Allison: Wilkommen in Berlin!

On the 13th of March, Allison came to visit me for her spring break! Therefore, the past week has been complete with touristy activities here in Berlin and elsewhere, as well as a lot of fun! Friday morning we went to Sachsenhausen, the former concentration in the area outside of Berlin, as it was one of our required field trips for the semester. It was very interesting to see and reflect on the historical events that had taken place there. In the afternoon, Allison and I rode our bikes downtown, like real Germans, and we hit the top site, the Brandenburger Tor, before going to the Reichstag (parliament building) and going to the glass dome on top to view the city from above! And Friday night we went to hear the Berlin Sinfonie Orchester at the Philharmonie.

Saturday morning we visited the DDR Museum (another requirement for class), which was very interesting portraying various aspects of life in the former GDR (East Germany). Then we explored Marx-Engel Platz and Alexanderplatz before seeing the Berliner Dom, the Holocaust Memorial, and the pieces of the Berliner Mauer (wall) at Postdamerplatz. My friend Meg came over and we made pizza for dinner and played cards and such for the evening.

Sunday morning we visited the house of Bertolt Brecht (yet another requirement for class!) before Allison and I went to Schloss Charlottenburg, perhaps the best-known palace here in Berlin, where I had not previously been. It is a really beautiful palace!

Monday and Tuesday I had class as usual, leaving Allison to explore the city on her own. My guest family was gone on vacation for most of the week, but I still managed to get Allison good German bread for breakfast, as well as cooking some traditional German food, including Wurst and Spaetzle. Tuesday night we went to hear a saxophone quartet rehearse. Wednesday after my German class in the morning, we went to Checkpoint Charlie before going to KaDeWe, Germany’s biggest department store and shopping a little bit along the KuDamm, the main shopping street in Berlin. Thursday I had class once again, but in the evening we met my German friend Andrea and went to the Pergamon Museum; with artifacts from the ancient civilizations of modern day Turkey, this is probably Berlin’s most known museum.

Friday we went to the next best museum, the Egyptian Museum before making some German-American chocolate cookies and dying Easter eggs! In the evening we went to see the film There will be Blood, in English naturally.

Saturday Meg, Allison and I went to Dresden for the day. Dresden was heavily bombed during World War II, and is a city that is being heavily renovated and rebuilt to account for this. We went to the top of the city hall, for the best view of the city. Along with seeing the main churches there, we spent a lot of time in der Zwinger, the old palace in Dresden, which is now divided into various museums.

Sunday was Easter, and Allison’s last day in Berlin! We celebrated by having a delicious Easter brunch with my host family before going to explore the inside of some Berlin’s churches: the Catholic Cathedral, the Franzosische Dom and the Berliner Dom. We went to a church service at the English speaking Methodist church before joining my host family and their family friends for Pizza.

It was a really great week, and I am glad it worked for Allison to come visit me and explore Berlin!

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