My first taste of cheap German beer was in Bavaria in a small town called Fussen. An overnight train from paris was very uneventful (not to mention uncomfortable) until we started rolling towards the town, where huge snow-covered mountain tops came into view. This really excited me. The whole town is surrounded by these mountain tops where two amazing castles hide (not so well from tourists though..). The two castles are Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein, the latter being what the famous Walt Disney castle is based on. Here the kings of Bavaria resided, Maximillian and his son Ludwig who later on in his life went crazy and was found dead in a lake. They sure had a lot of ego. After the castles we decided to follow a walking trail up a mountain but failed to take someones advice to not go to far and got ourselves a foot deep in snow in some parts. The views were incredible but they soon became a bit scarey when we realised we would never make it to the top and hurried back down to the bottom!

Fussen was also wonderful for the food! My blog entry would not be complete without a food listing so here goes. Traditional Bavarian food was to be found everywhere and at cheap prices! We ate huge schnitzel's covered with mushroom sauce, beef rollups with gravy, dumplings and lots and lots of saurkraut. And the beer was so cheap! Never before have I chugged down a pint so fast, European beer is fantastic. I now know that the only reason I struggle with beer in Australia is because it aint so great (but not as bad as American beer...)!

Berlin was a mixture of amazing historical sights and cutting edge culture. We thought the best way to get all of the history was to go on an all day walking tour with a geeky American guide who knew absolutely everything about German history. We saw everything from the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie (where everything is unfortunately a replica), The Reichstag, Hitlers bunker and of course The Berlin Wall. We went to the East Side Gallery which is a section of the wall that still remains and has been graffitied, some parts by famous artists. It really is amazing to think that the wall still existed and that Germany was so divided up until 1989.

The shopping was also great, as was the night life. There were so many places to choose where to go out. We danced to indie music, saw a band and of course drank a lot of beer! There were a lot of cool boutique stores to shop in and the cafe scene was great for a beer break.

It was also so much fun hanging out with my good friend Deanna and Melissa in Berlin - I had so much fun guys!

Would have loved to have put some photos up but I can't from this computer so they will come next time, when you read about my first Eastern European adventures in the Czech Republic.