Berlin, Germany

I know I haven't posted in forever, so here we go! 

I think I left off right before Berlin.  A few weekends ago I went to Berlin with about six other kids in my group.  We left on a thursday morning and came back sunday late afternoon.  When we first got to Berlin, we checked into our awesome hostel and went out exploring the neighborhood we were in.  We ate a currywurst which was basically a sausage covered with ketchup and curry powder.  And a bunch of fries.  It was delicious and I found a new love for curry!  

We had an early night and woke up early for a free walking tour of the city.  Our tour guide was great and the history of Berlin was definitely the highlight of the trip.  The city is not old and beautiful like Prague, because it was so heavily bombed throughout WWII.  Most of the apartments and buildings are relatively new and many of them in East Berlin are communist housing (very dull looking).

* Interesting note: Germany finished paying reparations from World War I in October 2009.  Crazy!!

Here are some things we saw on the walking tour:

This is the last standing gate left from Midieval Berlin by which German royalty entered and exited the city walls.

This is the hotel that Michael Jackson held "Blanket" over the balcony!

The Reichstag

 Above is the Reichstag, known as the Nazi headquarters.  In actuality, this building was not used throughout the war.  It originally held Nazi Party leaders, but right before the Nazi take-over there was a huge fire and the building stood in ruins throughout the war.

These two pictures are of the Holocaust memorial which is located right in the middle of the city.  It is a very creepy place to be.  It gets very cold and claustrophobic as you walk through it.

Below this dirt patch is the nuclear bunker where the Nazi's camped out throughout the last few weeks of the war.  This also is the location where Hitler committed suicide.

  We learned that Hitler got married, and then a day later he and his new wife committed suicide.  His Nazi's partners attempted to burn him to be rid of any evidence but could not do so successfully (how ironic).  Instead, they buried him a few feet away from this spot.  Later, when he was found, he was successfully burned and his ashes were scattered in the Elbe River.  There is no burial site for Hitler for fear that neo-Nazi's would have a place to congregate and worship.  

What is left of the Berlin Wall which separated the East from the West during the Communist regime.

The wall was not nearly as big and exciting as I had expected, but nonetheless, it was amazing to see.  Little did I know, this wall dividing the city was basically built in a night.  People woke up and there was a wall splitting their city in half.  Many people could not go to work, school, or see friends or family members.  What is most shocking about this was that after ten years of the city being completely divided, after the fall of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall, citizens of the city seemed to reunite well.  The city has meshed back together very well.  

On a lighter note, here are some interesting things we learned about and saw in Berlin:

Street "walk" sign in East Berlin.  When the Wall went up, communist East Berlin wanted to be as different as possible to the Western Capitalist world.  They changed nearly everything.. even the street signs.  Here, you can see, they put a hat on the man in the "walk" sign.

 Later in the day, a couple of us checked out a really neat place called Techeles.  Techeles is an old building converted to an art house.  Artists spray paint everywhere and create art in the building as well as the back yard.  It was all really cool to see.  We wandered around and checked it all out!

That night we tried going to a club in the city.  Berlin night life is supposed to be amazing, but what I learned from it is that while it might be amazing, it is also very exclusive.  We waited in line to get into a club for about 40 minutes only to have half of us get in and half of us get denied.  They chose at random and are pretty ruthless.  While I'm sure the places are awesome inside, going to choosy exclusive clubs are definitely not my thing.  Luckily I live in Prague, where bars are cheap and friendly and don't care if you are dressed like a movie star or not!  Also, the German beer is nothing compared to Czech beer... 

Sausage wrapped in bacon filled with cheese covered with mustard and ketchup in a bun. 

The next day I spent wandering around on my own.  It was great! I spent the whole morning in a really neat neighborhood on the north end of the city.  There was a great farmers market and tons of adorable shops.  The neighborhood was very young and spunky (a nice change from Prague) and kind of reminded me of Lincoln Park Chicago or Madison Wisconsin.  I got the best sausage of my life in that market.  

Cute neighborhood! 

Market

Things in Berlin that in my opinion, should be everywhere:

Beer Bike!  Exercise while drinking beer, socializing with friends, and seeing the city! 

Yum! Who wouldn't want to eat there?! (and I think it's weird that it's in Asian looking writing)

Permanent ping pong tables in parks!

Overall, I thought Berlin was amazing.  I learned so much history and saw a culture that is completely different and unique to that of the Czech Republic.  The only complaints I have of Berlin was that it was expensive and HUGE/tricky to get around, but other than that I'm lucky I was able to see it!