Berlin on a Bike

Well I'm in the hotel in Berlin and I have come across the most awesome thing (as far as hotels go) so far on the trip. I am currently standing (with my computer) in front of the the room's toilet and it flushes for as long as I hold down the button!!....

Anyway, Berlin so far has been an amazing city to behold. We were fortunate enough to do 'Berlin on a bike' which is when you travel around Berlin...on a bike. I was pretty apprehensive at first about how this would turn out. I could not help wondering if I, or anybody was going to have a really bad accident. Besides a taxi almost hitting Shyanie and my chains coming off everything went pretty well! The guide was excellent with his commentaries and really filled us in with the Berlin's history post WWII, with the Berlin Wall going up and such. We rode around near where the wall used to be and viewed apartment buildings that people jumped out to get to the West in fear of being trapped in indefinitely. I think the people that escaped while the wall was being put up must have had some complex emotions going on when they saw their fellow countrymen being locked up like prisoners. Feelings of extreme relief to have been among the lucky few to have literally escaped and made it to the 'other side'. I like to think about what they may have thought about as 1989 was approaching and during the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and watching those people being overjoyed to finally being free. To me, it seems like they basically, in that one night of escaping, saved themselves 30 years of imprisonment.

That's what I was mainly thinking about during the bike ride.