Day 10: Berlin to Vienna

First of all, an update from last night: We did indeed go out to the Brandenburger Tor to see the Fanmeile, where the soccer final was being livecast. Yes, it was raining, but boy was it a cool experience! We ate some street-vended bratwurst and watched as Bayern, our preferred team, won the championship with two minutes left in gameplay. It was so neat to be there among all these German fans in this iconic German location watching two German teams face off. Luckily we had some super warm ponchos from someone special so the weather wasn't even too bad.

Now today has been really a day unlike any other. We got up at 10am, as the hostel checkout time was 11. So we got ready and put our luggage away in the locker room and went out into the city for the last time. We walked around the Stadtmitte subway station looking for some lunch and finally settled on some breakfast type cakes. We continued on to Potsdamer Platz and walked around a mall there, even though everything was very closed (it's sunday...).

So since that did not waste as much time as we had expected, we found our old friend Starbucks and used the internet to check a few things and get ideas of what to do. We finally realized that we didn't go see the Musical Instruments Museum after the concert yesterday, and since we were already in Potsdamer Platz, we decided to do that. Unfortunately, the experience was not one we would recommend. It was completely silent, the guards were following us, and even things that were seemingly hands-on exhibits were apparently not hands-on at all. So after wandering around, getting yelled at, and throwing our pursuers off our trail, we left the museum and were finally ready to leave the city.

By 2pm, we were back by Checkpoint Charlie (our home territory) and found some street bratwursts for lunch. Grabbing our bags, we went to the airport and were all checked in by 3:30. The plane wasn't even boarding until 5:10. Needless to say, we had a lot of time to kill at the airport. One girl sitting across from me looked just like Jodi Arias, which was weird... finally the time came and we were in the air on our way to Wein. We got our tickets for transportation and got onto the train for the City Center, arriving about 8:15. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up walking from the train station in the complete opposite direction of our hostel. But, we found it eventually and the reception was warm--free beer and wine! The hostel building was around the corner from reception so by the time we actually got to the room and got things situated, it was already 9:30. So we walked around the immediate area to find some quick dinner rather than going into the city center. We found a little pizza shop (open til 3am AND accepts Discover! Score!) and decided that would do just fine. Tomorrow we look forward to some Wienerschnitzel! Probably for lunch and dinner. Since tomorrow is our only day in Vienna, we will be getting an early start.