Walking The Wall

---

Me and Stuart had finally got the first good night sleep in a long while, so we were ready so a full on day of sight seeing and generally being tourists. Now Berlin is huge and there was so much to see and do we just didn't quite know where to start. So we picked decided to go for the Reichstag and Checkpoint Charlie.
Excitedly we clambered aboard the metro and headed off into the centre.
We got off at the muesum park which ran along the river, which was surround by huge glass buildings and absailing window cleaners! The Reichstag itself was a beautiful majestic building overlooking a long luscious lawn, it was amazing. As we got closer we noticed that the que meandered all the way down the stairs and onto the green! So we decied to move on to the Gate.
Brandenburg Gate has impressive. It size was over whelming and the small information sign told you that this gate had been witness to many regimes and violence form the time when it built to be a simple trading gate to the segriation of Berlin. At this point it decided to rain! WE ran for cover in a small souvenir shop and as the rain eased off we had a quick peek at the tourist maps to see what else was about.
We made our way over to the Holocaust memorial which from the outside looks was a concrete maze of a ascending blocks but as you venture into it the floor waves up and down and soon the block are towering above you. It was good fun to run in between the black towers towards the centre where there is a small museum that leads under the memorial. The museum was as fascinating as it was chilling and we left slightly subdued but feel very grateful for all we had. We ate our lunch on the mermorail and headed towards Checkpoint Charlie.
Checkpoint Charlie was a tiny little biulding that was the mark of some much more. The old no manś land was surround with a timeline that told you all the events and history of wall, the divide and the fall. It was facinating and I loved learning all about a time when students and young people actually cared about politics and tired to make a difference. For us though it was still raining and Stuart didnt seem to share my enuthiasm for communist history so we headed back to the hostel to collect our waterproofs ( yes I wore a waterproof, and yes I looked ridiculous).
Dry and with a stop off to McCafe, which was the only place that did very bad english tea, we headed to the East Side Gallery. The Gallery is a long strech off wall that after the fall was painted by artists and young people alike as a memorial of freedom. Its the largest open air gallery in the world and it so interesting to walk along taking in all the different reactions to the same event.
After the gallery it was off to meet Paul. We headed to a bar called Stoch and Sofas which was a cool 50s theme bar which sofas, cider and table football. When we first turned up Paul and Dan were nowhere to be seen and instead it seemed we had crashed the timeout magazines work do. But soon Paul turned up and we drank cider and played table football until it was timet o catch the last train and two german girls turned up to meet the boys.
Home safe and sound and exhaughted.
Laura
x

---