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.

Can you imagine having a ceiling like this?!

That's all I have time for now... Hopefully I'll be done with this trip by tomorrow!

Tschuss!

Berlin!

I hope I'll be able to fit all of this into one post... I did so much in Berlin that needs to be talked about that I can't imagine all my photos will fit in one post!

We left Leipzig for a 3 hour drive into Berlin.  When we arrived in the capital city, it was really dark and we couldn't see much of anything.  We drove by the Brandenburg Gate and around the Victory Column, but that was about the only exciting thing that happened Monday night.  I stayed with my group at the Helter Skelter Hostel, a pretty loud, cool, and eccentric place perfect for our young and bubbly crowd.  It was a little run down and dirty but we made the best of the situation.  Our room was quite... unique? There were concert posters covering every inch of the 4 walls with graffiti and writing all over them.  Our beds were lined up against the two walls in rows.  We lovingly referred to our room as Little Orphan Annie's room, but it wasn't that much of a hard-knock life.  We had dinner at a nice Thai restaurant around the corner from the hostel (my first Thai food experience!) and went to bed early to rest up for the long day ahead of us!

The next morning we met on the bus at 9 AM for a bus tour of Berlin.  I would definitely recommend taking a bus tour because we got to see so much of the city in the 4-hour time frame that I don't think I ever would have seen otherwise.  Some main sights we saw from the bus were: Berliner Mauer (The Berlin Wall), The Holocaust Memorial, Museum Island, Berliner Dom, Sony Center, The Reichstag, the Chancellor's residence, and the Berlin Philharmoniker Building.  Here are some photos I took from the bus, and at points where we got off the bus!

The oldest synagogue in Berlin.. Surprisingly, it was only partially affected by WWII. 

The Berliner Mauer! East Side Gallery

"Many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world."

We were all surprised by how thin the wall was!

The Altes Museum on the museum island.

Part of the former National Library, where in 1933 numerous book burnings occurred.  Books were torched if they did not go along with Nazi ideology.

Upon first look, this may just look like a couple of parking spots... what's so special about them? WELL! I will tell you.  That cobblestone path that intersects all the spaces is where the Berlin Wall used to be! There is cobblestone going along the entire city to mark where the wall once stood.

The Holocaust Memorial. 

The memorial is an experiential place and everyone interprets it differently.  By going through the stone columns, you should feel a sense of loneliness, cold, etc., the same feelings that the Jewish people experienced during the Holocaust.

All the columns are different heights and lengths.

The Brandenburg Gate! ("Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!")

The Reichstag

I don't remember what this building is, but our tour guide say people in Berlin call it the Pregnant Oyster or Jimmy Carter's Smile.

The German Chancellor's house

Victory Column

The Philharmoniker

After the bus tour, my friends and I explored the city for a little while on our own.

The Sony Center... essentially an enormous shopping/eating complex.

Look who I found!

Holywood... right across the street from the Holocaust Memorial. 

Being Ronald Reagan for a minute.

This is an unbelievably historical building.  This is where Michael Jackson held his baby out the window!

Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)... There will be more photos of this because I went inside towards the end of the week.

We noticed that the bridge to get into the main part of the city from our hostel was a love-lock bridge.  Basically, you and your significant other engrave your names on a lock and lock it on a bridge... there were a lot on this tiny little bridge!

Wednesday, our group went to the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie... guess what that means auf Deutsch!  We went to the Jewish Museum later on, and after my friends and I went to make our own Ritter chocolate!  

This is a replica of what the checkpoint at the wall used to look like.

The Jewish Museum... they didn't allow photos inside, but it was a really cool museum!

Ritter chocolate YUMYUMYUM

Berlin's animal is, you guessed it, the bear!

I'm pretty sure I can't put anymore photos in a post so I will bid you adieu here... Auf Wiedersehen!