Berlin, Germany

Berlin wall art... Artists from around the world were invited to come and paint murals of hope, peace, and prosperity on the East side of the wall after it came down.

Berlin wall art...

Berlin wall art...

Official government building... Used by the Third Reich as well.

"Give me your tears Gypsy!"

Museum...

"Authentic" German food...

Drew, Kiera, and me at the restaurant in hostel number 2...

River flowing through Berlin with giant chunks of ice!

Girls of the group! From left to right, its Kendyll, Kiera, Kerri, and me.

Catholic Church that I saw on the walking tour...

Sign at Checkpoint Charlie...

Checkpoint Charlie... one of the entrances from East Berlin to West Berlin provided you had the correct documentation.

Part of the second longest stretch of the Berlin wall that is still standing...

Bundefinanzministerium from another angle...

Bundesfinanzministerium... the Former Air Force Ministry. It was one of the only buildings in the war that was not destroyed, kind of strange since it was the Air Force base.

One of the only buildings still standing in Berlin after WWII... it was covered in bullet holes and had damage from grenades.

Holocaust Memorial...

Holocaust Memorial...

Holocaust Memorial...

In front of the Brandenburg Gate in Paris Platz.

The hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his child from the window!

Hallo, guten morgen! I just got home from Berlin and it was an incredible city! I went with five friends from the USAC group and we all had a blast; it was my two roommates, Kendyll and Kiera, Kerri, Nick, Drew, and I! We left by bus at midnight on Thursday... it was an experience!We all fell asleep pretty quickly, but were awoken by the start of the onboard film. I'll give you a guess as to what it was... Taken. Ha ha! Are you serious?! Could they possibly think of a better movie for six American travelers to watch on their way to Berlin? I don't think so! The next drama arrived in the form of a German police officer... As we crossed the Czech border into Germany a large German police officer boarded the bus to check all of our passports. Someone failed to wake up Kiera, so she was a little startled as the policeman tapped her leg and said good morning! What a riot! We all got a kick out of that. We arrived in Berlin around 5 am and headed straight for our hostel, not wanting to pay for an extra night we decided to crash on various couches and chairs around the restaurant underneath the hostel. Around 8 we all got up, got ready in the bathroom upstairs, and enjoyed the free breakfast provided by the hostel.

We all agreed that the best way to see the city we didn't know too much about would probably be going on a walking tour. Apparently in a lot of European cities free walking tours are given and then you tip the tour guide whatever amount you think the tour was worth... its a really cool concept! I learned so much information that I never would have without the tour. It was crazy to me how much history was present in Berlin. Mainly the information about WWII and Adolf Hitler. I knew all of the stories I heard, but now I am able to associate the city and various monuments with them. The tour started in front of the Brandenburg gate and with us being informed that prior to the fall of the Berlin wall if we would have been standing where we were say 21 years ago we would be shot and killed. On top of the gate, you'll notice in the pictures, there is a giant statue. The statue was actually stolen from Germany by the French, so when the German's stole it back they but it atop the gate and out of spite named the square in front of the gate Paris Platz... The driver of the carriage is also looking down at the French Embassy; now the Germans can say "they own Paris" and they are looking down on the French every day. I thought that was kind of funny! From there we walked to the site of Hitler's bunker... the German's destroyed it and put a parking lot over the top of it. They didn't want it to become a site of neo-nazism so they thought the parking lot would be a discreet way of concealing it. The tour guide said that people now often pay tribute to it by bringing their dogs to the location so they can do their business. Ha ha! We then walked to the Bundesfinanzministerium, which is the Former Air Force Ministry... It was one of the only buildings in Berlin that wasn't leveled in WWII and it was huge! We saw a couple of other major sites and got to walk along the Berlin wall. Hearing all of the history was very surreal. It was not that many years ago that the city and country was literally divided. Very crazy! After our tour we headed back to the hostel only to find that Kendyll had accidentally booked it for the end of April. Oops! Luckily the man working at the hostel was very friendly and helped us find another location. We headed up the block to our new location and it was lights out! At least for an hour or so. We all got ready and then headed back to the other hostel to hang out at the bar beneath it and have dinner... Yummy! Then the festivities began... can you say Jagermeister?! The rest is kind of history... It definitely included some karaoke and pool though!

The next morning we got up and tried to go visit the Sachsenhausen concentration camp... only problem was I forgot my phone at the hostel so I had to go back and get it. Unfortunately we missed our tour time so we decided to go to the Holocaust memorial and museum instead... It was really moving and the memorial is amazing. The memorial itself was pretty incredible. You can see in the pictures that there are just hundreds of these cement blocks and the architect who created it, when asked, says that they simply represent whatever you want them to. I kind of looked at them like the victims of the Holocaust... they were all different heights and that made me think of all the different ages of the victims... From babies to the elderly. It was pretty intense! On our way to the memorial we were also approached by some gypsies... they go around asking if you speak English and then they would have you read this card and ask for money. Needless to say, we weren't really having it. One of them even spat at Kendyll. After the memorial we went on a hunt for the gypsies and made a sign that said, "Give me your tears Gypsy!" I guess gypsy tears are good luck or something. We were going to try and beat them at their own game. It was really funny... and now we are on the hunt! After that we had some "authentic German food"... funny story, we were asking the guy at our hostel where we could find good German food and Kerri said, "Yeah, some good authentic German food." Of course its authentic, we are IN Germany! Ha ha! I didn't actually like the food so much. It didn't have too much flavor... but I am definitely not complaining! Then we went to see the longest stretch of the Berlin wall that is still standing. After it was taken down the Germans invited various artists to come and paint murals on it... pretty cool! Then we headed back to our hostel and started the night early... it ended early too, for me anyway!

This morning we woke up and headed home... It is kind of weird to think that home is in the beautiful city Prague and not Reno right now! Like I mentioned in my previous post, next weekend I am doing a wine tasting tour in Moravia, Czech Republic and then hopefully going to Cracow and Warsaw, Poland the following weekend. After that I think Kenny is coming to visit in Prague... YAY! And right now Kendyll and I are checking into Greece and Turkey for spring break! Lots of travels and blog updates are on the way. I miss you all soooo much! I love you too!

XOXO,

Sarah