Berlin!

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.