Ick bin ein Berliner

So after waiting 3 hours in the train station I suddenly had a brainwave - Facebook! Now I know some of you are a little sceptical about such things as MySpace and Facebook...so was I up until Tuesday night! I remembered that, although Monica (the friend I was to stay with) wasn't my friend on Facebook yet, she had commented on another of my friend's 'wall' (sorry about the Facebook jargon for those who don't know what it all means), and knew that sometimes people add their contact details to their profiles. So I thought, well, may as well give it a try. I had, after all, paid 2Euros for an hour of internet use (rip-off, I know, but I was desperate!), and hadn't used it all. Sure enough, she had put up her address, landline, AND mobile numbers! So I gave her a call and turns out she wasn't expecting me until Thursday, thanks to poor communication on my behalf! :P Fortunately, although she was already hosting a couchsurfer from Sweden, she could still accommodate me and gave me directions to her place.
Berlin is HUGE. Let me just say that right off. I thought I would just 'take it easy' the next day, having spent the last 2 days walking around cities and then spending 3 hours stranded in a train station the previous night! Little did I know that's not really all that possible if you want to see Berlin. It has over 100 museums, as well as hundreds of other historical places you can visit. So I ended up going to 3 museums on Wednesday, one of which was the DDR Museum, which tells you all about what life was like for those living in East Germany. It is a great museum and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who comes to Berlin. Not only are you allowed to take photos, but you can actually try and drive the Trabant (the cars that became prolific in the German Democratic Republic [GDR/DDR/East Germany] - they were practically the only cars people drove!) and there were draws you could pull out to reveal different objects that had been preserved since then. The other two museums were on the Museum Island - that's right, they have so many museums that they have a whole island dedicated to them! And there are actually only 5 on this Island! Again I was surprised to learn I could take photos inside!
Next day I went on what was supposed to be a 3 ½ hour walking tour of Berlin's most famous spots (such as the remnants of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie , Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, just to name a few...), which turned out to be 4 ½ hours! The tour was in English and the tour guide was a very knowledgeable Scotsman. He definitely knows a lot about Berlin and German history! I definitely recommend such a tour for anyone visiting Berlin for the first time! There was so much information I couldn't remember it by time we finished! (Hopefully he'll pay me that money now... :P) I'd actually been on one last time I was in Berlin for my school exchange, but I think I was a little too young to really appreciate it then. Plus it was about -10 Degrees back then, being December, so it was painfully cold for us Aussie school kids!
That afternoon I spoilt myself with a movie (in

Babylonian statue
this is a statue that has been preserved from the ancient city of Babylon, contained in the Pergamon Museum

English!!) after exploring the 'Museum of Film and Television' in the extremely impressive Sony Centre. Sally, I thought of you the whole time! I think you would've loved it there!
On Friday I decided to leave quite early to go visit Berlin Zoo, thinking it could be quite busy. It wasn't. It was actually quite quiet over all - all the animals were taking it easy if they were visible at all, and the main attraction, Knut (the polar bear cub), was sick so he didn't make an appearance! I was quite disappointed. I think I am now in the position to give a professional opinion on zoos, having visited a fair few in a numerous different cities (including famed Singapore Zoo and its Night Safari), and I must say that, for all its hype, Berlin Zoo isn't all that much better than Munich Zoo. They are probably roughly the same size, and although Berlin Zoo has a few more unusual animals (such as a Panda and of course the human-raised bear cub Knut), Munich Zoo seems a bit more friendly and open. I did enjoy my time, but I did start to think that perhaps Perth Zoo isn't as

Entrance hall to the 'Altes' or old Musuem

bad as I previously thought! :P
I then spent the afternoon walking the Kurfüstendamm (Ku'damm) shopping strip, with its HUGE KaDeWe department store (almost a whole floor dedicated to confectionary!!! :P). Although having spent the last 4 days walking quite non-stop, I found it more painful than therapeutic. But then I have never really been one for 'retail therapy', often finding it painful on the feet as well as the wallet!
I also went to a barbeque that night. I've now been to more barbeques in my 3 weeks in Germany than I had in Australia in the previous 3 months or so! And people think Australians have lots of barbeques! I must say, though, that I love the German name for a barbeque - Grillfest. I actually felt a bit sick most of the following two days, so I actually did take it easy, only having a quick visit to a children's carnival in Monica's neighbourhood and then looking around a flea market that is located in a park that was created where the Berlin wall used to be!
Then on Monday I headed off to Hamburg...Or at least that was the plan. I ended up having no accommodation,

