Berlin Baby!

Day 57. Today I got up early to catch Anthony on Skype. We skyped and got to chat with each other for a bit ( =D ). I also finally got my confirmation to visit the Reichstag (I am still pretty surprised you have to register online to go in the building)! I was debating taking a day trip today to Potsdam, and I eventually decided to be a little adventurous and just go for it. Potsdam is about an hour or so away from Berlin on an island. It has lots of palaces and what they call “castes,” but I didn’t deem them to be castles by my standards at all, just extremely nice big buildings, i.e. an island full of palaces (Definitely my cup of tea). I arrived around 2pm, just in time for a bus tour to be leaving (I didn’t realize how big Potsdam was, so I was originally planning to just walk everywhere… but after seeing a map, that wasn’t really possible, so on the bus I went! (And I am not quite sure how I get so lucky with my timing but whatever I am doing I am going to KEEP doing it)). Potsdam was pretty cool. I had to listen to headphones as the tour guide was speaking German to the other 6 or 7 tourists on the bus, and I had to sit at the back of the bus… (Haha, racist much? No, I was told to sit there so I could hear my audio guide, plus it was better for taking pictures anyway). So I was pretty segregated, but in my own world looking at the palaces and all of Potsdam so I didn’t mind. The town itself was very nice and I had a nice history lesson on its development, rulers, and numerous palaces. I wished I could have gotten off the bus and explored some of the palaces (Like the Asian styled Drachenhaus (Dragon House), the Orangerie, and the massive botanical gardens.) instead of only having a short time at the three main ones. But at least I was a pro at snapping good pictures on the moving bus (all except the Dragon House, gosh darn trees blocking my view!). At the three bigger main palaces where we got off the bus for 20 minutes or so the German tour guide spoke to me in English after he finished explaining the history in German, so luckily I didn’t miss out there. At the Neues Palais (New Palace), which was built merely as a display of grandeur, I saw some really nice statues that were very old and going to be placed on the palace (it was still under some construction). All in all Potsdam was great and I was glad that I went. I got some groceries on the way back for dinner and snacks for when I get hungry throughout the days for my adventure bag and then I figured out my ticket to Amsterdam. Another overnight train… let’s cross our fingers its better than my rickety train ride to Portugal. But I am SO EXCITED to see Hen, Noah, and Kathrine again (we planned to meet up 2 months ago in Amsterdam when we met in London and we are sticking to the plan!!)!! The weather was windy this morning, but was lovely and sunny all throughout my day at the palaces. Yet, as I hopped on the train to head back to Berlin it started raining pretty hard. I swear Mother Nature and I are best friends; we totally get each other (haha, but really. We are.). I got back to Berlin and wasn’t quite ready to call it a day. I wanted to see another bit of the Berlin wall and was told there was a memorial/monument not too far from my hostel. I jumped on the subway from the central station and found it no problem. Man was it intense. It was a long segment of the wall with descriptions and videos of how it came to be built, its various reconstructions, stories of people trying to escape, and finally the wall coming down. They even had markers on where tunnels had been dug, where a church used to be, where houses caught in the middle of the wall used to be, and a large section of the wall with the “death strip” still intact. I would be lying if I said it didn’t hit a heart string and brought me close to tears. Some of the stories and videos were so moving, especially because of how recent all of this was. I just can’t understand what brings people to act the way they do to such extremes. It started to rain as I was walking along the wall looking at the exhibits and watching the various movie clips, which added to the mood of what I was reading. I made it back to my hostel and relaxed the rest of the evening, made my dinner (ham and peppered cheese on a cheesy bun), and eventually went to bed.

Day 58. I have almost past the 2 month marker, wow! I feel like with just about a month left of travelling that time is just going to fly by! Today I woke up, showered and packed my bags, checked out of my hostel and stored my stuff in the luggage room, and then went to explore the city one last time. I had a scheduled tour of the Reichstag at approximately 11:45 and the Germans are not kidding around. My name was on two separate lists (And first off I had to register online at least 3 days in advance to even get in) and I went through 3 different security check points. The main doors to get in the building itself was like a space lock. They wouldn’t open the doors until the previous doors had shut and locked behind you. But the building was very cool and it was worth the visit. It’s the German parliament house for where the government meets and public policies are decided. I got to go up on the huge glass dome on its winding walkway and the roof for a 360 degree view of Berlin (love it!). The dome itself was clear glass to symbolize Germany’s now transparent government. It had a middle mirror section to help spread natural light and shades that moved as the sun moved to not allow in too much light. It caught the rain in its opened top which helped filter air and provided energy, and you could look down through the glass to see meeting in session. I got an audio guide for the walkway up to the top of the dome and it talked about the buildings I could see off in the distance as well as some of the Reichstag’s history. After the German government building I walked to the Topography of Terror exhibit. It was just in front of a section of the Berlin wall that we passed on our free walking tour, but I wanted a chance to read and see the exhibit. It followed the history of Berlin with how Hitler came into power, the effects of the war, key events, details about those in concentration camps, and then the aftermath of the Berlin wall. The exhibit itself goes into more detail and has computers were you can listen to stories and the building itself is built where the main Soviet headquarters was. It was similar to the memorials I read yesterday along the wall and was again very quiet and somber. I walked back to Checkpoint Charlie so that I could get a stamp in my passport! I only wanted one stamp and talked the guy down on the price, sweet. Having accomplished a stamp in my passport I also wanted to see the East Side Gallery, so I caught the metro all the way to the other side of Berlin. West side of Berlin is awesome! There is graffiti everywhere, but its artsy graffiti so it doesn’t look trashy or rundown at all and is instead just very alternative. I tracked down Watergate and Berghain, two of the clubs I would have loved to go to had I been here on a weekend and then crossed the water, spotting the molecule man, to the east side to see the gallery. The East Side Gallery is a long section of the Berlin wall that has been painted and graffitied to be a work of art. Some of the artwork along the wall was great and others I didn’t like so much, but all in all it was incredible to see how the city took something that was so negative and turned it into monument and a work of art. After walking the length of the wall I was hit with a wave of tiredness, and my feet ached. So I went back to my hostel to chill until my overnight train. As I got out of the metro I looked to the sky and it had been lightly raining earlier and I got a rainbow goodbye. Oh Mother nature, how I love you. I got to skype with Anthony again before I caught my train and we had a little mishap with the computers at the hostel. I laugh at it now, but I was horrified and incredibly embarrassed at the time. Don’t ask; I took care of it. I watched Slumdog Millionaire as I waited for my midnight thirty train to arrive and then before you know it I was on my way to Amsterdam!! Which by the way, it didn’t hit me that I was going to Amsterdam until about 5 minutes before the train arrived (it was 25ish minutes late). I have heard so many stories about Amsterdam, and seen so many movies. I was very excited to be about to experience the city first hand and with friends!! It’s funny how sometimes it still hits me that I am here, in Europe, travelling, and having the time of my life.