From Tuesday to Saturday I was in Berlin and there is so much that happened that I will break it down by day so that we don’t get confused. Take a deep breath… this is a long one!!
Tuesday
At 7am we took an ICE train from Freiburg to Berlin, which lasted about 7 hours and was a very nice way to travel. 16 students and 2 advisors came on our trip and we stayed in a nice youth hostel in the former East part of Berlin, which was definitely an experience in itself. Immediately after we arrived we left our things in our rooms and went to eat dinner at an Indian restaurant where we met with a tour guide who showed us around many of the highlights of the area surrounding where we were staying. It was really interesting seeing the differences in how buildings had been restored and in comparison to the ones that still have not- it made it easier to imagine how East Berlin looked between WWII and 1990. The area we were staying in was near Alexanderplatz (for reference) and learning the S-bahns, U-bahns, trams, busses, and other various methods of transportation around Berlin was confusing, so we decided to make it an early night and watch movies in our room.
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| Brandenburg Tor |
Wednesday
Our first full day started off early and we took a 3 hour boat tour on the Spree through Berlin where we saw many of the major buildings and highlights. Afterwards we went to a market and ate some lunch and walked down Unter den Linden where we headed to the first Ritter sport shop where we all bough mass quantities of chocolate. You had the ability to make your own personalized square of chocolate but I realized too late and it was also quite expensive. Afterwards we headed over to the Brandenburg Tor where we could only take pictures on the East side- because they were setting up for a festival on the other side! October 3, 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of German reunification so there was a big festival going on in Parisserplatz on the Western side of the Tor. After getting lots of pictures we took multiple trains to Ka De We, the biggest shopping mall in Germany/Western Europe and the mall that helped jumpstart the German economy after WWII. I bought some presents but for the most part everything there was ridiculously expensive. Afterwards we ran around Berlin looking for cheap food where we ended up at another doner shop and ate pizza and fries. By that time we had been on the move for 12 hours and decided to call it a night.
Thursday
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| Checkpoint Charlie |
Another early morning and we were off to Schloss Sansouci- a castle near Potsdam (the whole day I thought of the Sansouci Bar- thanks Grandpa! :] ). Before we went to the castle we wandered around the city of Potsdam for about an hour and a half which was interesting since it was in the former East Germany and it was cool to see their own monuments and reconstruction. That morning I saw my first East German car- the Trabi. I learned that most East Germans had to wait from 14-18 years to actually get a car. Once they actually got their cars, the cars were unreliable and prone to falling apart. Once we made it to the castle we had a tour which was very much like the other castles I have seen in Germany, but from the tour I had the impression that this castle was used for entertaining, since there were many guest bedrooms. After the castle we went to the house where they had the Wannsee Konferenz- the place where the Nazis talked about the Final Solution. The house had been made into an exhibit dedicated to educating about the rise and fall of the Nazis, anti-Semitism and other things. After spending about an hour in the museum we left and went back towards Berlin where a group of 5 of us went to see Checkpoint Charlie and then we visited a Jewish Museum. Checkpoint Charlie was very cool to see, but the Jewish Museum was very moving. After the museum we scored with some cheap, delicious Chinese Food and then went home where we hung out in our rooms together and then went to bed. All of the touring and walking all day wore us all out every day!
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| Reichstaggebaude |
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| Bundeskanzleramt |
Friday morning we went over to a museum on the Spree dedicated to educating people about the DDR (East Germany) and how life was in the DDR. This museum was cool because it was interactive and I got to see things lots of things that I may never have seen otherwise, like a set up of an East German “house”, another Trabi that I was allowed to sit in, schooling, and many other things. Afterwards another group of us went to a museum for Greek, Roman, Babylonian, and other historic archaeological finds. The museum was massive just to be able to hold the huge altars, doors, and floors discovered. After the museum we meandered over to the Bundeskanzleramt (The German equivalent of the White House) where we got a private tour and… I SAW ANGELA MERKEL! (The German Chancellor!) A group of us went to the bathroom and as we were walking we were stopped because she was walking in- she walked by us and said “Guten Abend” (good evening) to us- so we got to say good evening to the German Chancellor! It was the highlight of the day. I told the security guard that we were excited because we have mostly never seen any American Presidents at all. After our private tour of the Bundeskanzleramt we got another private tour at the Reichstaggebauede (The German equivalent of the Capitol Building, although used differently). That was exciting and the building itself is very cool- the top is a dome and we got to walk up it, although that part of the building is always open to the public, however you would have to wait in a long line all day. The whole day was very exciting and we decided that since it was our last night and we had been fairly frugal the whole trip we were going to have a very nice dinner. We went to a great Italian restaurant by our hostel where we had a great time. The whole day was very interesting and exciting- we all had a great day!
Another early morning and we had to pack and be ready to go by 10am since it’s our last day in Berlin. Once ready to go, we went to a place where the Stasi (Stadtssicherheitsdienst- the SS) had a secret prison. This prison was used more for persecuting people for political purposes. The way they treated people in the DDR was insane and interesting to get to see how they treated “inmates” to get people to cooperate. I also never knew how smart and manipulative the SS was. There was so much information that it’s hard to explain without going on and on. After the SS museum we went to a Thai restaurant and then picked up our bags and headed to the train station. We took another ICE train home (another 7 hours) but this time we got our own compartments where we were able to watch movies, play cards, listen to music, and hang out together. The train got in around 11pm and although everyone had a great time in Berlin, everybody is happy to be home in Freiburg.
Overall we had a great trip to Berlin- but too short! There’s just too much to see and do in the amount of time we had. I would definitely recommend a trip to Berlin- but make sure you have time to see everything there is to see there! There’s so much history and amazing things to see and do. I enjoyed my trip.
But now back to the grind- school starts on Monday. Wish me luck!
p.s. unfortunately there were young deaths bookending my trip... my sorority sister Melissa Moss has lost her brother this weekend, which I am terribly sad to hear about. It's times like these you wish you could be there with the people you love. Rest in Peace Wiley Moss.
