Berlin, Germany

"… This is your captain speaking. The captain and his crew would like to thank you very much for joining us on this Scania Double Decker bus for an epic trip across Europe. Please remain in your seats at all times and please refrain from playing loud techno music…"

Today started earlier than should've been allowed by law. By 4:30 the guides were up and by 5:15 standing by the bus in Aalborg waiting!

A long day laid ahead and the final destination was nothing less than Berlin!

After picking up all of the exchange students on our journey down Jutland (with only one missing pasport) we hit the German border around noon where we had a traditional German, Autobahn lunch - primarily consisting of schnitzel and french fries in an ever present urine stench (Polish lorry driver style) - yuck..

We soldiered on towards Berlin with a few stops on the way. The guides thought it to be a good idea to play some Leonard Cohen (First we take Manhattan - then we take Berlin) for the students as we entered the German capital - our enthusiasm wasn't shared and Sk8er Boi with Avril Lavigne was put on instead.. (We will take our revenge in Vienna though - a whole evening with classical music)..

Upon arrival at our hostel (the Jugendgästehaus Central) we were served a.. *Ahem*.. Delicious.. dinner consisting of classical German "Wurst mit Saurkraut"..  

After dinner the exchange students had some free time to discover the neighbourhood on their own - curfew was at 11pm.

On behalf of all the guides we were very delighted to find, that (of course) everybody were at the hotel at the designated time - and by 11:30'ish it was time to go to bed.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day filled with sightseeing - among other things the Olympic Stadium, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichtag, Brandenburger Tor and many other things.

Today has been an extremely(!) pleasant first day, and we are looking very much forward to spending 17 more days with these fantastic and well behaved kids. If it continues like this, it is going to be an utter delight!

Good night from the guide-team! :)