Berlin

I am terribly behind in my posting, so today's post involves a slight bit of time travel. About a week and a half ago I traveled with a friend of mine to Berlin during our week off from classes. I really had no idea what to expect from Berlin, but let me just start off with the fact that it was fantastic! And this is despite being deathly ill my first day there (okay, i tend to exagerate a bit).

So far on my travels, I have never gotten sick and been forced to spend an entire day at the hostel. Unfortunately, my first day in Berlin broke that streak. The cold that had been surfacing the evening before was in full force, and it took all my energy to demand cold medicine and food from my travel buddy (even with a cold, my appetite will not be stifled ;) ). So the first day was essentially a bust, but the next two days were fantastic!

Day one involved a general walking tour of Berlin. It took about 4 hours and we covered so much! First thing of note is that most of Berlin was destroyed in WWII, so most buildings were rebuilt after that time. Any building pre-dating that time are sure to have shrapnel damage. It's amazing to me that a city had to completely rebuild itself. Another thing that struck me about Berlin was the emmense amount of history there. For instance, while studying the Berlin wall, we were also standing mere meters from the site of the gestapo and SS headquarters.

My interest in the history around WWII was definitely sparked by this trip. I want to learn more after visiting so many historical sites and memorials. Our second day we went on a Third Reich tour which focused on many of the sites from WWII. An interesting thing we touched on during both tours was the fact that Hitler's Bunker is barely marked, and currently is the site of a car park (*pause* I mean, parking lot). Our guide pointed out the dilema with how to deal with this site. If the bunker is destroyed, Germany is hiding its past. If it is turned into a museum of sorts it becomes a tourist attraction and Germany is exploiting its past. If it's turned into a memorial its controversial cause why should Hitler get a memorial. So no action is taken, and now you can park your car at the site where Hitler's dead body was dragged out from his bunker. Apparently a sign acknowledging the site was only put up recently in response to the accusation that Germany is ignoring its past.

On a completely different note, it was the festival of lights in Berlin when i was there. This meant that many of the buildings in Berlin were lit up in beautiful colors. It was fantastic to walk around at night.

We also managed to find one of those typical German Goth bars. It was pretty dead when we were there, but I did get to order a Twisted Sister and almost got kicked out by the bouncer (See below ;) )

Oh and B, I didn't get a chance to see Knut. I blame the lack of time due to illness. But I was in the same city as him so sent my warm wishes... :-P I could write so much more about the trip, but alas i think this belated entry is long enough so I will stop here for now. Suffice it to say the trip was fantastic and I was very sad to leave. Now I'm in Copenhagen for the next week and a half, so adventures at home will be sure to occur :-D