Louisa: "My feet are talking to me."
Kris: "They are?"
Louisa: "Yes. They are whining."

After numerous arguments last night as to the order of who would would be getting up when, we finally did manage to make an appearance at breakfast. Martin was very, very disturbed at being kept up last night by some very drunk people taking photos in a photo booth across the street. As he expostulated later, "They were at it all night long--at least until midnight." At any rate, one person's laugh, in particular, disturbed numerous ones of our crowd. Martin finally got up and shut the window to muffle the noise. I slept right through everything, for which I was grateful.

We ate breakfast at the cafe adjoining the hostel. We had to buy tickets at the front desk and take them next door. We had quite the spread--the usual European breakfast of hard rolls, meat, cheese, cereal, yogurt, and tepid juice and milk.

We left the hostel at 8:20. Martin had reported to us earlier that it was supposed to get up to 71 today, and so we were under the illusion that it was already 71. Needless to say, we were all under-dressed and Jolene, in particular (who had brought nothing).

The Reichstag (German parliament) was the first stop on our list for the day. We groaned when we saw the line of people, but at least we were still on the steps (albeit the second set), and we were soon gratified to see the line behind us grow exponentially. Martin and Sharon got some information on the Reichstag from an information stand that was nearby, and we spent some time reading about the members of parliament and such.

After about 45 minutes of waiting, we were admitted into a "holding cell" and then a little later, we were ushered through a security checkpoint. As usual, we all set the alarms off, but the pat-down was minimal in comparison to airport security. We arrived up on the dome via a very large elevator. We messed around in the dome of the Reichstag until 10:45 and then we headed down to the Starbucks on Unter den Linden by the Brandenburg Gate where a free* walking tour was due to begin at 11:00.

We arrived a little late but were able to join "Ben's" tour. Ben was an interesting guide (an American chap from Maine), and I think the consensus of the group was that he proved himself worthy of recommendation. We stuck with Ben for about three hours as he walked us through some of the high points of Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, the parking lot where Hitler's bunker used to be, Charlie's Checkpoint, and various other historical sites.

During this frenzied bit of walking, we tried to keep up with Ben as best we could. This meant following people at a close proximity. Poor Louisa. She was "absorbing the beautiful architecture," as she recalled later. I was following right behind her, and all of a sudden Louisa was doubled over. Just like that. Upon investigation, we found that she had fallen over one of many small poles that have been placed in the middle of sidewalks to keep cars from driving on them.

She moaned and moaned with pain as she hobbled along in the fetal position. "It's a good thing I am not a man," she declared. She wasn't convinced she hadn't bruised something, but it didn't keep us from enjoying the moment with many irreverant bursts of laughter. She was a good sport about it and even joined us. But from then on, we made sure to send the "post alert" down the line, and although she did trip over someone else's sign that had been carelessly left in the middle of the sidewalk, she began to be more prudent about watching where she was going. She re-enacted the moment later for us so that we could make it a "Kodak Moment."

Back to the tour... We took a lunch break at Schlotszky's Deli, and then finished out the tour. Ben, the guide, works for tips, and so we obliged him in the end.

We messed around a bit trying to find the S-Bahn, but we finally did manage it. We made some train connections and then ambled the 3/4 mile up to Schloss Charlottenburg. To get there, we walked through a park and watched some Germans in the midst of playing games. One game was similar to Horse Shoe, and the other was nothing we recognized at all, but included tossing things wooden items.

All morning, Martin kept muttering about his "toe that needed to be trimmed" and a "private place" at which he might attempt the trimming. Finally, at this park, he seized the moment. Sharon kept him company, and the rest of us walked up to the next available bench to sit awhile.

When we arrived at the Schloss Charlottenburg, we skirted the building and took lots of photos of it and the gardens.

By this time, our feet were shot! Using his GPS, Martin found us a train station that was a little bit closer than the one we had used before (although not much closer).

We hopped on the first train that came along, and settled our weary bodies into the seats. About two stops later, miraculously, we found that we had an empty car. While this was a bit unusual, based on our massive transit experience, I thought, "Hmm... an empty car.. Why, we could start singing."

About that time, a kindly fellow stuck his head in and told us in English that we had to get off and wait for the next train. Oops. I don't know when we will catch on that an empty car is a bad sign.

So we got off and waited a couple minutes for the next tran to come. I don't know where we would've ended up if we had stayed put, but I'm glad we didn't have to find out.

So when the next train came along, it was empty enough for us all to sit as well. Still no red flags went up. We had settled down for the long train ride back to Alexanderplatz. Sharon all of a sudden caught on that we were one stop away from being at the end of the U2 line. Oops again! So we wasted a lot of time simply by going the wrong direction.

We had made arrangements to meet my professor for dinner. Dr. M, who has been here for the last year researching, was to meet us at the bank at Alexanderplatz where Sharon and I had made our first ATM withdrawal when we were here two years ago. How is that for a clever meeting place?

At any rate, the consensus was to dash back to the hostel to grab a bit of rest before we met Dr. M for dinner. Because of all the wasted time on the train, we only had about thirty minutes to freshen up.

We met Dr. M at the prescribed place exactly at 7 pm. It was so good to see a familiar face. She took us to Lemke, a German restaurant where we had eaten two years ago. We started out in the Biergarten, but Louisa got cold, and so we moved inside. We picked Dr. M's brain on the German culture as well as for tips about certain items on our itinerary. We really enjoyed our time with her.

After dinner, Dr. M took us on a walking tour of her own, and we enjoyed walking through some nifty little court yards. We parted ways in the train station, and she wished us well on our journey. We enjoyed the evening very much!