Yes, these people were seizing Warsaw by the tail and shaking the wicked out of it. (The group about to head to 'Organsa,' a dance club where Jill got in free, and we bartered our door entry down substantially (even me with a chick hanging from my ear!)

Pink, with her studly, armed escort, Scott (NYC)

The entourage aiming for the magnificently lit Palace of Culture & Science

Mission Accomplished...sort of

So my tourist visa was running out, actually it was past due, and Kelly's was almost out, too. Jill was still on her holiday running around Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. Kelly and I had a 3-4 day weekend, so we decided after much debate to head to Germany, and hope and pray that they would stamp our passports (the Czechs didn't stamp mine on the previous Prague trip!). Well, the Germans did stamp us going in on the train (and they were much nicer than the Polish guard)...but on the return, the Germans did not give us an exit stamp, and when the Poles tried stamping Kelly's passport, the stamper broke! So they didn't bother with mine.

So, technically, I'm not here!

Well, this time, the pics are in order when you scroll down...from start to finish of our fun trip to Berlin-my first time and Kelly's first time in 5 years-she was blown away by the changes. Enjoy the show!

BERLIN!

Me and a bird pondering our near future in Berlin. Just off the train in Oustbahnhof and now in Stefan's flat in Friedrichshein. We were successful in reaching the only two contacts we had in Berlin, and neither of us really knew our contacts-just friends of friends...boy did we luck out! (but there were hostels nearby if we needed them)

Stefan, our temporary host who had no idea what to do with us. So he fed us coffee and beer. He's Kelly's former Krakow roomate's current boyfriend, and happened to live within 2 blocks of Charlie and Jutka, whom we were meeting later that night!

Our first Berlin bar, though I forgot the name. The owner was from Chile, but had lived previously in Romania for 12 years. Fluent in Spanish, Romanian, English and German.

This was Charlie and Jutka's lucky night...their neighborhood bar (one of many) was packed when we walked in and every table was full---except for the 'special' table, reserved for friends of the owners. They didn't want us to leave, so they let us sit at the back table-Charlie and Jutka's first time! And several free and unneccesary drinks came along with our new, special status. ugh.