Week 9! - Berlin!

Hello! This week was so much fun! I loved exploring so many new places! It all started on Monday night around 9:30 when Andy, Rahel, and I left for the train station! We got there a little early but the train was there soon enough. It was my first time on a night train! When we first got on the train and found our little room the people we were sharing it with were already there. It was 2 small kids and their Grandma. We were all tired ready for bed so we got settled fast and got in our beds. As you might know if you read my first blog, I have a very hard time time sleeping on trains, planes, busses, cars, boats, etc. Or really anywhere where I have to sit up. But I was optimistic because there was a bed where I could lie down, but it still wasn’t as great as I’d hoped it could’ve been. I tried really hard to try and fall asleep for the first 4 hours but I really just couldn’t. I was very hot and every time the train moved a little bit I’d wake up. In the middle of the night I was so frustrated because I was so tired but I couldn’t sleep. My mom was still awake so I texted her and then tried again to sleep. At that point the train was stopped. It was stopped for a pretty long time. I’m not sure why though. Thankfully because it was completely still I was able to fall asleep and stayed asleep for the remaining time on the train. All in all about 3 and 1/2 hours. One of the people working on the train woke us up with breakfast. She brought us tea and coffee and some rolls with butter and jam. We got off the train around 8 AM and then took trams and walked to the apartment. We have friends who live in Berlin who have a spare apartment next door to where the live because they are in the process of moving. Once we got a little bit settled in we went over to their apartment and ate breakfast. We had “Brötchen” a common breakfast in all of German of a small roll that’s eaten with jam, cheese, or other things. I think it’s delicious! 

After breakfast we used our friends’ bikes (and one rental bike) to go around the city. Because Andy used to live in Berlin, he knows the city very well so it was nice to see the city from less of a tourist’s perspective and more of a local’s perspective. We went to one of Rahel’s childhood parks, around downtown, and overall just an overall look at all of Berlin. Then we went out to lunch. We went to a little Italian place and I got a delicious pasta dish and Andy and Rahel each got pizzas. Everything was delicious. It was also my first time going out to eat since arriving in Germany. After lunch we went to some more cool parts of Berlin. We went to the Brandenburg Gate, we looked at some statues, learned some things about the Berlin wall, and then we went to the Berlin the wall. We went to the Berlin wall a lot because Rahel is doing a school project on the Berlin wall so I got to learn so much about it. I loved touring Berlin with Andy and Rahel because I really feel like I was able to see so much of Berlin all in one day. 

Me biking around Berlin! 

Rahel and I eating our special Italian lunch!

Rahel and I at the Brandenburg Gate!

A comparison of me now, and me 11 years ago at the exact same spot in Berlin! It's funny to see how I've changed and also how the wall has changed. It's clearly been repainted. 

Once it got dark we went back to the apartment and just relaxed before we went to bed. We helped Lukas build his bed and then we watched the movie “Dolphin Tale” in German with English subtitles. 

The second day had very bad weather. We woke up to snow and a very cold temperature. It was too cold to be riding our bikes so we decided to take the tram. The tram was okay but it was kind of like the New York subway and I definitely preferred taking the bikes. However since we were walking more I got to take some photos of some of the street art in Berlin which I really liked. Because the weather wasn’t so great we decided to go to a museum. We went to the Berlin wall museum. There was so much information and so much to learn. I learned all about Checkpoint Charlie, the history of the Berlin wall, what life with the Berlin wall was like, what happened when they tore it down, and more. I took World History my freshman year and we didn’t cover the Berlin wall so to be honest I didn’t really know anything about the Berlin wall until before I went there! But it’s such a fascinating piece of history that I’m really interested in now and I’ll be sure to continue researching when I get back to Freiburg. After the first Berlin wall museum we went to another one but it was very different. It had a lot of quotes from people who really experienced and lived through the wall. They were very interesting to read. The second part of the museum was a panorama. It was almost like virtual reality because it was so realistic. The photos I took really don’t do it justice because the cameras didn’t work with the technology used in the room. But you’ll have to trust me when I say that I really felt like I was there. After that we were planning on going to another museum, but the timing didn’t work out and the museum was about to close so we decided to instead walk around Museum Island and look at all the beautiful buildings. Then we took the long way back to the tram station so we could see some more of Berlin while walking. 