Some Hieroglyphics held in the Altes Museum
They had an Ancient Egypt display on while I was there

so instead I stayed another night in Berlin, and went back to the Reichstag (the place where German parliament sits) in the evening and actually went inside this time. It is an amazing building, with a really cool glass dome on top! I’m sure many of you have already seen pictures of it. It was amazing! Then I actually did leave Berlin the next day, after having burdened Monica for definitely way too long! She was so kind to let me stay so long! Thanks Monica!
Interesting fact: ok this is the start of my interesting facts about Germany that I will (hopefully, if I remember) put at the end of each blog, because I am learning so much as I go! So interesting fact #1: the reason Germans find the quote I used as my title, Ick bin ein Berliner, so funny is not just because of the bad German, but also as the word Berliner actually is the word they use for jam donoughts! So if you say Ick bin ein Berliner you are in effect saying I am a jam (or jelly for you Americans :P) donought. See, something you could probably learn no where else! :D

37 Photo(s): 21 Displayed : Extra Photos: « Back 1 2 Next »

Some mummies inside the old museum

The old Humboldt University library
The courtyard in front is the location of the Nazi's book burning (unfortunately I can't remember what year!). It is now the law department of the uni.

part of the remains of the Berlin wall
This was an interesting stretch of the wall. Behind the wall you can see the old weaponry building of East Germany - actually situated in the Death Strip between East and West. The workers in this b... [more]

Berlin Wall museum
This was cool - it was a wall outside Checkpoint Charlie that had all the information about the Berlin Wall - a bit of history about before it was put up, why it was put up, effects it had, etc. You ... [more]

Checkpoint Charlie
They made it as toursity as they could, posting a fake US army member there for you to take photos with for only 1Euro! Rip off...

Sculpture in the 'Gendarment'
This was built as a memorial to every victim of the war - German, Jew, American, man, woman and child

The Holocaust Memorial
By creating hundreds of these grey blocks, each a different height, with the ground underneath undulating, they tried to create the sense of being uncentred and confused, feelings probably felt by vic... [more]

Me inside the Holocaust Memorial
It was quite effective - at one stage I really thought I'd lost the tour guide, even though all I had to do to get out was to keep walking straight

The former place of Hitler's bunker
This is where Hitler's headquarters and the bunker in which he killed himself used to be. It was blown up twice, filled in with cement, and then built over so it could not be made into a memorial, to... [more]

The impressive Sony Centre
I know I still keep using that word but it was impressive! It was huge and contained the film and television museum, a cinema in which they showed films in there original languages as well as in Germa... [more]

some camels at the zoo
I know it's a bit random, but they're actually my favourite animals...

The Panda at Berlin zoo

baby alpaca
this baby alpaca was only 24 hours old! it got quite excited when people came close to it and ended up falling down a bit of a cliff inside its enclosure and needing a zookeeper to help it back up! :P... [more]

A baby orangutan playing with his mum prt 2
And then he would sit on her and they'd roll around and wrestle!

A baby orangutan playing with his mum prt1
TApologies for the bluriness. I just had to include this photo though. This was so cute. The baby would get the yellow sheet and then throw it over his mum's face!

37 Photo(s): 21 Displayed : Extra Photos: « Back 1 2 Next »

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5 Comments - Add Public Comment or Send Private Message

September 19th 2007 - Monica: Ick bin ein Berliner

It's not bad German, it's Berliner German :-D "Ick" is the berliner pronounciation of "Ich" and is famous for having being said by John F. Kenedy in Berlin after the wall came down.

September 21st 2007 - Maree: Ancient Babylon

The ancient Babylon picture is my favourite :) I'm procrastinating writing an essay... :P

September 22nd 2007 - sprucemoose: Haha Grillfest! Those crazy Germans

Hey Alyssa! Finally got a chance to read your blog, im looking forward to hearing more about your travels and exchange! Where in Germany are you going again? Was it Freiburg? Sorry i cant remember. And I agree, Museum Island rocks! Despite its cheesy name :)

September 24th 2007 - Alex: Hey Alyssa!

Hey! It's great to hear about your adventures so far, you have seen so much already! Your photos are great too. Stay safe, Love Alex

September 24th 2007 - lauren: awwww buddy bears

awwwww... so cute and funny... but i can imagine up close slightly scary! glad to hear that facebook saved the day, imaginary myspace alyssa is gonna be soooo jealous! sounds like ur having a super fun time and i hope u hav lots more grillfests!

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