we got a ride in an Infiniti M45!

We definitely liked our in Berlin, and it was fairly comparable to the feel of the hotel we liked so much in Prague.  We were up on the 5th floor and had a really nice view out of our window.  At first I was under the impression that there wouldn't be free internet (based on the hotel guide in our room), but then talked to  the receptionist and found out that it is free.  There actually wasn't wifi, but they give out cables to plug your laptop in with.  Yeah! :)

We weren't expecting Fregly and Christina until tomorrow since they were scheduled to be in Prague an extra day.  However, after a handful of minutes in our room, someone was knocking on our door... guess who!  Yup!  They decided to bail a day early and eat the cancellation fee from their hotel.  In fact, they even ended up on an earlier train into Berlin than us!

After the surprise greeting, we all went across the street to a Thai/Indian/Somalian/(and probably a few other things) fusion restaurant and got some dinner and wine.  This place hit the spot and even though the night was getting quite chilly, we were all very warm sitting outside near the heat lamps... even Kirstyn!!!  The outdoor area with heating lamps theme seemed to be quite popular in Berlin and I wish Chicago would take a queue from them!  And keeping with other themes of the trip, the wine at our late dinner got us off to a slow start the next morning :)