Berlin

Hi All,

All in all, I had a great time in Berlin, but was a bit disappointed.  The main reason I was disappointed was because we only had one day in Berlin and that was on Monday – the day when all the museums are closed.  This meant that other than walking around the city and taking a walking tour, there was no way to gain any further insight into the city’s rich history.  I definitely want to go back at some point (not on a Monday) to delve deeper into the storied history of Berlin.

That being said, I still had a great time in Berlin.  Given that we only had one and a half days in Berlin, I definitely did not have time to relax.  We arrived at the hostel at around 3:30 PM on Sunday night.  The hostel was in a great location, so I walked around until it got dark on Sunday night exploring the sights and sounds of the city that once divided and reunited the world.   I saw the TV Tower, the place that the Stasi Officers did most of their spying from, and many other beautiful buildings.  I also had Dunkin Donuts again - the restaurant I miss the most from back home.

After it got dark, I went back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of my group.  About half of them went on a pub crawl that explored the alternative side of Berlin that Berliners love so much, but I went with the other half of the group to get sushi.  It was my first time ever having sushi because I don’t like fish, so I cheated and got a spicy chicken sushi.  It was really, really good.  They gave us so much sushi that we could not finish it!

On Monday, we started the day off with a tour of Berlin.  We walked past the TV tower again and then saw Museum Island where most of the museums of Berlin are located.  As I mentioned earlier, all but one were closed.  The only one that was open was an art museum and I am saving what little attention span I have for art for the Louvre in Paris.  After Museum Island, we saw the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Tyranny which is very general on purpose.  The Germans did not want to exclude anyone (including Nazi Soldiers) from this monument.  Underneath the monument, there is the tomb of an unknown concentration camp victim and the tomb of an unknown soldier.  Every foreign diplomat stops there when they are visiting Berlin.  We also saw the University where Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, and Albert Einstein studied.  The plaza in front of the university was the site of an infamous book burning after Hitler came to power where he and his propaganda ministers oversaw the burning of books by Jewish and homosexual authors.  After this, we walked to Checkpoint Charlie which was so cool.  This was the crossroads of the East and West for a significant part of the Cold War.  Then, we stopped to try a piece of traditional German street food – Currywurst.  Then, we saw a piece of the Berlin Wall and learned some of the history behind it.  It was constructed during a period of 57 hours.  After this, we went to a piece of grass in a parking lot which was the spot where Hitler’s bunker was.  They have absolutely no sign or anything to commemorate it.  I was very happy to see this because they do not want to attract any Neo-Nazi followers.  After this, we saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which was really eerie.  Walking through it, I felt lost, claustrophobic, and alone – three traits they felt in the concentration camps.  The tour ended at one of the oldest and most famous sites of Berlin - Brandenburg Gate.

Checkpoint Charlie

Curryworst

Berlin Wall

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Brandenburg Gate

Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of German for the Victims of War and Tyrany

I don’t know why, but I was surprised that Berlin was just like any other city.  It had big buildings and very little historical sites.  This was because most of Berlin was destroyed in World War II.

After the tour, half of our tour group decided to do a tour of the “Alternative Side of Berlin”.  I really wanted to take a tour that explored the rise and fall of Hitler and the Third Reich, but it was not being offered.  The Alternative tour was interesting as I was able to gain insight into the world of graffiti and now better understand it.  Now, I don’t think I’ll look at graffiti as just something that dirties up a city any more, but as a form of art.  I also took some really cool pictures.  We went to an old abandoned building that was all graffitied inside and out and saw the East Side Gallery.  The East Side Gallery is a part of the Berlin Wall that world famous artists painted murals of peace after the wall fell in 1989.  They were really cool and some were very risqué. 

East Side Gallery

East Side Gallery

East Side Gallery

East Side Gallery (Yes, this is the risque one.  I have no idea what it means)

East Side Gallery

After our tour, our group met up and went to a traditional German restaurant.  I had the best beef goulash I’ve ever had.  It was so tender!  I also had apple strudel.

Beef Goulash

Apple Strudel

After our meal, we headed back to our hostel to grab our bags for an overnight bus trip to Amsterdam. 

Ciao,

Mike