Berlin

First- Happy Birthday Dad!! Love you lots!! Enjoy your present and I hope you win on your scratches!!

Hello one and all!! Well, yesterday was an extremely long day on a bus...but we are now here in Berlin and spent this morning going on a walking tour. It was very interesting, very neat to get more into the immediate history of the area, it was more intimate than a history lesson, especiallz walking by the Berlin Wall and stuff. Ah me, history bliss. I was a little miffed at our tour manage`s condensed version of the world wars and Germany's history, but I guess u can't expect a lot in a short time, still, i cringed a bit at the things she was leaving out or slightly messing up.

Last night though, I slep in the most comfortable bed since I left home...oh my goodness...it was a beautiful thing. I cannot wait to go back to sleep tonight. Tonight wè're also doing a pub crawl, that is the whole group is going, and it's like all the historic, old pubs in Berlin still standing after the war. Should be quite cool. Oh, I almost forgot to mention...we already lost two girls on the trip. The bus doesn't wait, if u r late, that's too bad...little scary, but it induces most of us to be early instead of right on time. The two roudiest girls from Australia went out the second night in Amsterdam and one of them didn't come back. They were friends, so the one named Mel had to wait around at the hotel to see if Leah (I think that's her name) would come back. Apparently, we found out late yesterday after leaving amsterdam and calling back to check on the one, that the other had been picked up by the police the night before, wandering around drunk and stoned on the streets...so yeah, little scary but at least she's okay...they will have to find their own way to catch up to the tour. The bus driver was encouraging on one fact...aparently the best place to get arrested in Europe is Amsterdam, there the police will look after you, try and figure out where u r staying, and apparently maybe even give u a joint in your cell. Strange things here in Europe.

Tomorrow we go to Prague, and I'm very excited about that. Going to get a good night sleep here and be chipper for the tour. Oh, Jen, forgot to tell u. Despite it being a little off-putting, u have to go to the red light district. Just go towards evening, not full on night, because it's something very interesting to see. I guess it's one of those - u can't not go - sort of places. It's really not that bad, just check it out to say u have. If nothing else, the canals are beautiful.

Okay, sorry there aren't more interesting details in this one, but I'm a bit tired, and this German keyboard is driving me insane!! Stuff isn't where it is supposed to be!! Gah!! Will post again ASAP,

Love u all!!
Mel