So, I wasn't expecting any hassles from the two inspectors who cornered me. Even when they drag me off the train at the next stop I'm thinking they just want to make sure I stamp the ticket, which in my haste to make the train I neglected to do. But no, these guys are real hard asses. They want me to fork over 40 euros on the spot, even after I show them that the timestamp on my ticket is only a few minutes old.

They made two mistakes though. First, I saw them pull a local guy off the train with me, and he somehow talked his way out of paying any fine. Second, they try to get tough with me, threatening to take me to the police. It's just too ridiculous to think they will put me in jail for this, plus I'm getting suspicious as to why they are so hell bent on getting my money. I determine not to give them anything, saying I'm out of cash. They say they will take a credit card! I tell them I left it at the hotel. Of course they don't believe me and I don't blame them.

A policewoman walks by and they drag her into it. I try to explain my side of the story but she doesn't speak English (surprisingly few people in Berlin do) and she doesn't really care either. She gestures that I'm supposed to stamp the ticket ahead of time and walks away. So, these two yo-yos act like they are phoning more police to come for me. Maybe they really are trying to call someone, but I'm perfectly willing to go to jail for the sake of a good story. They threaten and bluff for several more minutes, just to try and wait me out, and then finally let me go.

I later learn that these guys get a commission from the fines. I guess when your city is $36 billion in debt (I'm not making that up!) then you have to make money any way you can. Maybe they'll just give these guys guns and have them hold up the tourists. One of the biggest surprises of this trip was how bad Berlin looked to me. Everything seemed to be falling apart or under construction. They have a lot of nice trees here and it could be very beautiful, but right now it's mostly ugly.

One thing Berlin does have is great museums. I'd wanted to visit the Pergamon Museum for a long time, and after visiting the site in Turkey I'd felt like I had to get there this trip. It's as good as advertised. I don't usually like audio guides, but the one here and in the Altes Museum are both excellent. All the museums on the famous "Museum Island" are great, but because Berlin was two cities for awhile, there are also wonderful museum clusters at Dahlem, near Schloss Charlottenburg (including the famous Ägyptisches Museum with the bust of Queen Nefertiti) and near Potsdamer Platz. In the latter are the huge and amazingly good Gemäldegalerie (fine arts) and the under-rated Kunstgewerbemuseum (applied arts).

I went to all of the palaces as well, including two trips out to Potsdam and lovely Sanssouci Park. It really does take two days to see all the Postdam palaces, although this is certainly overdoing the same theme. It's interesting to note that the Potsdam palace where Truman, Churchill, and Stalin held their famous meeting is one of the dinkiest.

In short, I went on a major culture binge while I was here and learned much in the process. But I hated the dingy hostel I had to stay at and met more than the usual share of rude and nasty people. Overall I had a good time but was also very happy to leave.