East and West Collide....... I'll offer a bit more of the story of Berlin, and I hope to have pictures up soon too. On saturday,

I waited around for Marc and Jasmine to return from their tour of the city. They came back finally around 3.45, so we had about an hour or so to chat before they took off to Prague. I really enjoy getting the chance to chat with those two, for however short of a time we always seem to have together...Maybe that's what makes our mutual company more refreshing...anyway, I walked them to the tram, and then back to the hostel for a quick nap before the return of the Israelies I had met earlier. We planned to go out to see some music and they returned with me napping and dragged me out. Before we got fully out of the neighborhood where we were staying, we all got very stoned which made the following tour pretty hilarious. German is a very funny sounding language when you are high; but the Israeli girls weren't used to it so much and they were having a tough time directing themselves through the english conversation and the city...a lot of mumbling and chuckling.

We were headed towards the center of town and the Love Parade (unofficial this year). The walk past the parliment building was breathtaking...You'll see the pictures soon...We arrived on June 17th Strasse which is a major boulevard that spans from the famous city gate at one end to a monument at the center of a roundabout all the way at the other end. The whole length inbetween was filled with different stages of electronic music. We stopped and danced at most of them....Here is about where I lost the girls...They weren't too talkative, and I was enjoying the hell out of my time, so we we're a bit out of sync....I ended up finding a beautiful beer tent girl who told me I had beautiful eyes, and of course I returned the compliment and we spent a while chatting and gazing, to my ultimate disappointment though, because she didn't live in Berlin and only had one ride home, so we gave eachother little goodbye kisses and parted. BooHoo. But Berlin is a big city right?, and here I am again, on the road, now back toward the hostel and my friends which I haven't seen all that much in the weekend, but with who I am going out on the town later that night. Asking a few more beautiful gals along the way where the train is (I actually know where the train is, but that accent and those eyes are encapsulating me) I finally make it back to Warschaur Strasse and the hostel about 11:30. Now, someone has decided in my absence (fair enough) to go to a 'popular club' that 'everyone goes to' that evening, to which I thought back to Montreal where every local tells every tourist the best places in town are Peel Pub and Thursdays, which of course are about the worst places in town, so already I feel like I'm getting ripped off....but going out with friends can save any night and I used about all of my patience to dance through the generically uninspiring house music of 40 seconds club. The hook at 40s?, the have a terrace on a high floor, like 737 in MTL, and they rip you off at the door. I didn't buy a drink. At least the walk was nice. The station was Potsdamer Platz, and it was surrounded by again, the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. I heard it used to be a mine field.

Sunday we said goodbye to Nadia, Karen and Ben in the morning. Manal and Tanya wanted to do some serious sight seeing. I decided to take a walk of my own with Omer the Israeli, and some kid from Scotland who was in our hostel. We ventured down to the wall and I really soaked in its history. It is still a huge part of the city, but it isn't depressing. It is really liberating. There are generations of human markings of protest and despair but also of victory and humor on the wall. And now, on the western side, there is a string of public beaches and beachside bars. The area is fully rejuvenated. Further down, we found some more amazing architecture, and I was in awe of the transmission tower the east had built to show their economic might. It looks like its going to attack, always. You have to see this thing, its a big glass ball on top of a massive concrete column, about 300m high. It was built to show the east's power, but the west had the last laugh on their athiestic national socialist neighbors; during the daylight hours, the glass panes of the tower sphere reflect the image of a cross, what the westerners have called 'The popes revenge'. Ha!

Now Omer and I were pretty spent again, so back to the hostel for another nap. After about a half hour, I got up and went to the park and drank a few beers with all the other neighborhood berliners. Then Omer and I hit up a indian eatery before heading back. I finally met up with Manal, who was coming back from the train station where she saw Tanya off. We went back down to the Berlin Gate together and checked out rollerblade night, where thousands of people blade around the major downtown roads together. We couldn't rent blades, we came too late, so we checked out some sweet roller disco!...Then just kept touring down the major roads and taking pictures before it was time to get home and pack it in...

That was tough. Now back in Naples, at work, feeling the travelling itch again. Waiting for the weekend when I plan to hit up Rome for a day and be back sunday for a concert. Ciao!  ¶ 09:50