Monday, June 23, 2008

Amazing, Amazing, Berlin

Wow did I ever find Berlin to be wonderful. So rich with history, such an amazing walking tour (it was free, too!) and just SO much to see. When I looked up the most frequented / top rated attractions and a list of 50+ came up, I can now see why. Unfortunately my time there was extremely limited. I need to come back for AT LEAST one week to visit all the museums, take a few more tours, and just experience the city as a whole.

So first, this walking tour. Our guide was from Missouri. Yes, an American doing a Berlin history tour (a little ironic / is that used correctly?). He was Great. Definitely would recommend that tour to anybody that visits Berlin. I just really wish we had more time there. Anyway, for the pictures:




From the walking tour of Berlin, this is the Jewish Memorial. Great story behind it - there was a competition to design the memorial and this is the piece that won. The designer has never explained what the meaning is behind all these blocks with no writing on them. He wants each person to be able to decide for themself (leaving it open-ended on purpose). Very very cool.



You can see the memorial more clearly here.



The Brandenburg Gate.



I don't remember the name of this one. I think it is the French cathedral that was built by the ruler of Germany to honor the Frenchmen who helped bring life to the city in the 1800's.



An absolutely beautiful picture taken by James. The weather here has been so incredible since I arrived. It's been blue and clear almost every day (except London of course). But honestly, it is like the nice weather has been following me around from city to city, only raining (rarely) and even then it occurs at night! Knocking on wood...



German sausage at 2:00AM. Nice faces by James and Adam.



And last but not least, me getting a little shut eye at 3:00AM on the S-Bahn. This is the only night that I've really went out late so far in Europe. We tried taking our metro back to Anhauser Bahnhof (where our hostel was located) but the tracks apparently were getting repaired. To make a long story short, we met some German kids, about 18 years in age, who spoke English and took us back to where we needed to.



If it wasn't for these kids we may very well still be wandering Berlin at this very second in search of "Three Little Pigs Hostel". The one on the botton left with the hat was the nicest kid, and biggest help of all. Funny / sad how I will probably never see any of these people again (aside from James and Adam) . That's traveling...

Well, it's 2:30 AM and I am trying to take advantage of this free internet at the hostel in Prague. I probably won't have another chance to do a long entry like this for a few days. Reminder to self, next entry entited "Euro Cup 2008 and new itinerary". Going to Greece it's looking like! More updates in a few days!

2 comments:

  1. Love you pics from Berlin and yes, believe that the nice weather is following you because it is. You are doing it all. Will post more lata.

    Love mom

    ReplyDelete