A few years ago now Jamie and I took a topdeck tour of Europe, we had an absolute blast. There was bulk alcohol, drinking, partying and all kinds of fun and adventure. But when we were in Berlin it was a very different adventure, for me at least.
We arrived in Berlin mid afternoon, partook in a bus tour of the city, followed by a dinner at a German beer house, lots of fun to be had there, by this point in the tour we'd gotten to know the rest of the tour group pretty well. So after the dinner when we were dropped off at the hotel a group of us wanted to keep drinking (this entire tour there hadn't been a night I didn't drink to excess). Mel - the tour guide said she knew a great place nearby so we followed her lead.
She took us down a dimly lit alley surrounded by what appeared to be deserted buildings, during the walk we were joking it looked like a very rapey alley. after a few twists and turns along other alleyways we arrived. Now I'm going to describe this as literally as possible - it was a brick wall, with a green wooden door on it, no other markings were on the building other than the word BAR just randomly sprayed on the wall with an arrow to the door.
It was different to what I expected inside, old wooden bar, strings of Christmas lights hanging from the bare rafters, and a literal hole in the wall(half the building was collapsed/missing) leading to an outdoor drinking area. So we sat out there drinking and being merry, it wasn't long before we noticed Leonardo da vinci or at least his look alike giving some sort of lecture to a small circle of people. It made for a good show to go along with our drinks under the stars.
What made Berlin particularly interesting wasn't any of this though, later that night, or more accurately, early morning I woke up feeling the worst I've ever felt in my life. I had a massive fever, was sweaty and horribly nauseous, not the way you want to be in a country where you barely know any of the language. Jamie was my life saver that night, she rang around to find out about out call doctors and where the nearest hospital was, she took charge, loaded me into a cab and to the hospital we went.
German efficiency is alive and well in their medical system - after Jamie worked some magic between hand gestures and the tiny bit of German she knew they admitted me. Or more they dragged me away - stopping Jamie at the door with a "you stay" . I wasn't in there more than 15 seconds before I'd had 3 blood samples taken and a drip attached to my hand giving me fluids. Not a word was said to me during either - I had to stop them walking out and demand they go get Jamie from the waiting room.
The doctor came to see me after the results of the blood tests came back(about 30 min). A young guy in a fluorescent tracksuit, we only knew he was doctor from the stethoscope around his neck - come to think of it he might not have been a doctor for all we knew. He looked at my results and laughed when I suggested it might be alcohol related. He just blamed it on a holiday bug and sent me on my way after the drip was finished.
I felt guilty ruining Jamies time in Berlin because we didn't go on the big explorations we'd been doing at all the other stops on the tour, but this made for a much more memorable time, and we say a side of Germany we never expected.
MAT
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