Translation of atrium in German

I hope you can understand the corrections this way... Two small errors. let me know if there is a word or sentence or phrase that you didn't understand! I will try to think more on the "since" question...
We really felt like being in a stupid tourist attraction. The environment was very beautiful but the mass of people would ruin our special moments. Anyway we had one more surprise on the way back.
The bus left on time to the border town Tacna. Crossing the border was also an experience. We needed to show our passports about seven or eight times and were checked for goods three times.