Berlin

Sorry guys, no creative title this time - I think I've already run out of them.

We got back from Berlin at 6:30 AM Monday morning, and, I must say, it's my favorite city that I've been to so far this short semester. People there are much nicer than they are in France (and a little bit weirder - I think some dude at the mall asked me for my empty water bottle from my tray because he definitely took it), more friendly, more English-speaking, and taller (I felt short more than I ever have in France, not that that's saying much). They're also a little bit louder and rowdier, though I guess I kind of miss being able to hear other people talk wherever we are (French people are way too quiet). Also, stuff is way cheaper there than it is here in Metz (i.e. people were selling beer near our subway station for 80 eurocents, which is like one dollar) and apparently, happy hours last from like 5 PM until they feel like closing, which may explain why German people drink so much.

Under my sister's recommendation, we did a free walking tour (http://www.neweuropetours.eu/) of the city, and it was awesome. It was partly because Berlin is a really interesting city (with a lot of history) to begin with, but also because our tour guide, Taylor, was funny (and Australian). It lasted about 3.5 hours, but it didn't feel like that at all. Definitely recommend it to anyone who decides to go to Berlin, and I'm probably gonna try it again in another city where they have the tours. I also recommend visiting Olympiastadion (the German Olympic Stadium from the Berlin Olympics in 1936) during the daytime, because we went at night and it was creepy as heck. There was nobody there, really dark, and we didn't get to go inside; judging from Wikipedia, it would have been awesome.

Anyway, the part you guys care about - here are some pictures:

There are three things to see here:

First of all, this is the train station.

Second of all, this is STILL the train station (it basically is a mall with a train station attached).

Third, in case you missed it in picture above, there were American stores!

After we left the train station...

I guess when your car is as long as it is wide, it doesn't really matter how you park.


Welcome to the German language. I think this says car dealership or something of the sort because it was outside of a Toyota dealership, but I could easily be wrong.

I also loved the advertising in Germany. Most walls were covered in posters. Some made sense.

Some didn't.

Cool pictures in the city -

Pictures from the tour:

This picture is really cool because the painting in the back is the exact same size as the one on the ground (yeah, that's not a fountain. it's a picture). The back depicts the ideals of communism, where people are working together and everyone is happy, whereas the one on the ground is a picture from an uprising against communism at this location (zoomed in pictures below).

There were a bunch of buildings (like this one) that were built a while ago, then got bombed a bunch of times (WWI), rebuilt, got bombed a bunch more (WWII), and rebuilt again. Also, if I remember correctly, Einstein taught here.

The next day we explored the East Side Gallery - it was a piece of the wall that was left up (around a mile long). At some point (I think 2009), they invited a bunch of artists (and different types of artists) to come paint on what was left of the wall and named it the east side gallery. It's also kinda cool that the first person was Indian.

The following was my favorite quote from the wall, although a bunch of them were good.

This is how they sell ice cream in the mall (1 euro per scoop). It tasted as good as it looks.

U.S. Embassy! Plus a bear in the window that looks like the Statue of Liberty. They had a bunch of these laying around across the city, each of them unique. They apparently signify world peace.

Holocaust Memorial (with snow on top).

And finally, each side of what's left of the Berlin wall. They still look pretty different today.

Weekend Picture Count: 238

Trip Picture Count: 773