Hey look at me! I'm in Berlin! Peace...
Yep, that was officially the first thing that I wanted to see when we arrived in Berlin - the Berlin Wall. Luckily it is the first thing you see when you get out from the main subway station, so I didn't have long to wait.
Uni Bamberg offered a weekend-long trip to Berlin for all the exchange students, so I got to travel to a city just filled with history. And let me tell you, I certainly played the tourist. Below you can see me chatting with a soldier dressed in uniform from west Germany (the man sitting down) and east Germany (the man standing in the back). It was so cool - if you had your passport with you, they would stamp it with all the checkpoint stamps from Eastern Germany. Unfortunately I didn't have my real passport, but after a few minutes of talking about Canada (with my oversized I'm-so-excited-about-life smile) I did get a free fake visa with all the stamps! So cool!
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Once we had finished gawking at the wall - and it certainly was interesting seeing the differences between the graffiti from east and west Germany - as well as all the surrounding information boards we decided to head on to the next biggest tourist attraction in Berlin: the Brandenburg Gate. However, to get there, we had to cross the road. Not such a big deal you might be thinking. But then you take a closer look at the Berlin traffic lights...
The little walking man is different! *gasp*
Yep, that's right. Berlin has the oh-so-famous "Ampelmann" to guide people safely across the road. If you look close enough you can even see the red man. Apparently Mr. Ampelmann is a big deal - they even have an Ampelmann store (outrageously overpriced of course).
Along the way to the gate you run across the new Jewish War Memorial. It's a really neat, interactive structure - you can walk in and amongst the coloums. It's certainly got an interesting atmosphere, especially when you're walking between coloums that are taller than you are. I tried to get a nice picture... but as you can clearly see, I had some trouble and fell over. Big surprise... :)
Along the way to the gate you run across the new Jewish War Memorial. It's a really neat, interactive structure - you can walk in and amongst the coloums. It's certainly got an interesting atmosphere, especially when you're walking between coloums that are taller than you are. I tried to get a nice picture... but as you can clearly see, I had some trouble and fell over. Big surprise... :)
As you approach the gate, you start to notice that there are cobblestones running randomly through the middle of the road. Turns out they're not as random as they might appear. The cobblestones mark the path that the actual wall took through the city. 1961-1989. Wow, what a crazy piece of history - and the most interesting part is that you can still see the city working to be unified. When the wall came down they had to reconnect roads and railways; to make one city out of two.
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And here we are! We finally made it to the gate. I won't bother naming everyone, but it's pretty neat to think our group was made up of people from Canada, France, Korea, Latvia and Germany. I love the people this exchange has allowed me to meet!
The soldiers were stamping passports here as well, but I got a picture instead. And I'm not exactly sure how it fits in... but behind the person taking the picture was a random character from Star Wars (one of those dudes in the white plastic armour that work for Darth Vader)... Ceratinly made me laugh!
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And here we are! We finally made it to the gate. I won't bother naming everyone, but it's pretty neat to think our group was made up of people from Canada, France, Korea, Latvia and Germany. I love the people this exchange has allowed me to meet!
The soldiers were stamping passports here as well, but I got a picture instead. And I'm not exactly sure how it fits in... but behind the person taking the picture was a random character from Star Wars (one of those dudes in the white plastic armour that work for Darth Vader)... Ceratinly made me laugh!
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Next stop: Checkpoint Charlie. Certainly a bit of a juniour burger, but one of those things you have to see as part of the whole experience.
Then it was time to pause for an ice cream break before a 3 hour tour of the parliament buildings. Really really gorgeous old building from the outside... but I certainly didn't need the rooftop tour to last 3 hours. It was cold and windy up there!
Then it was time to pause for an ice cream break before a 3 hour tour of the parliament buildings. Really really gorgeous old building from the outside... but I certainly didn't need the rooftop tour to last 3 hours. It was cold and windy up there!
But everything was made better when (at 10:00) we sat down for dinner. And what should happen to catch my eye? A N.Y. Cheeseburger (don't judge me for eating North American food! There's only so much schnitzel a person can eat and all the Döner places were closed at that time). But imagine my suprise when the waitress placed this down in front of me (ok... so this is actually my friends hamburger, mine came with fries)
What sort of burger comes on a piece of garlic baguette (with no top half of the bun) and a baked potato on the side?! Oh boy we laughed long and hard over that one! But in the end it didn't matter because it tasted oh-so good.
What sort of burger comes on a piece of garlic baguette (with no top half of the bun) and a baked potato on the side?! Oh boy we laughed long and hard over that one! But in the end it didn't matter because it tasted oh-so good.
The next morning dawned rainy and cold. Perfect weather for a round the city bus tour. And luckily enough, when it ended the sun was shining. Below is a picture of me standing in front of a piece of the wall that's still standing in it's original location.
The rest of the afternoon was pretty touristy. We walked past the Berlin Cathedral and a really ritzy chocolate shop, where I took this picture of a chocolate frog prince. Not the most impressive statue they had (that was probably a tie between a model of the Brandenburg Gate or the Titantic...), but my favourite.
As I was walking back to see the statue of the golden angel, I passed by the square where Hitler had thousands of books burnt. There's a plaque in the middle of it commemorating the event. Like I said before, so much history. It's too bad not all history is happy.
Another thing I loved about Berlin was the Tiergarten in the middle of the city. It's this huge garden and it's beautiful! On my way to the angel I ran across a walk for cancer that was running around the garden. And to motivate the participants, they had percussion groups playing along the route. I only saw two of them, but that's because I could't tear myself away to find any more. The music was just too fun! So instead, once they'd finished up I decided to wander through the garden for a bit.
Are you waving back yet?!
The best part of the trip home, was the random thunderstorm we hit, about an hour outside of Bamberg. We were all warm and cozy on the bus - with a panoramic view of some of the best fork lighting I've seen in years! And then my luggage and I got to dance in the rain on my way back to my room. What a good end to a brilliant trip, for I do love the rain :)
The rest of the afternoon was pretty touristy. We walked past the Berlin Cathedral and a really ritzy chocolate shop, where I took this picture of a chocolate frog prince. Not the most impressive statue they had (that was probably a tie between a model of the Brandenburg Gate or the Titantic...), but my favourite.
As I was walking back to see the statue of the golden angel, I passed by the square where Hitler had thousands of books burnt. There's a plaque in the middle of it commemorating the event. Like I said before, so much history. It's too bad not all history is happy.
Another thing I loved about Berlin was the Tiergarten in the middle of the city. It's this huge garden and it's beautiful! On my way to the angel I ran across a walk for cancer that was running around the garden. And to motivate the participants, they had percussion groups playing along the route. I only saw two of them, but that's because I could't tear myself away to find any more. The music was just too fun! So instead, once they'd finished up I decided to wander through the garden for a bit.
Are you waving back yet?!
Later that evening we went to see Illuminati. German is hard enough to understand when they're not talking about anti-matter and Vatican conclaves... but it was still entertaining.
The next day dawned bright, sunny and hot. Perfect weather to get on a bus a travel all day... not! We did have a brief stop in Potsdam, where we got a tour of the Neues Palais (beautiful!) before hopping on the bus and starting the 5 hour trip home.
The best part of the trip home, was the random thunderstorm we hit, about an hour outside of Bamberg. We were all warm and cozy on the bus - with a panoramic view of some of the best fork lighting I've seen in years! And then my luggage and I got to dance in the rain on my way back to my room. What a good end to a brilliant trip, for I do love the rain :)
Hugs from Germany
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