I ended up renting a Smartcar and drove to Berlin from Heidelberg. I was just tired of taking trains and wanted to see some backroads! So I ended driving through Franken (northern Bavaria) and then up north into Saxony and so on past Leipzig on the Autobahn.
Germans I found are a lot easier to drive with because they are aware of the other drivers in the road...letting them merge and moving over to the right to let others pass. More often than not Americans are only thinking of themselves and not at all considerate...probably why I saw one accident (not even bad) the whole time and in America I would have seen a lot more.
As a smartcar can only go so fast, I maxed out at around 150 km/hr...while other cars were going 200+ km/hr. Hopefully the next time I drive on the Autobahn it can be with a larger, faster car. But the car served me well and was cheap...would be about the same cost if I had taken the ICE train to Berlin. Filling up gas was also interesting in that you pay the pump afterwards...going along with the rest of the honor system they have in Germany.
Once I drove into Berlin, I dropped off the car and took the U-bahn to the Pfefferbett Hostel by Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. This was the same one I had stayed in during 2009/2010 New Years. I took a shower and went straight to bed since I had a massive headache.
The next day (yesterday) I ended up shopping in Schöneberg area of Berlin (by the zoo). There were some sales so ended up buying a soccer jersey, 2 dresses, shorts, some sneaker/hiking socks (really cheap good ones from the drugstore) and...4 pairs of shoes! I also went to KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens), which is a large department store...largest one in continental Europe at least. The 6th floor I discovered had a massive food court/store of various products from different states in Germany as well as Europe and America. The sausage/meat section was just spectacular...you could get anything really.
I went back to the hostel in the evening and ended up hanging out with an Australian girl who was staying in the same room as me. We ate at a Korean restaurant and chatted for the rest of the night. She was at the start of her trip, which she hoped would last until September/October.
Right now I am waiting to board the plane back to New York from the Berlin Tegel airport. It has been a really fun month here abroad, but I think I am ready to go back and enjoy the summer.
Sorry that I couldn't put more photos up...but it didn't really work out unless I took photos with my phone and my phone keeps deleting them. I will put up the best ones here hopefully this weekend before I start up work again.
Germans I found are a lot easier to drive with because they are aware of the other drivers in the road...letting them merge and moving over to the right to let others pass. More often than not Americans are only thinking of themselves and not at all considerate...probably why I saw one accident (not even bad) the whole time and in America I would have seen a lot more.
As a smartcar can only go so fast, I maxed out at around 150 km/hr...while other cars were going 200+ km/hr. Hopefully the next time I drive on the Autobahn it can be with a larger, faster car. But the car served me well and was cheap...would be about the same cost if I had taken the ICE train to Berlin. Filling up gas was also interesting in that you pay the pump afterwards...going along with the rest of the honor system they have in Germany.
Once I drove into Berlin, I dropped off the car and took the U-bahn to the Pfefferbett Hostel by Alexanderplatz in East Berlin. This was the same one I had stayed in during 2009/2010 New Years. I took a shower and went straight to bed since I had a massive headache.
The next day (yesterday) I ended up shopping in Schöneberg area of Berlin (by the zoo). There were some sales so ended up buying a soccer jersey, 2 dresses, shorts, some sneaker/hiking socks (really cheap good ones from the drugstore) and...4 pairs of shoes! I also went to KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens), which is a large department store...largest one in continental Europe at least. The 6th floor I discovered had a massive food court/store of various products from different states in Germany as well as Europe and America. The sausage/meat section was just spectacular...you could get anything really.
I went back to the hostel in the evening and ended up hanging out with an Australian girl who was staying in the same room as me. We ate at a Korean restaurant and chatted for the rest of the night. She was at the start of her trip, which she hoped would last until September/October.
Right now I am waiting to board the plane back to New York from the Berlin Tegel airport. It has been a really fun month here abroad, but I think I am ready to go back and enjoy the summer.
Sorry that I couldn't put more photos up...but it didn't really work out unless I took photos with my phone and my phone keeps deleting them. I will put up the best ones here hopefully this weekend before I start up work again.
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