Germany again: Berlin

To see all my pictures from this trip, click here!
Last Tuesday I spent the entire day traveling to a city that takes no more than three hours to drive to. Even less, I'm sure. I spent more time waiting for trains than I actually did on trains. But it was a good way to spend the day, I guess, considering I could have been sleeping or something. First I went to Belfort, where I spent an hour and a half sitting in the center and eating lunch. Look at this awesome rainbow over the river.

Next I found myself in Strasbourg, where I had two hours to kill. Since the last time I was there it was freezing cold, I decided to walk to the center of town to see what it was like under the sun. There were many more tourists out and about. I walked to the cathedral and back to the train station, which took all of one hour. I spent my other hour enjying the sun, just outside the train station.

Soon enough I ended up in Wissembourg, where Mario came to pick me up and where we had a nice dinner downtown. It was a super cute little city, right on the border (quite literally) or Germany. We ate outside at a cute restaurant. The waitress spoke to us first in French, then started in German. And we weren't even in Germany! But Mario's shirt had some German written on it, and considering we were so close to Germany, I'm sre she assumed we were German. But of course, we proceeded in French. After dinner we drove to Mario's house outside of Mannheim, where we stayed until morning.

Around 10:00am, we left for Berlin. How exciting! Before coming to Europe this time around, I knew I wanted to go to Germany. But I didn't really think I would find myself in Berlin, for whatever reason. And here I was, on my way there. We arrived shortly after 4, if memory serves. We went to dinner at the Hard Rock Café, which wasn't too far from our hotel. It was interesting being there with someone who speaks English but also the language of the country we were in. At first we were spoken to in German. Then when I responded, they responded back in English. Then they'd speak to Mario in English, but he'd respond in German. It was confusing trying to figure out what to speak. (Well, not for me I guess. Moreso for him.) Bt eventually our waitress asked what languages we speak, so she ended up speaking German with him and English with me. Anyway, I'd been craving Hard Rock food for a while, so I was super happy to be eating there. It was the best meal ever. I love America.

We spent the rest of the evening just wandering around. We went to the the Ka De We mall and enjoyed their gourmet food floor. I didn't buy anything delicious to eat, but it was sure delicious to look at. And they even had an American section, complete with marshmallows, peanut butter, Quaker oatmeal (including strawberries and cream, my favorite flavor!), Pop Tarts, and Mountain Dew!

The next morning is when real touristing started for us. First we went to Reichstag, which is, according to Mario, where the German parliament is housed. And next was the Brandenbrg Gate. It was cool to see. Ummm, I don't really have anything else to say about it though. It's one of those things I just saw to see, because obviously I had to.

Next was Checkpoint Charlie and its museum. WOW. I was really impressed with the amount of stuff I learned. I can't even put it in writing. To be completely honest, I really didn't know much, if anything, about the East/West Berlin thing that happened relatively recently. The museum was really my favorite part of the trip. It just totally opened my eyes to something I always knew was a huge part of recent history.

I was totally interested in the stories of how people tried to cross the border to West Berlin. I can't even remember all the ways people tried, but I took pictures of so many of the texts in the museum so that I would never forget. Everything from smuggling people in suitcases or other boxes, digging tunnels, driving cars across, passing children over barbed wire, and making their own hot air balloons. Incredible.

Then we went to the Jewish Museum. Hmmm, what to say about that? I learned that the ancient capital of Judaism (before they all got wiped out) was Worms, Germany, which isn't too far from Mannheim, I don't think. Oh, and check out this Obamica. I thought it was really cool.

That night we went to see Hugh Laurie. I really had no clue what to expect because I don't know him too well. I don't watch House, and I've never heard his music. I've only seen him on Ellen, which was great fun. But this wasn't comedy. It was music. And it wasn't bad! The concert was in a church. It was incredibly difficult to see anything, and strange to me that people were drinking beer in the church. But whatever. It was a cool concert.

The next morning we went to see a large piece of the Berlin Wall. Very interesting. I learned a LOT that day also. I learned that there wasn't jst one wall, but a "death zone" which was quite large, filled with car barriers, barbed wire, guards, and then blocked again by another wall. And probably more that I'm forgetting.

Looking into the death zone from the "extra" wall. (Sorry, don't know what that wall was called.)

Across all of Berlin, the location of the wall is marked with these stones on the ground. Pretty interesting, if you ask me.

Next stop: Alexanderplatz, which was pretty hip and happennin'. Didn't do much there. I was going to go up the huge tower to see Berlin from the top, but the wait was over two hours, so I opted not to go and hoped it would be easier that night. So we went to the Holocaust memorial, which was incredible as well.

Again, I was fascinated by everything I learned. I'll just share this one thing with you that really stood out to me. I listened to these clips by people who survivred the extermination camps. This one woman said that she was standing along the edge of a hugh pit with a bunch of other women. As women got shot, then fell into the pit. Before they got to her, she jumped in and pretended to be dead, feeling every body falling on top of her. Fearing being buried alive, she discretely pushed bodies away from her. As the pit got filled with dirt, she waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually she pushed he way out of the dirt, and to safety. When she looked back, she could see some parts of the giant dirt pile moving.

Sorry, not trying to be morbid. But it was just amazing to hear. It felt so real. And scary.

Later, we walked around and stumbled upon a cute little restaurant in the middle of a huge park. So we sat there and had dinner. It started as coffee. Turned into onion soup. And I ordered in German. :)

That was about it for the day. We went back to the hotel, and while Mario stayed in, I headed back out after dark to go up to the top of that tower. (Not gonna lie, I don't know its name and am too lazy to look it up!)

The next morning, it was back to Mannheim. We drove all day and went to dinner that night with Mario's mom. And today we went to Maimarkt, a market that happens in Mannheim every May, with Mario's friend Sandra. It really reminded me of a super small version of the Minnesota State Fair. Made me feel a little at home. I ate some delicious strawberry thing. I mean really, delicious.

We spent hours there, and then went to dinner at a really yummy chicken place a bit out of town. It was a really fun way to end a great trip to Germany! Who knows when I'll be back? But tomorrow morning it's back to Lure to get myself ready for the longest trip ever.

Stay tuned!