Berlin

Travelled up from Munich to Berlin. The train ride sucked. I had to wait for three hours in Mannheim for a delayed sleeper … three hours sleep – went nuts. Berlin on the other hand is a great place in Summer. Of all the cities I have seen, Berlin would be the most livable. I’ve heard other people saying the same thing. The East and West is still partitioned in terms of socio-economic terms. The rich tend to still be in the West, the less privileged in the East. Kind of obvious I guess. I’ll put some photos up shortly. I’m off to the zoo today – apparently it cannot be missed and I cannot be arsed walking around the city any longer. I am fatigued beyond belief. This was supposed to be a holiday, but it’s turned out to be nothing short of a marathon. I’ll need another holiday on the beach to recover. Off to Denmark tomorrow to meet up with a friend I made in Florence. Let’s hope he’s not a serial killer 😉 I’ve known him for all of two days, but he seems a really nice bloke. Just call the police if there are no further posts after a week or so …

Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Prague …

Auschwitz … even though I’ve read a lot about this place over the years, on visiting the site I was skeptical about how bad it really was; which is apparently quite common for ignorant people. However I’m becoming increasingly convinced that this place was very, very fucked up. The more I read eye witness accounts about the ghettos around Europe, the deportations and the testimony of those involved, the more I realise what I’ve just seen … I don’t understand how or why.

Auschwitz

Nationalist party skin heads ... antithesis to Auschwitz

Moiwa liked Prague, but preferred Krakow ... she's tired too.

Turkey

Turkey has been fun, but due to extreme fatigue I just haven’t seen that much of it really. The people are friendly, the food is great, the atmosphere is surreal. I especially enjoyed the Turkish baths and seeing Ayasofia. The Blue Mosque is just a big mosque. Nothing special. The Grand Bazaar was much the same – just a big shopping centre in a nice building. There was an interesting palace owned by previous Sultans that was quite good to see. Very cushy lives. Currently in Cannakale, just across the Dardanelles from Gallipoli. Six hour bus trip to Istanbul for a flight to Warsaw. Getting sick of all this travel. I need some rest.

Basilica Cistern ... underground ... awesome place ...

Grand Bazaar spices

Blue Mosque ... big on the outside, boring on the inside ...

Lone Pine memorial - Gallipoli

Kiev

Pripyat, Chernobyl and a lovely city. The weather is great, but I’m feeling crap. A little better this morning, so hopefully things will continue to improve. The shooting range was a lot of fun, but kind of surreal, as I was half asleep at the time. Still, I shot quite well, given the circumstances. The AK-47 was a lot smaller than I expected and the recoil not as harsh. The Dragunov on the other hand kicked like a mule – a light gun firing a heavy calibre. Turkey up next – another Muslim nation – it’ll be loads of fun 🙂

Dodgem Cars

Hopefully this won't make my health woes any worse ...

Downtown Kiev