In Berlin

We arrived in Berlin in the afternoon yesterday, via Lili's little yellow Renault. The drive from Koln to Berlin took about six hours, two of which I drove on the famous Autobahn speedway. I was a little unnerved at the driving habits of the Germans at first, but I think most of that was directly attributed to the looseness of the steering in the car. I am not used to such flexibility in the steering, which made for a few nervous moments behind the wheel.
The cars move at a good click, and they pay attention to the policy which used to exist in the states that the far left hand side is the speeding and passing lane and the two right lanes are for more traffic volumes. This makes things much easier to handle. You really have to pay attention when moving in and out of the speed lane as cars can be traveling upwards of 200kg a hour... but even if you do seem to make a mistake, the people don't give you the finger or are aggressive in any way, they may simply give a courtesy honk and move on...
As we arrived in Berlin, our moods improved greatly. The city itself is by far the biggest that we have been in thus far. I am not even sure what part of town we are staying in, but its a hostel, which is still 50 bucks a night for a private room. The area looks a bit dodgy, but then again, most of the town looks dodgy, but its Berlin! I don't really expect to not see many parts of town that don't have a slightly rundown look to them. Graffiti is a major problem all over Germany and I wonder why they don't prosecute these people for their "art". People need to begin to speak out against this shit, but Lili tells me that they do try to do what they can, but they are sneaky fuckers!! (I should also mention that it was a problem in Holland as well, and I expect to see it in Prague.) I remember that the Berlin wall, when it was brought down years ago, it was also covered in graffiti as well.
The hostel is located inside of an old former factory it would seem, called Die Fabrik. I am not sure if I love it just yet, but it seems semi quiet, but the silence is almost a bit weird.
I have a lot of thoughts of the war these days. Faint echoes from the courtyard of men shouting in German make me think of that horrible time in European history. Today we will make our way to Checkpoint Charlie and possibly to the concentration camp where Anne Frank was murdered. We are talking about going to Auschwitz, but I think that Dresdan is a more viable option. Dresdan has always had a lot of meaning for me as it is where Slaughter Haus 5 is set...
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Dave and Tim Köln EWerk

Here are the pictures from last nights show with Dave and Tim. Check out www.youtube.com/hoggenstein
for the videos, which I am trying to post as time allows. Currently, there are thee great versions online and ready for your consumption.

Dave and Tim Koln EWerk

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Amsterdam

Well, Amsterdam was just awesome.
Stories and stuff are to follow...
For now, here are the pics for you to enjoy. Simply click on the pic to see all of the pics from Amsterdam.

Cheers....

Amsterdam

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