My German Chapter: Rewind to Berlin

Okay let's catch you up.

So last Monday we caught the 6:35AM train to Berlin. I was terrified all night that my alarm would not go off and I would miss the train. Luckily that was not the case, however this did happen to one of my friends. YIKES! He ended up coming on the next train, so it wasn't that big of a deal but I would have been FREAKING out.

I slept most of the 6 hour train ride, so it was an easy trip. Once we got to Berlin we went to our hostel to check in and then went off on our 3 hour walking tour of Berlin. Our program of 50-some students is broken up into two groups for trips so that it is easier to house and manage all of us. Luckily all my friends were in my group so that was a blessing.

We walked to the Reichstag, where the German Parliament is housed, to meet our tour guide. Our tour guide, Jim, was clearly not from Germany. He is actually from St. Paul and went to the U. He was a fantastic tour guide. I really enjoyed the tour. We saw a lot and received a lot of information.

Me in front of the Reichstag. This was about 3 minutes before it started POURING. It was really coming down out there....

Here I am in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

There are all these bears around Berlin. Like the Snoopy characters in the Twin Cities and the Guitars in Austin. I took a picture with this one last summer so I took another one this trip. Plus its the EU Bear.

The Holocaust Memorial. It is this large space with concrete blocks that are all different. As you go into the middle they become bigger. Our guide told us that no matter what way you walk you will go up and down. The point of the Memorial is for everyone to interpret it in their own way.

This is an old watch Tower in No Man's Land. There are only a few of these left standing.

That night I went out with a couple friends and Kayla's boyfriend who is studying in Berlin for the year, he was our tour guide for the night. We had some Thai food, pretty good. Then went and walked around of a little bit. When we were all at the point of we just need to find a place to stop and have drinks, I spotted Lone Star. It was definitely a sign from God. We stayed there for a while and had some good conversations. I had a strawberry margarita. I actually liked it so maybe it is the margaritas at Casa Chapala that I don't like. But on the menu margaritas were listed as the National Drink of Mexico. One the the best German words we have learned so far is "Getranke" it means drink.

Our second day started with meeting a member of the German Parliament. He was a younger guy, but said he was twenty. Think he got his numbers mixed up. He was slightly insightful, typical politician in that he didn't always answer the questioned asked but did answer A question.

After that we had some free time to do our "Berlin Projects" we had been assigned for our German classes. My assignment was to go to the Topography of Terror. I had been there last summer, but fortunately it is inside now because it rained the entire day. The Topography of Terror is all about the raise of the SS and Gestapo. Always a draining topic to talk about and read about. That day was no different.

That night we were able to meet with two people who lived in both East Germany and Berlin. One was a women who had been arrested and fired from her job for going to Prague to meet her sister who had left the East. She discussed how she felt she was subconsciously depressed much of the time. However the man we spoke to gave a really different opinion. He had seemed to be at peace with how his life was both now and then. He commented that he has never had the same kinds of friendships he had in the GDR. The man and woman kinda argued over a couple of things. It was interesting to see the different points of view.

Later Colleen and I happened upon a Mexican restaurant called Que Pasa. We were really excited to get some chips and queso. We ended up getting nachos, but they ended up being like the nachos you make in your microwave. The street we walked down has the big tourist Synagogue and we were surprised to see "ladies of the night" hanging out around there. It was very interesting. Apparently this season's sign is white boots. We definitely saw white boots and more. Also, they were rocking the Fanny Pack too...... I mean I guess they really don't have pockets.....

The next day was completely free. I hung out with Colleen and Jack. They are both from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. We walked down Unter der Linden which is a big main street. We walked past Humbolt University, Altes Museum, Berliner Dom, Soviet Memorial and we ended up at Alexanderplatz and the TV Tower. We went up to the top of the TV Tower. I love being able to look down on a city!

The Berliner Dom and the TV Tower

Germany and Berlin Flag

Soviet War Memorial

Colleen, Jack, me and man hole cover. They have all the sights of Berlin on them.

After we got down from the TV Tower, we met Kayla and her boyfriend and went to this fabulous burrito place. Really fresh, really good! Next stop was the East Side Gallery.

The East Side Gallery is a large section of the Berlin Wall that is still standing that artists painted on in 1990. Some of the original paintings remain and some have been redone. Last summer I was only able to see a small bit of it. But we walked the whole length of it. I have a lot of picture from it. I really glad that we made it there even though were were really tired.