Berlin

Just got back from an extended weekend in Berlin, where it was grey and near freezing. I love the place, but it's certainly more agreeable when there are leaves on the trees. Nevertheless, I braved the cold and rented a bike one day to finally get an idea of how each area links up with the others. I now have a much better understanding of the city, and it immediately seemed a little less overwhelming.

On my travels, I came across this place, the Sozialpalast, a housing complex. The huge five-storey high bunker (you can just see it on the left here) didn't stop them from building: they just built over it! The bunker goes all the way through and out the other side. Very strange...

For the first time, instead of going with Easyjet, we flew with Lufthansa, and there's really no comparison.

Easyjet go to Schönefeld airport, which is much further out (takes longer and costs more to get there), whereas Lufthansa fly to Tegel, much handier.

The two companies offer flights at almost exactly the same price, but Easyjet make you pay for luggage, pay when booking with a credit card, pay for food and drink on-board, pay for choosing your seat, don't give you anything to read and often don't leave or arrive on time (in my experience). Plus their cheapest flight leaves at 6am, meaning you have to be at the airport around 4.30am. Ouch!

Lufthansa have better times, allowed me free luggage, didn't charge extra for paying with a credit card, offered me a sandwich, Twix, coffee, newspaper, allowed me to check-in via the Internet (choosing my seat at no extra cost) and arrived on-time. Excellent!

Anyway, you can check out all the photos here.