DAY 76, FRIDAY, MARCH 29TH
Today we woke up at the great hour of 4 AM to get to the airport for our 7 AM flight from Vienna to Berlin. The flight went smoothly and we arrived in Berlin at 8 AM. We headed from the airport to our hostel to drop off our bags before going out to explore for the day! Our first stop was right next to our hostel- the east side gallery, portion of the Berlin wall on the east side that was left standing that was turned in to a gallery of murals.
We walked along the wall for a bit before taking the metro to head to the Brandenburg gate. It was built in the 18th century and marks an entrance to the city. It also has importance during the cold war as it was the site of Ronald Reagan’s speech asking the USSR to take down the wall.
We then walked through the tiergarten (a beautiful green space) on our way to the Reichstag building which is a government building. However before we got there we stopped by the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe murdered under National Socialism which was really interesting to me because I’ve really only seen Holocaust memorial directed towards Jews. Even in Holocaust studies the Sinti and Roma or Gypsies aren’t focused on much.
Then we did make it to the Reichstag and it had some really neat architecture- a traditional facade with a glass dome in the back.
After looking around there we headed to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which was dramatic, and we also went into an underground information center with an exhibit on the Holocaust.
The memorial is interesting because there doesn't seem to be any meaning behind it, the memorial is there so that the Germans could say they have a memorial but don’t have to be disturbed by it every time they walk by it. The museum underneath the memorial had a lot of information so we took a while going through that and then we headed to lunch nearby which ended up being pretty good and cheap! After lunch we walked through the Potsdamer Platz which has a portion of the Berlin wall standing there but otherwise is a very modern and developed square.
Then we started heading towards Checkpoint Charlie and on the way we found the line marked in the ground where the wall stood.
And we also passed an area where an old church is commemorated with a cool sculpture.
Eventually we made it to checkpoint charlie which was the most famous crossing point between East and West Germany while the Berlin Wall was up; it was also the site of a tank confrontation between Americans and Soviets in 1961. There was a small exhibit at checkpoint charlie that we walked through to learn a little more about the Cold War, Berlin Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie.
After looking around the area we headed back to our hostel to check-in to our room. The early morning got to us so we relaxed for a long while before dinner. For dinner we got indian food which was delicious and extremely filling!
DAY 77, SATURDAY, MARCH 30TH
Today we headed to the Reichstag building again to try and get day-of tickets to go up the dome but it was a no go :( The line was super long and we most likely weren’t going to get tickets for today so we skipped.
So instead we headed to the Topography of terror museum. It is built on the grounds of former headquarters for SS and Gestapo and the museum contains a dense exhibit on the rise of the SS, SA, and Gestapo as well as the role they played throughout WW2. It was interesting to get a view of WW2 and the Holocaust from that perspective as that was new for me. I definitely learned some new stuff and it was a super interesting museum, albeit it quite dense.
After finishing up in the museum we stopped at a stand in the street to grab lunch- got my bratwurst and fries.
The weather WAS BEAUTIFUL TODAY (how serendipitous that we had amazing weather our first full day and our last full day) so we were able to eat outside which was nice. Once we finished eating we headed to the Berliner Fernsehturm (TV Tower) to get tickets to go up- but apparently once you buy tickets they won’t get you in for another 4 hours, so we bought tickets to come back later tonight.
After buying (slightly overpriced) tickets we headed to the Berliner dom, a big cathedral, which was large and impressive.
Since its the end of the week we are a bit tired of paying for things and we’ve seen so many cathedrals so we decided to pass on going in. Instead we sat out in Lustgarten park, right outside the cathedral. It was so beautiful as so many people were out relaxing, picnicking, and playing in the beautiful weather.
Since it’s vacation, we decided to get some ice cream too.
Once we finished some yummy ice cream we headed to Charlottenburg palace. Again we didn’t go inside but it was a really beautiful area with a large square in front and beautiful gardens in the back.
After sitting and enjoying the sun, warmth, views, and sunset we headed back into the city and towards the TV tower to be there when it was our turn to go up. We eventually got to go up the tower- we got some nice views of Berlin at night but to be honest, I’m not sure if it was quite worth the ticket price. I much prefer having these type of views not through a window.
We walked around a few times though before heading back down and grabbing dinner nearby. After dinner we grabbed a drink at the bar at our hostel to celebrate the end of our travel week! We head home tomorrow!
DAY 78, SUNDAY, MARCH 31ST
Today was the end of a great travel week. Lots of new places and new experiences. We woke up around 8 to head to the airport. The airport and flight all went well and we landed in Copenhagen around 11:30. After landing we went our separate ways and headed home. Once I got back to the house I talked with my host fam a bit before I unpacked, did some laundry, and just relaxed in the afternoon before dinner and catching up on some work.
Commentaires