After much planning, Alex and I embarked on a grand European adventure that would take us to seven countries across the western, central, and eastern parts of the continent.
We arrived at the small Tegel airport on a cloudy, chilly autumn afternoon. A short bus ride into town, we arrived at Alexanderplatz a short walk from our hotel. We were staying in East Berlin, as it was. The streets were very clean, and there were not many people outside the immediate platz. It reminded me a lot of Beijing with the communist-era concrete block buildings around us, some of which were crumbling whilst others shined as if brand new. Moving around Berlin was quite easy, though it did take us some time figuring out of the metro system. There are so many different trains, trams, and under grounds, and there was no real way of ensuring we had the right ticket, or anyone to check ours.
