So this post is going to be about my time in Berlin! From just the 4 days we spent there, I can
already say that I am in love with the city and I can see myself living there
(I won’t even need German as everybody knows English). However, that is besides the point… I have to
get through college in boring old Ohio before I can determine where I will
live. Berlin is in he running though.
Anyways, we left from Dresden Hauptbahnhof bright and early
Thursday morning. Then we all loaded the
train for the 2 hour long haul that would bring us to Germany’s capital
city. The first thing we did in Berlin
was travel to our hostel, which was located centrally (good for traveling
places, bad for prices!) After we dropped our stuff off at the hostel, we took
a walking tour of the city.
First we went to the Jewish quarter of the city, where we
saw places where Jews were rounded up to be taken to concentration camps, Jewish
synagogues, and memorials to the Jewish population that was wronged during the
Nazi era.
Next we visited one of Berlin’s most famous landmarks, the
Brandenburger gate.
After that, we went to the holocaust memorial which was
designed by the same guy who designed the Wexner Center at Ohio State.
After waiting out a rain storm in a souvenir shop, we
continued with our walk with looking at some buildings that was used in the
Nazi and GDR times.
On our way back to the hostel, we saw a few landmark
buildings. Such as a square with two churches (one French and one German)
facing each other that look exactly the same, and a place where college
students burnt books when (nazi or GDR) came into power.
After checking into our hostel, a group of us went to eat at
an Italian Restaurant. I ordered pizza
and wine (because every time I go to olive garden, I want a glass of wine. Here
I can have it!) After filling or bellies
with delicious food, we stopped by some souvenir stands and bought some Berlin
merchandise! After that, we walked
through the city (at a leisurely pace) and saw some more sights.
We stopped at checkpoint Charlie, and also walked around
where different theaters and stadiums are located. We also went back to the holocaust memorial
and saw the BRandenburger gate lit up at night.
It might not sound like a lot, but it was a lot of walking, and when we
got back to our hostel at midnight, we were all too happy to call it a night.
The next morning we were down at breakfast at 7:00. After eating meat and cheese (typical
breakfast food here) and downing 3 cups of coffee, we set out for the day. The first thing we did was tour the German
Bundestag (which is basically the German equivalent of the capital building (I
think)). WE GOT TO GO INTO THE room
where the government makes all the important decisions,
But the best part of the tour was climbing the dome on top
of the building. We got a nice view!
Next, we went to a place where a large portion of the Berlin
wall is preserved (as well as a memorial to the wall). We watched a video on how the wall worked
(and since my keybored is whacked, you can look at that information yourself if
you want.
We saw a memorial to a church that the GDR tore down when it
was in their way of the wall (after initially building the wall through it
As well as buildings that people jumped out of their windows
in order to attempt to make it into West Berlin.
We also climbed a lookout tower where we could see a
preserved portion of the wall, and what it looked like in the time of the GDR.
After spending a few hours at the wall, we went to a soviet
memorial, were thousands of soviet soldiers are buried in mass graves. After
the GDR collapsed, it was agreed that any soviet memorial that is a grave sight
as well will be preserved.
This site was huge! It had two stones representing flags at
half mast, with soldiers kneeling down in front of it.
Then, there was the
graves with stone depictions of the battle of Berlin on either side (one in
German and the other side in Russian).
At the end of the grave strip was a huge statue of a soviet
soldier holding a child in one hand, and a sword crushing a swastika in the
other hand.
After our long day without any lunch, we got back to the
hostel around 4ish and ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant.
After that, we went to a huge chocolate store that had
sculptures of the famous Berlin landmarks (among others)made out of chocolate.
After this, we walked a few kilometers to east side gallery,
a portion of the Berlin wall that now has artists art on it.
Yes, I did write my name on the wall!
After taking the tram back to our hostel, we got supper
around 11, at another Italian place where I ate (once again) pizza.
Then we called it a night, in our rock hard, gross hostel
beds!
The next morning was a day to ourselves, but we were still
at breakfast at 7in the morning. Then, a
group of us went to the Olympic stadium out in the boondocks of Berlin. The
building is an example of Nazi architecture at its finest!
We saw a mural depicting the history of the stadium, and
Jesse Owens was the athlete representing the olympic games. O-H
After the stadium, we went to Charlottenburg Palace, but we
fond it too expensive to go in, so we went to a shopping center and got some
food.
We ate at another Italian place, but I ordered German Jagerschnitzel (yum)!
We walked around the shopping place for a while, then went
to visit Victor Tower.
Then, we went back to the hostel, dropped our stuff off, and
me and Sammi toured the Berliner Dom, and got to climb the tower.
After meeting everybody at the hostel, we went to a
different part of town (cheaper food) and ate at another Italian restaurant.
This time I got chicken carbonara.
We walked around for a bit, then went out to a bar and just
hung out.
The next morning (after breakfast at 7)) we went on a tour
of Potsdam (about a half hour from Berlin.
We saw a few palaces and churches of the Prussian royal
family.
One church, inspired by Italy has a mosaic in it from Italy
that one of the kings bought, broke into pieces, and carried back to Germany to
reassemble it.
After lunch, we went to the palace where after WWII, the
allied forces split up Germany amongst themselves, leading to the GDR. This was known as the Potsdamer Conference.
After that, we went back to or hostel, grabbed our stuff,
and headed back to Dresden.
On Monday, after class, we had an optional trip to Hellerau
(a part of Dresden that was known for its architecture and factories (that made
furniture)).
The rest of the week was pretty boring with class and
homework. Wednesday night we had round 2
of roof volleyball (this time at 10 at night).
I only stayed for an hour…we had a busy day on Thursday.
Thursday we started out with a trip to Pirna. We walked around the town, went into a few
old churches, and then visited Sonnenstein, an old hospital that was used
during the Nazi period as a euthanasia institute. We walked into the as chambers, were
thousands of mental disabled people, as well as Jews and polish people were
murdered. It was a bit creepy. After that, we went on a two hour boat ride
down the elbe river to Kögnistein.
We then proceeded to climb the hill to the highest fortress
n Europe that has never been conquered by force! We saw some of the biggest kegs in the world
and got a great view of the German countryside.
We took the train back to Dresden, and I practically passed
out from exhaustion (after eating MR. Bien).
This morning we toured the Volkswagen transparent factory. The make the special ordered Phaeton (a very expensive
car). The factory is special because
(other than being completely transparent- made of glass) the work is done
almost exclusively by human labor, not machines. Only 56 cars gets made a day, and it takes 2
days for one car to be completed. But
that just adds to the luxury.
After touring the factory, we went to the show room and had
almost too much fun sitting in the cars.
I (sadly) got to sit in a car that I will never get to own… 165,000 euros
is a little steep for a car!
Now, I am finishing packing and preparing for the weekend in
Prague! Hopefully will be able to update soon.
