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Published: June 16th 2011
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May 16th - 22nd
So this week started out as normal as any other but come Sunday I had definitely changed as a person.
Friday I woke up bright and early and caught my flight to Berlin Germany. I have been to a few different German airports but never in the actually cities so I was really looking forward to this trip. Upon arriving in Berlin I caught the 20 minute train ride to the city center and headed straight to my hostel. After getting all checked in and settled I headed out into the city. The first place I went towards was Museum Island which houses numerous museums and the Berlin Dome. The Berlin Dome is a cathedral, and it was unbelievable. I was extremely impressed with the contrasting colors on the exterior architecture and even more impressed with the interior. It was beautiful. I spent a ton of time walking around and exploring before heading up to the top of the dome. Once I finally arrived at the top I had a fantastic view of the city all around me. It really showed me just how big it truly is. As I came down from the dome
I stopped in the museum on the first floor and then continued down into the basement to view the crypts. After leaving the cathedral I continued walking down the road to Under den Linden. I popped into a few different monuments along and the way and planned on going to the German History museum but unfortunately it was closing up when I arrived (everything closes so much earlier than in Spain). I decided to try and find a restaurant for dinner and stumbled upon an amazing place. It was an organic restaurant that was done electronically versus with a waiter. I had the most amazing food and honestly I had to force myself not to go there for every meal over the weekend 😊. Once I was filled up I headed towards Brandenburg gate. This was an impressive gate but what made it even more spectacular was the numerous people surrounding it. I picked a really good weekend to go to Berlin, it was the German Cup finals and there was also a bike race so the city was very active. After weaving through the crowd I continued on to the parliament building. I had planned to spend most of
the evening exploring the building unfortunately there was an event going on so I only got to see the outside of it. Since my plans changed I decided to head to Tiergarten which is kind of like Berlin´s Central Park. This park was massive and beautiful. There were tons of monuments including world war monuments with tanks and such. I continued walking in the park until I was about half way through it. Unfortunately at this point the weather went from beautiful to lighting storm fast. I decided to turn back around ad head towards my hostel, getting drenched on the way. I wish I would have had more time to explore the park because I know that I didn´t even come close to putting a dent into it. The rest of the night I spent at my hostel, socializing and planning the next few days in Berlin.
Saturday I woke up bright and early (it´s a good thing I am a morning person 😊) and headed out into the city. I had so many plans for the day and it turned out to be very powerful. I started by walking towards Potsdam Platz but I made numerous stops
along the way to see more monuments and beautifully constructed buildings. Considering how much the city was destroyed in the war they have rebuilt it amazingly. Once I finally made it to Potsdam platz I met up with a free walking tour group. Rather than just stay in the city we were taking a 6 hour tour of the Saschsenhausen concentration camp right outside of Berlin. The first part of the tour consisted of a long history lesson before we hopped on a train and then walked another 20 minutes to arrive at the camp. When we finally made it into the camp we began by learning about the history of the few buildings on the property along with some of the key figures that were prisoners at the camp. We spent a good 3 hours in the camp and it was such an enlightening experience. It is hard to say it was a great tour because of how depressing the information was, but it was truly amazing. It taught me so much and put everything into perspective for all of us on the tour. We got to see how individuals lived, what they faced and for some, how they
died. It is a terrible event but something I think everyone should learn about to stop it from happening again. After our tour we hopped back on the train and headed back to central Berlin. Upon arriving in the city I headed straight to the holocaust memorial. This memorial was nothing like I expected but still very interesting in its architectural form. From there I headed to the Topography of Terror exhibit. This was an exhibit about the world wars, Hitler, the holocaust, the cold war, the wall and all the destruction that was caused. It was placed alongside one of the remaining parts of the Berlin wall and housed some truly graphic photos. After leaving this exhibit I headed to the Jewish quarter to see the Jewish museum. Again I learnt about all the hardships Jews faced in the holocaust, along with anti-Semitism, but I also got to learn more about the religion. After the museum I headed to the East Side Gallery exhibit to view a 1 k stretch of the Berlin wall that is still standing. Artist have come in and painted numerous murals along the length of the wall representing the peace and freedom that have
come with its destruction. These works were absolutely unbelievable. By the time I finished up there I was exhausted both physically and mentally, it was a day that I will never forget.
Sunday I only had a half day to spend in Berlin so again I woke up bright and early to go to another sight I hadn´t been able to get to on Saturday. I headed to the Berlin Wall documentation center to learn more about the wall and it´s removal. This center was so informative and focused on the wall, it´s victims and the repercussions of both. The exhibit had portions of the wall, monuments for the victims, interactive videos and audio guide, and numerous photos. After I walked through everything outside I headed into the center to view 2 documentaries on the wall. When these finished up I had to grab my bags and head back to Madrid. This weekend has taught me so much and was beyond my expectations.
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Steve and Bobbi
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Important Trip to Berlin
It was great that you were able to make this trip to see the new Berlin and also the old Berlin. The Dome was impressive inside and out. Saschsenhausen and the Terror museums obviously made a big impression on you. I have read many books on the Holocaust, so the depravity of it all is not new to me. However, it reminds that in every generation evil exists and must be faced. Good does not always win out over evil and when it does, many times it takes a very long time to do so. It was also fun to see the humor of so many of the artists using the old wall. A sobering trip, but one that should also be hopeful given the new Berlin that rose from such monstrousness between teh world wars. Bless you niece!