Berlin, Berlin

Berlin is a city that everyone should visit. There is so much history surrounding the city, and there is a lot to be learned about tolerance and people, I think it’s a worth while trip for anyone. We started out our first day with an open top bus tour of the city. Which, granted is really cheesy, but after a good experience with it in Barcelona, I was able to coax my parents into trying it out. I think we were all impressed with the things that you are able to see in such a short amount of time. With a limited amount of time there, it was a good way to get some of the bigger sights in. We got off and saw things up close later on, like the Brandenburger Tor, the site of the Nazi Book Burnings, and Checkpoint Charlie. The second day, we were out for 12 hours, making the most of our last day together. Highlights included the Jewish Museum, and the very cool and trendy Prenzlaurberg Neighborhood, with great café’s, stores, and many East German buildings that had survived it all.

Mom and Dad left Saturday to drive back to Frankfurt (they flew out of there on Sunday) so I hung out in the city on my own. I did some shopping and while in the Kaa Dee Wee (big department store, like the Harrod’s of Berlin) it started Pouring outside. Buckets, huge buckets… so I hung out there a bit longer, but finally ventured out into the wet. I did have an umbrella, thankfully, but that didn’t do much for my feet, which were only in flip flops. So I ran across the street to the nearest U-Bahn (subway) to catch the train back to my hostel, but really, the station was flooded… water coming down the stairs, big puddles on the ground.. good times :-) My flip flops were leather, so that and the water was not a good combination.. the soles of my feet were black for days. Back at the hostel, I took a nice nap, and ended up hanging out with a bunch of Spaniards that night. It started out as 6 or 7 of us, and turned into me and 20 of them. It got to the point, when new people came the introductions went something like this: Bilbao, Bilbao, Bilbao, Bilbao, Madrid, Madrid, Malaga, Malaga, Bilbao, Bilbao, Califonia… so funny, all the people were pretty surprised. I had a couple of conversations in English, and one in German (with an Italian, who spoke German and Spanish as well, wow, being here me feel so unaccomplished!)

Berlin was so great, I think the pictures will explain a lot more. I am so glad that it all worked out to go and to be there with my parents was even better. I think there is so much to be learned from a visit there. It has a lot more diversity than in other parts of the country, and there are so many things going on still to rebuild the city. The variety of architecture is amazing, and it is a city that is constantly changing and developing. It has grown so much in the past 20 years, and I can only imagine what it will be like in just a little more time.

photos at: http://ucdavis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177295&l=fe451&id=3206990

just so you know... the vertical ones aren't right side up :-(