Berlin

The flight to Berlin was good and it is really easy to get to the city centre on the train. Got very confused trying to find our hostel and ended up outside in a huge thunderstorm!

Wednesday we took a city walking tour which was really good and we realised how close our hostel was to all the main museums and attractions. After the tour we made our way back to Checkpoint Charlie, to go to the museum. It showed many of the ingenious ways in which people crossed the East/West German border, including modified cars so people could fit concealed around the engines, modified suitcases & hot air balloons to mention but a few! There were also more sinister stories of those who had been killed either by gun shots or shrapnel attempting to escape; Checkpoint Charlie is actually marked by over 1000 large crosses, each represents one person who died attempting to escape.

Thursday we spent the morning at the Gestapo HQ open air museum before going to the National History Museum which were both fantastic.

Thursday evening we went on a couchette train overnight to Paris. It was very 'cosy'; 6 of us in a normal sized compartment. I must admit I much prefer the sleeper where Wendy and I had it to ourselves from Hungary to Poland!