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Published: September 26th 2010
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Last but not least on my European adventure is Berlin, Germany. The group of us left Paris in a couchette and spent the night attempting to sleep. When we made it to Berlin we got to our apartment and put our stuff done. After days of hostel the apartment was pretty cool, we got the whole top floor to ourselves so its an interesting experiences.
We decided to walk around Berlin so first we headed to Rosa Luxemburg and then walked to Alexanderplatz. Out of no where it seemed the weather changed from a beautiful spring day to a torrential down pour. We took shelter in a restaurant waiting for the rain to pass. After that we just walked around for a bit and what I noticed most was all the reconstuction. We were in what was West Berlin so you can see that they are trying to improve the area. We also got to check out some areas where the Berlin Wall still stands. It is actually quite interesting because huge paintings have been drawn on them making them rather beautiful.
The next day we all headed to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews. Although it has a
depressing title and the place itself is a bit morbid it is really a fascinating place. The place was filled with gray dull rectangles all of different sizes, inside the museum had stories of people who both lived and died.
After a meal we then headed over to the Topographie des Terrors which told stories about the gustapos. It was all outside which was a cool change to all the museums we had gone to. It had stories of people who were convicted of the most ridiculous crimes like handing out leaflets.
Checkpoint Charlie was up next and we basically souvenir shopped there. There were "guards" that were actually actors standing outside and you could get your passport stamped by them. The museum there is pretty cool with a bunch of escape stories that you can read about.
After Charlie we went to what is apparently the most famously photographed place in Berlin. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was bombed in 1943, but never fixed. The ground floor remains a memorial hall and is really quite beautiful.
The last thing we did on our European excursion was to go and check out Knuit. Knuit, the famous Iceland
bear, was on postcards and stuffed animals and was found throughout all of Berlin so naturally we had to head over to the Berlin Zoo to check him out. Now personally I am not a big fan of zoos, I find them depressing, but the Berlin Zoo is quite beautiful. After checking out the birds, the lions, the monkeys and everything else we waited in line for 45 minutes to check out good old Knuit. Finally we made it to the front to see a bear hanging out with his trainer, a fellow with no shoes who looked like he needed a shower. It might not have been completely worth it but I was happy to see Knuit.
Thus the end of my spring course in Europe. Over all a good time. Although I'm not so much a city girl, I wouldn't mind coming back to Europe at some point and checking things out. Maybe not so many museums next time.
"I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." ~Oscar Wilde
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