Berlin, Germany

Berlin was such an interesting experience. I am very glad I have went as I learned so much about the city's history, but I am not sure if it would be a place I would want to go back to any time soon. There was just a very creepy, dark, poor feeling about the town and the recent dramatic history is baffling, to say the least.

We arrived Friday pretty late and realized our hostel was in the middle of no where, completely outside of the city - no wonder it was so cheap! But, Berlin has a pretty great tram/train system that it was pretty ease to get around. After getting our rooms, we decided to get out into the city and asked people at the hostel where to go. Lets just say it was not the best decision as we seemed to arrive at a place filled with 15 yr olds. Also, we took seperate cabs and all got split up which wasn't too great, but the 3 people I was with just decided to have a bratwurst (I gave half of mine to a homeless man) and head back to the hostel after lots of interesting people watching. The people of Berlin are very eclectic and so people watching is pretty great.

The next morning we woke up early and went into the city for our Inside Tour Bike Tour of the city. The last time I rode a bike was.... 4th? 5th grade? So, I was nervous but it ended up being so great. Berlin is very spread out with lots to see, so the bikes took us everywhere from Museum Island [all of there big museums are located in one area called Museum Island], churchs, Humboldt University, arches, Check Point Charlie, the berlin wall, the Jewish Memorial [which is BEAUTIFUL], the location of Hilter's suicide, parliment and lots more.. really interesting to say the least.

That night we decided on having some real German food, I went with a goulash and potatoes - it was SO good! We then went to a few little bars, but ended up going home at a decent hour because we had another early morning the next day as we decided to take a tour of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, the second concentration camp built by the Nazis. I am not sure how to explain this tour except that I have always wanted to do one and now that I have, I never want to do another one. This was one of the most powerful, intense moments of my life. Life changing... How can I even explain... I might wait until I get my photos up to do so. But, basically we took a train into this small town [which surprised me as I thought these camps where in the middle of no where - I was so wrong] and walked to the camp, doing the exact same walk these poor individuals did. Entering the camp, which is literally within a neighborhood that was there when the camp was built was the creepiest feeling. Little children grew up seeing smoke in the air, hearing the gun shots and yelling from the nazis... I can not imagine. It is so spooky and I can not believe there are still people out there who think there was nothing wrong with what went on in these camps. :(

Anyways, after walking in the rain and cold at the camp, we took the train back to our hostel and napped before we went out for another German dinner, this time I had some meatballs and potatoes in a caper sauce, yum. Sunday night was a bit quiet in the city as November 9th is a bad day in German history [lots of bad stuff has happened on this day] so we just walked around and went to this coffee house style bar where I had the best hot cocoa ever :)

Monday was a day of Museums and more walking around the city, just getting in the last bits of the city that we had missed before. We headed to the airport around 7:30 to board our 9:50 flight, when we got a 4+ hour delay.. missing the train home, finding a bus, getting a cab and finally getting home in London after 4am. Yuck. It was a long, expensive weekend - but the bike tour and camp tour were WELL worth it as I will remember them both forever.

Pictures to come! Paper due Friday! Munich on Saturday!

Photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/meagan0809/BerlinGermany