All beginning with a visit to the Bang Bang Club in Hackesher Markt for their weekly Death By Pop evening on Fridays. It only cost 3 euros to get in and that included ein wodka at the bar! The music was indie/rock/pop/alternative (Libertines, Strokes, Killers, Kings of Leon etc) and there was a good crowd in there so Iīll definitely be visiting again. There is a large Turkish community in Berlin which means there are fast-food outlets abound. I found out on my way home on Friday night/Saturday morning that the food outlet beneath my local U-Bahn station never actually closes - Itīs open 24-7 which Iīm sure will be bad for my health!

Didnīt get up too early on Saturday, but when I did finally rise it was nice to see a bit more of the area around my apartment on foot and in the sun. There is a vast organic supermarket at the end of Kollwitzstrasse called the LPG BioMarkt so that could be my new local now although itīs a bit further than the Rewe...

On Sunday morning I was up bright and early and went down to check out the Jewish Memorial just at the edge of Tiergarten (Great big park in the middle of the city). I took some photos but theyīll all have to be added when I get back to my Mac in the UK on Friday.

I also stumbled across the Berlin Marathon when I walked round to see the Brandenberg Gate. Of course, this was the finish line so I couldnīt see it all that well and will return at a later date. Iīve never been to a marathon before but it was actually rather enjoyable watching all of the runners stream home whilst clutching a pilsner and a cheesy bread thing... Some poor chap had to be carried over the line, but he was still smiling - does that count?

I took the train over to Berlinīs new train hub, Hauptbahnhof - Okay, so I sound like a train geek here but it is a magnificent steel and glass structure arranged over 5 or more levels. You can get a direct there to Moscow and literally hundreds of other destinations in continental Europe. Anyway, the reason for me being here was to walk along the route of the old Berlin Wall which passed right by the site of the new station. As I followed the signs around I noticed that there are still odd bits of the wall remaining. Itīs also quite obvious when you see long thin strips of wasteland at the sides of the road that this was once no-mans-land between the walls separating East and West.

So, photos to follow at the weekend.