Prost!

"Brad, wait up!"

And just as Brad glanced back to see what I was on about, the train doors closed before our eyes. Me on the platform, Brad on the train.

I shared a giggle and a roll of the eyes with a fellow commuter, before I suddenly realised. I was alone. In East Berlin. No money. No train ticket. No ID. No map. No keys to the apartment. No phone. No Deutsch! NO CONTINGENCY PLAN!!

The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

It is a strange feeling to be left alone after spending 24/7 with one person for almost 5 months. How, after 5 months of travel, had we never discussed what to do in this situation?? I vaguely remembered discussing what to do if we were separated. As I sat there pretending to act natural I thought to myself, 
"Now, did we agree to meet where we last saw each other? or back at our accommodation?" 

Holocaust memorial, Berlin

The situation wasn't helped by the fact that I couldn't see Brad from outside the train as it pulled away and, in a panicked moment, I had gestured that I would meet him " there". There were two major problems with this: a) I didn't know if Brad knew where "there" was and b) I hadn't been able to see his reply through the train window. 

The Berlin Wall. East Side Gallery, Berlin

I threw caution to the wind and boarded the next train. I sat there eyeing every person suspiciously as they boarded the train, suspecting that they were a ticket officer ready to drag me off the train and put me on a boat back to Australia. 

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin. Damaged in bombing raids 1943.

Just as I had reconciled with myself that I would have to trade my camera for a train ticket, the train arrived "there" (east side gallery to be exact). On the platform waiting, with the sun shining from behind him like a vision from God, was Bradley.

From then on I carried some money.

Bands in the street of East Berlin

"I am bored." I said to Brad after having dinner one night at our Bremen campsite. In the distance, we could hear the bass of a music festival in town.
"Would you like to see if we can find where that music is coming from?" 

"Sure," he replied.

So we started walking. We were walking for aaaages. It was dusk and we had no map, we were just following the music.

As we made our way closer and closer to the music (about 4 km in the dark later), we realised that instead of the young hipsters we had expected to see wandering around, there were only small children with show bags. Soon, bright lights accompanied the music and we were in a magical wonderland of beer halls and rides.

The Bremen show!!!

We went on the biggest, most scary ride (well if was scary for us anyway). Brad started out with his classic nervous over talking (about the mechanics of the ride and how we were definitely going to plunge to our deaths) and ended up screaming much louder than the German kids with glee.

The night can now always be remembered with the over priced personalized key ring we bought in the beer hall, throwing our budget out the window under the influence of adrenaline, beer and dehydration from the walk.

Beer hall, Bremen Show

The most expensive key ring ever known to man. Worth it!

Other highlights of our trip through Germany included: sleeping in a wine barrel in Potsdam, hiring an apartment in east Berlin, being rejected from Europe's most exclusive nightclub (situated in a warehouse in Berlin), arriving in central Hamburg in my tracksuit pants before realising its the fashion capital of Germany, the lady at Hamburg campsite who ended each sentence in "Ya, NO? Ya, NO? Ya, NO?" and driving 175 kms/hour on the autobahn (for about 2 seconds before we chickened out).

Camping Lubeck

Holstentor. Lubeck, Germany

Schloss Schwerin, Germany

Beautiful Bacharach, Germany

Our Wine Barrel in Postdam, Germany

Cecilienhof Castle, Potsdam (the site of the 1945 Potsdam conference)