The Train to Berlin. This was my favorite ride yet; first, I discovered that German trains sell very good beer. You can get something like a pint of (look it up... hezestanzle? heizenkeiner?). After a few of those, the train ride seemed quite exciting and I got into an artistic mood. I took out my sketchbook and did a couple illustrations from newspaper and mag photos, and some self portraits in the dark glass of the train:

(photos here)

Eventually I was building up something of an audience in the restaurant/bar carriage. One nice fellow introduced himself: Moustafa Mohamed Hazaa. who runs Moustafa Mohamed Hazaa & Co. out of Tanta City, Egypt. They manufacture automobile parts for Toyotas, Hyundais, and a few other makes. He was a really cool guy and asked if I'd do a sketch of him, which of course was great practice for me. So I did - here they are side by side; I took a quick snapshot on the train before I gave it to him. He was such a nice fellow that he invited me to stay for a bit in Egypt to tour his city and factory. I'm trying to work that into my plans right now.

So, I got to Berlin and Dustin, who I'll be staying with while I'm here, met me at the station. I think he deserves some background - he's quite a character. I met Dustin in Sydney, Spring 2007. We lived together as neighbors for months, except it was something more than neighbors. There was a whole gang of us, and I think Nikki said it best: "(I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her - ask first)." Here's a photo of all of us - Dustin is the two-meter-tall one:

(photo)

It was really fantastic to hang out with him again... we parted ways over a year ago, but I felt transported back to Australia. Dustin immediately introduced me to Doner, which is the famous and popular Germano-Turkish fast food common throughout this country. They slowly cook giant sections of meat on rotisseries and shave off slices into a sort of flatbread, top it with vegetables and sauces, and usually charge about $3 EUR. Later that night we met up with Richie (also from Australia, but Dustin's longest friend) and they gave me the walking & drinking tour of Berlin. I was dazzled by the public drinking and the beer at every shop imaginable. Bars are rendered useless because you can just buy beer wherever you are, and when you finish it you are inevitably standing next to another place with a large selection of beer. It took a while to get comfortable just putting the bottles in random places; apparently they're worth something if you return them, so instead of throwing them away it's common practice to sort of stash them somewhere so people who need the money can collect them.