Berlin

The train ride to Berlin also involved a ferry. It was a very nice ride until Hamburg, where about 50 9th or 10th graders got on the train. We had been sleeping, but that will wake you right up. Then this guy, maybe their teacher or something, came and yelled at us in German but he was looking the other way as he was talking... But then he looked right at me and said, "you understand?! Reservation!" So I calmly said ok and we moved up a couple rows. A few minutes later he came up again, louder and angrier but still in German. So now of course I was mad so I said to him, "ok! Jesus! How are we supposed to know?!" Then he felt bad so he apologized but I just said, "yea well you don't have to be so rude. We clearly don't speak German." And moved to the next car. 

In the next car I observed the worst parenting I have ever seen. This couple was letting their 3-year-old daughter scream as loud as she wanted for 2 hours. And then they were tickling her, making her scream. They also had a 1-year-old who was just yelling nonsense at the top of his lungs. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was as loud as these kids could yell. For 2 hours. So yea, sleeping was over. 

When we got to Berlin around 2:30 I had an awful headache so we got some food. We then set out for my mom's friend Katja's apartment. That was a bit of a hassle- we got confused and went the wrong way twice, so it was a bit stressful. Plus my back was killing me after wearing my pack for an hour and my phone was dying. So when we finally made it there it was a huge relief. 

We sat and talked for a minute and then she showed us to our flat just around the corner from her. 

So these friends of hers just got married and are on a 2 month honeymoon with their kids. Which means that we are very lucky and we get to stay in their super nice, huge apartment 4 blocks from the light rail stop. We have a kitchen! It's awesome. 

So all we really did Monday night was go get some food, go to the CVS equivalent (he needed toothpaste and mouthwash, I needed body wash... Pretty good for 3 weeks in.), and find some wifi so we could let everyone know we got here safely. When we got back to the apartment we watched Shrek 2- in English!- and went to sleep. 

Yesterday we got up, stopped at a little cafe for croissants, and headed downtown for- of course- the free walking tour! Our guide Sophie was amazing- history major specializing in the Cold War. The perfect tour guide for Berlin. 

First of all, Berlin is a pretty young city that has been through a lot of awful things. It was still just a fishing village in the 1200s and if I remember correctly it wasn't even a city until like the 1600s maybe. I need to look it up but I'm pretty sure 1871 was when the constitution was written...? That's pretty young for Europe. 

Then it got invaded by Napoleon. After that it had a period of royal rule until Germany lost WW1 and the royals just left. Berlin went through WW2 and the Cold War and the wall until 1989. That's only 2 years before I was born! We were shocked to hear that Germany just paid off its last WW1 debt in 2009. So much awesome history that has all been so recent!

We started at the Brandenburg Gate. 

It was erected in the 1700s when it was part of the original city wall, it's where Napoleon entered the city, and it's where Nazi parades took place. The statue on top was stolen by Napoleon for his personal gallery but returned when the German regained Berlin. 

We then saw the Holocaust Memorial, finished in 2005 by a Jewish architect from New York. 

Under this is the holocaust museum. You wouldn't even know what this is unless you already knew- there are no signs or explanations. You are supposed to take whatever you take from it. The architect did say, though, it is supposed to be like a cemetery. All the stones are coffin shaped, but some are 11 feet tall! It's very eerie and moving. 

This parking lot is pretty uninteresting. 

Unless you know that it is the site of Hitler's underground bunker where he stayed for the last month of the war. It's the place where he committed suicide and ordered his troops to burn his body. Luckily the allies saw the fire, put it out, and identified his body using dental records to ensure that he was dead. 

Right here!

This cool statue is the profile of one of the two men who attempted to assassinate Hitler. One of them was the subject of Valkyrie, that movie with Tom Cruise. This is the other one, who tried to kill him in a pub. 

This is the Nazi Air Force building. It's interesting because it shows how much they tried to instill fear in the people, even through architecture. It's huge ad scary. It's also interesting because it had to have a different name because Germany wasn't allowed to have an Air Force after WW1. During the Cold War it was the communists' ministry of ministries building. And now it's a tax collection building. The fear continues. Ha!

This is a remaining piece of the Berlin Wall and our tour guide talking about it. Much more on that after our "Red Berlin" tour. There are also pieces that various artists have painted. 

Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous checkpoint that was run by the Americans, is famous for a huge tank standoff that happened here and nearly started WW3. Today it's just a replication and a tourist trap, but it's still cool to see. 

Can you tell the difference between these two churches? 

Ok ones closer and ones further away, but that's about it. One was built by French immigrants to worship in French, and one was built by the Germans- 14 cm taller. 

This is the Concert House, home to classical concerts, some outdoor in the summer. We got to hear some jazz but it was unrelated. :)

This is the square where the famous book-burning by the Nazis took place. It is bordered by Humboldt University. 

Some 20,000 books by Jewish authors, by homosexual authors, on anti-Nazi ideas, etc were burned. There is a cool monument where you look down a window into a room of empty bookshelves. I couldn't get a good picture of it because of the sun on the glass. 

And here is the famous tv tower, one of the symbols of Berlin. 

At the end of our tour we learned the story of how the wall fell. The second in command of the socialist party in East Germany missed an important meeting where it was decided that East Berliners would be able to travel a bit with the right documentation and stamps. Well he didn't know the details, and at a live, worldwide press conference he misread the notes and accidentally said that the wall was coming down immediately. 

So people flocked to the wall and the soldiers didn't know what was going on. They tried to tell everyone to go home (yea right) and just stood there confused. They didn't really have a choice, so one of the soldiers opened a door. 

Suddenly daughters and sons were reunited with parents, parents with kids, girlfriends with boyfriends, best friends with each other. After 28 years!!!! I, naturally, started crying. Can you imagine?

So that was the end of our free tour. After that we got some food and found some wifi and an ATM to take care of emails and planning, etc. We then went back to the apartment and did something amazing. We went to the grocery store and cooked dinner!!!

Yay!!! We were tired after a long tour and went to bed kinda early under an almost full German moon. 

Day 2 will have to come later. 

<3