So Friday morning I got up at 4:30 to shower, eat, get dressed, and finish packing for Berlin. I was so excited the night before that I barley slept! I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve! Sam met me at my apartment at 5:45 to walk to the train station. We walked to the train station and hopped on the train to Troisdorf. From Troisdorf we got on a train to the airport. We got to the airport with plenty of time. We each grabbed a bite to eat and sat and waited. The flight was only an hour long.
Once we landed we went to buy our Welcome Card. It was a card for transportation and a book for discounts on food, museums, stores, etc. It was about 25 euros for it but well worth it. Once we got outside we immediately saw a guy with a Sabres hat on. I obviously did a quick "Let's Go Buffalo" chant to him and off Sam and I went to explore the city. We first had to find the correct train to get on to get to the city. Once we got on the right train we were set until we had to get off and transfer. There are no clear directions telling you how to get from the airport to the city. We finally asked for help and got on the correct train. Once on that train we had to wait for our stop then hop on the underground system to head to our hostel. We made it to the hostel without anymore confusion.
We stayed at a hostel called Inn Berlin. It was great! They gave us a map and pointed out all the major things in the city. We also had free fruit, coffee, and tea! If anyone goes to Berlin and needs a hostel to stay at I HIGHLY recommend Inn Berlin. Sam's friend Liz was supposed to get in at 1 p.m. however she was coming from Spain and had some trouble getting to the airport on time and missed her flight. Long story short she didn't end up getting into the airport until 8:45 that night. More about her later.
Sam and I decided to head out and see the city. We took the underground to Checkpoint Charlie! It was so cool and interesting to read about everything that happened right where we were standing. It was very emotional as well. The whole trip was pretty emotional for me. After Checkpoint Charlie we got something to eat & I bought a hat and gloves. It was about 50 degrees and very windy. I didn't pack a hat when I left Buffalo so I needed to buy one anyway. Since I was going to be meeting my friends at their hotel the next day we decided to go look for it so I wouldn't have any problems on Saturday. We found it easily and it was beautiful! It was across from the Opera house and the buildings were gorgeous! After that we went to look at the museums and the Cathedral. Once we got done there we decided to head back to the hostel to rest until Liz arrived.
We got a call from Liz saying her flight would be in around 9 so we decided to go pick her up from the airport so she wouldn't have to figure it all out on her own. After we got back to the hostel we hung out then went to bed to prepare for Saturday.
Saturday morning we set out to see the city around 9 a.m. First we went to Brandenburg Gate where we had breakfast at Starbucks. We got attacked by some birds but it was good. While we were sitting there two little boys came out and sat down and pulled a football out of there bag and were throwing it around. They were so cute and we could tell from their accents they were American. The dad then came out to tell them to stop throwing the ball around. Sam asked if they were American and we all got to talking from there. We told them that we were there for the hockey game and it turns out that they live on the base of the hospital the Sabres visited earlier that week. The dad is a surgeon and he talked about how great it was that the team took the time to visit with the patients. He told us how stuff like that is great for them because they are so far away from home and injured. I teared up listening to him talk. I know my friends were so proud to go visit them.
We had decided to take a free walking tour of the city. Most people would be skeptical of a free tour but it was fantastic. It is all people who love the city and know a lot about it. They do the tours because they like to and work off of tips. This is great because they need to be good to make money. Our tour guide Paulo was amazing. He was from England but had wrote his thesis on Berlin. After writing his thesis he decided to move there and continue his education. He was very informative.
My friend Scott who was in Berlin with the Sabres called me about halfway through the tour so I left to go see him. We walked around the city and bought a few gifts for people. He brought sudafed, cough syrup and hydrogen peroxide with him for me. We went and grabbed that from the hotel and shipped it back to my apartment. After shipping it we went out for lunch/dinner. We were able to hang out for about 4 hours. It was great. I was also able to see my friend Kevin who also works for the Sabres. We grabbed coffee with him. It was great. I am happy to be in Germany but I do miss home, so seeing friends from home was amazing.
They had to head to the arena so I headed back towards the hostel to meet up with Sam and Liz. We went to the arena for the game. When we got off the train we could see the Berlin wall. It was amazing... it was the wall with murals painted on it. It was very pretty. Unfortunately it was raining and dark out so we didn't stop. Once we got to the game we decided to look for merchandise. The first floor was sold out so we headed upstairs. This time we found merch but it was almost sold out. I was able to buy a tshirt for myself though.
Liz had bought her ticket separate than ours so she headed to her seat and Sam and I went to get food & beer. With a pretzel and beer in hand we entered the bowl. It was a great atmosphere! We got there just in time for the line ups to be announced and the team to come on the ice!
The crowd was probably 95% Buffalo fans! It was great! We ended up sitting next to some of Jochen Hecht's friends. They were so nice. The anthem singer was pretty terrible. Those of you who watched it at home were lucky, you could mute it! It was awful in person!
The whole game was great! I was able to see Scott and Kevin again and say goodbye (again) before they headed back to Buffalo. I also got a 1 liter beer. I did get some help drinking it but I would say I drank at least half of it.
After the game we headed back to the hostel. Liz had an 8 a.m. flight so we pretty much went right to bed when we got back. The next morning Sam and I hung around the hostel until it was time to head to the airport. We had some troubles getting to the airport because the train that goes directly there was not running. We had to get off and take a bus but nobody could tell us where the bus stop was so we took a taxi instead. It didn't cost that much and saved us a lot of anger! ha.
The airport didn't put up our gate information until 10 minutes before we were supposed to board! Unfortunately the plane we were taking was late getting in so our boarding was pushed back. Our flight left pretty much on time though.
We had to pretty much run from the plane to the train to catch the direct train. If we had missed it we would have had to get off and switch trains halfway through and it was raining. Luckily we made it in time.
Once I got back I made dinner quick and headed out for the Bills game! What a game that was! I am so proud to be a Buffalonian! I can't wait for next week! It is really the highlight of my week. Hope both teams keep up the good work!
Well that was one really long post. Parts of it are probably boring too. Oh well. If you don't like it, don't read it! :)
Until next time!
Brittany
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