Here is one example of the street art in Berlin. There is also a lot of graffiti as you can see. 

I also thought this one was funny! 

This is a photo of Rahel and I in the Panorama room in the second Berlin Wall museum. It doesn't look as realistic in this picture as it did in person!

Here is one of the very old buildings in Berlin. This is the Berlin Cathedral, very close to Museum Island.

When we went back to the apartment Rahel and I starting watching a movie while Andy cooked us dinner and then we went over to our friend’s apartment to eat dinner with them. We also watched some Loriot, a classic German comedy from the 70s or 80s. 

The next day we went to the largest stretch of the Berlin wall that’s still standing in Berlin. There are small sections throughout the city but this was a really big section. It had a lot of beautiful artwork on it. After that we went to the Neues Museum. This museum was really really cool. The first part of the museum was all about before the stone age, the stone age, and the bronze age. It was really interesting. We had audio guides to talk about everything and I got mine in English so it was much easier to follow along. The second part of the museum was all about Egyptian things. Most things I couldn’t take photos of, but it was really really beautiful. After that we went to another cool Berlin wall thing. It was the Berlin wall park and it talked all about “The Wall at Brunnenstrasse”. To give a short summary. the wall was built basically on top of a subway stop (at Brunnenstrasse) so people could no longer stop there and it was eventually closed and torn down. But it’s back now. My summary took out all the interesting parts, but I swear it was a very cool park. 

Here are our lovely hosts. Eva and her son Lukas. Here they are working on making a new bed for Lukas. 

This is a photo of "The Golden Hat" one of the most famous pieces in the Neues Museum. It's believed to be used for very special occasions and on it are very special symbols that resemble the lunar cycle.

On my last day in in Berlin the weather was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately one of our bikes had a flat tire so we couldn’t take our bikes, but we still had fun. We went to Tempelhof Park which is this HUGE open space in Berlin. Now people can ride their bikes, picnic, rollerblade, play with their dogs, and walk, but it used to be an airport. It was a big airport which was used heavily during WW2 but after the war it was used for normal commercial flights. But it outgrew it’s space and couldn’t keep up with the demand so it eventually closed and now it’s a park. Right now there’s also a lot of temporary homes set up for incoming refugees because there’s no room anywhere else in the city. Overall I think it’s super cool that such a huge city can make space for such a huge park that so Berlin’s citizens can still have a place for fresh air and outside play time. After we went to this park we did a tradition that Andy and Rahel do overtime in Berlin. They always go to this specific pizza and ice cream place for a treat. So we got our delicious pizzas and then we got our ice cream. This was my first time having ice cream since coming to Germany and it was so so so good. There were so many delicious flavors and it was so hard to choose. But eventually I went with white chocolate raspberry and peanut butter chocolate. It was so good and I wish it never ended. We got back to our apartment and finished packing up before we had to go. My train left a few hours earlier than Andy and Rahel’s because I was taking a train to Hannover and they were taking a night train back to Freiburg. I got on the train and took a relatively short train ride (2 hours) to Hannover. I met up with Parimah and her family and we headed back to her apartment. I hadn’t eaten dinner so they heated me up some delicious leftovers and then we were all very tired so I just took a quick shower and went to bed. It was so nice talking to everyone and catching up. It’s been just under a year since we’ve last seen each other so there was a lot to catch each other up on.

Here Rahel and I are watching the dogs play in the dog park within Tempelhof Park. You can really see how huge it is and you can also tell how much Rahel and I love dogs! 

This was my yummy mushroom pizza!

And this is my huge yummy ice cream cone! 

Because this Blog is getting pretty long, I’ve decided to post about all my adventures in Hannover in my next blog. I hope you enjoyed hearing all about the first part of my trip and I hope you’ll check out next week’s blog to hear all about what I did in Hannover! Thank’s for reading! Have a great day!