Our train ride to Berlin was exciting because the train was so full we rode for an hour and a half without seats. Here is Colin guarding some of the luggage.
Amelia and me in front of the Brandenburg gate. Napoleon took the Quadriga from the top and dragged it over to Paris after he defeated the Prussians. Then, when the Prussians defeated Napolean, they carried the big thing all the way back to Berlin, where it sits again above the gate as a sign of German greatness :)
Me in front of the Reichstag (Parliament building). For a German and Political Science major, it doesn't get much better than this!
Amelia and I woke up at 7am to get in line early so we could climb up the dome in the Reichstag. This is what it looks like from inside--you can climb all the way up and look down and see the city.
This is a section of the Berlin wall called the East Side Gallery. In 1990 the government decided to preserve this section and allow Eastern artists to decorate it. Now much of the art is covered by graffitti, but some of it was still comprehensible.
Another part of the wall. It says: Viele kleine Leute, die in vielen kleinen Orten, viele kleine Dinge tun koenne das Gesicht der Welt veraendern. (Many little people, who do many little things in many little places can change the face of the world)
The famous East Germany Ampelmann. Eastern Germany created him as the 'walk' signal for their traffic lights because he is cartoonish and would attract kids' attention.
We saw the Berlin marathon. Actually, we were literally in it. We stood in the middle of the road to watch it, and then the runners decided to leave their designated path and run on both sides of the road, which meant we were stuck in the middle of thousands of sweaty, panting runners. Don't worry-- we got out safely.
This is a church near our hostel that the Germans chose not to restore after the war. It was moving to see the destruction that the city endured.
We saw lots of bullet holes and schrapnel damage around the city. Berlin has tried to reconstruct after the war, but the city is not very wealthy, and there was a lot of damage done.
This is East Berlin. The difference in East and West Berlin was so noticable! Not only were the buildings in the East much uglier (mainly concrete) and much more dilapidated, but there was more graffiti and food prices were cheaper. Berlin in general is not a very nice city-- it has 20% unemployment and is only 2/3 populated. It is a great city to visit because its history is so rich, but it is not a good example of typical German cities.
This is us with a girl from Australia we met in our hostel and Nick and Gabe, two other students from St. Olaf who are studying in Berlin. We went to a cool wine bar where you pay 2 Euro for a glass and then try all the wine you want and pay whatever you think it was worth at the end. The wine wasn't amazing, but we had fun.
This is the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. It is simply rows of different sized cement rectangles, and the observers are supposed to decide what it means to them. The memorial was strategically placed in this spot in a high-traffic spot in the city so that nobody could ignore it. Underneath of the memorial is a powerful museum displaying stories and letters of families who were affected by the holocaust.
Ole reunion! In Berlin we met up with 6 other St. Olaf students/grads. One of them, Katie, was a tour guide in Berlin last summer and gave us a hilarious and extremely informative 3 hour walking tour of the city.
This was the view from our hostel-- it wasn't the best place in the world. But, it was our only bad hostel, so we were pretty lucky!
No comments:
Post a Comment