I'm in Vienna: Even More Berlin!

On Thursday (Feb. 10), we had another very early day (this is a recurring theme on this trip). We met in the lobby of our hostel and took the U-bahn to Alexanderplatz to go to the TV tower, the tallest structure in Germany! The views from the top were awesome, although it felt pretty weird because we were so far away from the rest of the buildings.

The TV tower

We had the rest of the day free, so I went with my friends Bailey, Ken, and Zach to the Berlin Zoo! We called ourselves the Zoo Crew. You would not believe how much fun we had. We stayed for over 4 hours, and so lots of awesome animals! The Berlin Zoo is the oldest zoo in Germany and has the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.

This was in the Zoologischer Garden U-bahn station!

Dumbo!

With my favorite animals: elephants!

We lovingly referred to this friendly face as "Big Papa"

Ken and Zach with a lion - it was feeding time so we got to hear the lions roar!

Simba!?

Friday was "Museums Day". We could go to any museum in the city and as long as we got a receipt we would get reimbursed by IES. My friend Pete heard about a bunker tour from a guy he met in a microbrewery, so a group of us went all the way across the city to check it out. It was hands down the coolest thing I did in Berlin! We were underneath the U-bahn in this underground world. Our tour guide let us have a great time learning about WWII and life for the Berlin citizens when they would have to wake up every night to go to bunkers and avoided bombs. We weren't allowed to take photos, so unfortunately I don't have anything to show you, but afterwards we went across the street to a park, and not just any ordinary park. Our tour guide told us that Berlin is a very flat city, and every time you see a hill you have to wonder... Across the street from the underground bunker we toured was (seemingly) a giant hill. This hill was actually a giant mound of dirt covering a former bunker and artillery used during WWII. The French tried and failed to make the bunker explode (destroying only 1 wall), so they decided to cover the enormous bunker with dirt. We climbed up to the top of the bunker and got some pretty cool photos.

The view from the top

Some cool graffiti!

After the bunkers, we went to the Holocaust Museun, which is located underneath the Holocaust Memorial you saw in the last post. The museum was so moving and effective, not one of us in our group could say much of anything when we left; we were all stunned by all the information we had just received. While most of us knew a lot of the information, it still was so incredible hearing some of the personal stories of hardships and things people had to endure during the Holocaust. If you're ever in Berlin, this definitely needs to get on your itinerary. Plus, it's free... so there is really no excuse not to go.

After the museum a few of us went to the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral). A few friends told us that the view from the roof of the Dom was spectacular, so we had to check it out for ourselves. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful, and the view from the top was amazing. We even saw a protest about Egypt! It was definitely worth the 3 Euro entrance fee.

At the top of the Berliner Dom!

Egypt protestors

That night IES had us scheduled to see a performance of Beethoven's 7th Symphony at Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt. The music was beautiful, and the building was spectacular.