Last weekend I went to Berlin. It was such an odd city. I have to say I really enjoyed it though, despite the 20something temperatures. It was seriously, the coldest I have ever felt in my life. But it was totally worth it.
I left Friday morning with Kelsey, Annie, and Michelle (although half of the USC study abroad group happened to be on the same flight, because we all happened to book Berlin for the same weekend). The trip was relatively stress-free compared to the last trip, so I wont go into the details. There was a bit of drama with Annie's letter from matthew (what I like to call, our "immigration letter") but it got sorted in the end. We arrived in Berlin about 10 am or so and encountered our first german interaction when trying to figure out which train ticket to buy. The lady at the counter insisted that we get a ticket, but I couldnt understand what she was saying so she got frustrated with me and said "NO! This one bettaaa!!!" I agree, it was better, but I wasnt disagreeing with her to begin with. Crazy Germans.
Anyways, we took the S-Bahn to Hauptbanhof station and luckily our hostel, the Meininger Berlin Central Station was a block away. It was so convenient! we dropped off our suitcases (after realizing our hostel was the most amazing place ever) and were off to explore Berlin! It took us a while to maneuver the snow.. It was so icy. I had to walk like a duck to keep from falling. But after a while I got it down pact pretty well. We started off searching for a bank for Kelsey & annie, which led to a lot of map-reading and trying to pronounce german street names, which is definitely not easy. We finally made it to the bank, after lots of wandering and asking for help from germans that had no idea what we were talking about. After the bank, we went over to Brandenberg Tor (the brandenberg gate, which seperated east and west berlin) for a free walking tour of Berlin. The walking tour was seriously the best thing we did because it covered almost all the big landmarks in the city in 4 hours and we got to snap our photos and get oriented with the city. Our tour guide, Barry, was a nice irish guy who was kind of hilarious and really knowledgeable. Just a few things we saw on the tour were the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, The Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, The Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, & the Berliner Dom. After the tour we headed back to the hostel, checked into our beautiful rooms, and then went to dinner at Tiergarten Quelle, a place I found online that was perfectly local & picturesquely german. We spent a long time eating, drinking beer, and enjoying the atmosphere.
On Saturday we went to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, just outside of Berlin. The ride over to the camp was long and it gave us a chance to look at some suburbs of Berlin. It was crazy to see all the homes that looked somewhat normal, but you could still kind of see the leftovers of communism every now and again. There was also a lot of graffiti art--EVERYWHERE. On old buildings, bridges, etc. It was an interesting composition. The walk we took from the train station to Sachsenhausen was the same walk many Jews made when they were first displaced to the camp. It was weird knowing that we were walking the same path. On the way we stopped at an unofficial memorial to the victims of the death march.
Sachsenhausen camp itself was large, cold, and eery. It was a very physically & emotionally draining experience. The intense cold only heightened my awareness of the harsh conditions that the Jews had to endure at the camp. It was terrible. Walking through the camp I saw the barracks, the kitchen, the execution trench, the infirmatory, the crematorium.. it was all so surreal. I remember just feeling completely uncomfortable and sad the entire time. At some parts, I told Michelle I just couldnt handle seeing what we were seeing anymore and I walked out of the buildings. I'm glad I went there though, it was a learning experience and it was so powerful.
After the camp we went to dinner at another german food restuarant which was good, but not as good as the previous nights meal. I had potato pasta which was a lot like german gnocchi. That night we met up with a german friend of Kelsey's. It was cool to interact with some germans who could understand us (for the most part) and who could interact with the locals because our attempts to interact hadnt gone too well. We walked around a lot looking for a wine place, but when we finally found it it was packed. So we wandered around a bit, made our way to Alexanderplatz, took some pictures, drank some schnapps, and talked to some intoxicated women who were having a bachelorette party. It was a lot of fun, even though we didnt really do much. We then attempted to go to a club, but it was a failed attempt, as the place we went seemed to be prejudice against americans. Thats all Im going to say about that night...
Sunday Michelle & I went to the Pergamon museum which was cool, we got to see a lot of stuff the germans took from places they conquered/went to war with/ etc. Annie, Kelsey & Michael went to the Topography of Terror & to the Ritter Sport Chocolae factory. Not gonna lie, I was pretty jealous of the chocolate they made & got. We all met up to get wurst before we went to the airport. I got Rost bratwurst. It was pretty yummy.
We arrived back at the flats around 130 am and I slept in til noon the next day. It was a MUCH better way to travel then our amsterdam experience.
Overall, I had a lot of fun in Berlin and I would definitley go back to see more of what I missed or to take my kids one day. If I have kids, which I might not because I heard childbirth hurts like a... :)
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