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View from the Top
This is from the Reichstag looking out over the newest government building where Schroeder (the chancellor) lives and works. Since Wojtiech's family convinced us to stay longer than we planned we ended up getting to Berlin late at night. We were so excited to see Ausgang (stairs) because we knew we would be able to understand the language a little bit better than in Poland! On our first day in Berlin we took a walking tour around the city. We saw museum island, the east Berlin artists quarter, the oldest synagogue in Germany, the Reichstag (the government building), the new Jewish holocaust memorial, Hitler's bunker, and Hitler's apartment, the Brandenburg Gate, we walked along the route that the wall was built on. It was a four hour tour, those are just the highlights! That afternoon we went back to the Reichstag and climbed up it's glass dome for a great view of Berlin. That night we went to a beer garden near our hostel and drank heffewiessens and listened to jazz for hours. The next day we went to the Check Point Charlie Museum. It was so incredible to see all the different ways people thought of to get over the wall. And the pictures and stories of the wall being torn down were very moving. We walked through the
Holocaust Memorial
The new Jewish holocaust memorial is set to be opened to the public in May. Also in May the largest Neo-Nazi march through Berlin is scheduled to take place right in front of it. Tier Garden (central park) to get to the Victory Angel, a monument given to Berlin from the French. We walked up it to get another great view of Berlin. We had our last German beers in the Sony Center before hopping on an overnight train to Paris....
Yes, Paris. We know we've already been there but it was the only way to get to Normandy which was to be our last stop in continental Europe. We were excited to go back because we watched a special on the travel channel at Wojtiech's house about the catacombs that lay under Paris. We paid 10 euros to check our luggage at the station, got out our headlights and took an hour metro ride to get to them only to find out they are closed until May! We were very disappointed. We went to have brunch instead and then walked along the river until it was time for our train to leave. Our last stop in France was the town of Bayeux in Normandy (northern France). The only way we could get to the D-Day beaches was to take a tour. The tour was good, it took us to the artificial port
Heffes and Jazz
Our last German beers! It was such a perfect night we stayed for hours! at Arromanches that they used to bring in much needed supplies, we went to the German battalions, the American cemetery, Omaha beach and a German bunker called Point du Hoc. The tour covered everything we wanted to see but we were unimpressed with our guide. She kept telling us that the D-Day invasion wasn't as intense as we had learned. She told us that Hitler was so convinced the landings would happen in Southern France that he put all of his old (40-50 year old) troops at places like Omaha beach and that they surrendered almost immediately. Even though we didn't agree with her on many points we were still glad we took the tour. It was very moving to actually stand in the places where history had been made.
The next day we booked our places on a ferry from Cherbourg (about 1 hour from Bayeux) to Rosslare in Ireland. We got lost walking to the train station and by the time we realized it we only had enough time to hail a taxi to the station. We got there just as the train was pulling away. Lucky for us they happened to be running a second one
Arromanches
Pieces left from the port built by the allies after the D-Day invasion. It was the largest port in France for a year after it was built until a large storm washed a lot of it out to sea and up on the beach. that day about an hour later. We got on the second train and went 1 stop before they made everyone get off because a door was broken. They told us a bus would pick us up at 4. Around 4:30 the bus driver finally showed up, he talked to himself most of the time and kept pulling over to answer his cell phone. By the time we got to Cherbourg our boat was scheduled to leave in 15 minutes. We got another taxi who took us to the port. We grabbed our bags and ran through passport control and got on the bus to take us to the ferry when we were told that our e-ticket wasn't good enough to get us on the boat, we needed to go back and get a boarding pass. We ran back out and the receptionist told us it was too late and we had missed the boat. Just then she got a call and told us they would hold the boat. We got our boarding pass and made it just as they were closing the car entrance. In all the excitement Andrea didn't take a motion sickness pill in time. At first it
The Calm Before the Storm
Look how happy we look on our way out to sea with France behind us. It didn't last long! was a very pleasant ride, then the sea started to get choppy as we went through a little storm. Let's just say Andrea spent most of the evening on the top deck while Liz sat in the bar alone. The night was no better, we slept on the floor. I use the term sleep loosely. Liz slept in between the drunk people stumbling by on the way to their cabins and Andrea's intermittent runs to the bathroom. Just use your imagination. We did finally make it to Rosslare, alive but a little shaken up. We were told, to our delight, that the trains to Cork were not running that day. We got on a bus that took us about two hours the wrong way and then had to get on another bus for two hours back in the right direction. After about 28 hours of public transportation (1 train, 1 ferry, 2 taxis, 4 buses) we arrived at our hostel. We're so happy to finally be in Ireland! By the way, we posted a blog just last night so make sure you go back to the previous entry and check that out too.
Peace and Love,
Liz and Andrea
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anonymous
non-member comment
Oh dear lord!
I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU WENT TO SEE GLIEKL AGAIN!?!?!!!?!?!?!?!???=! I'm shocked. I hope Andrea survived it. What kind of friend are you Liz!? - Tommy