After waking up early this morning, to ensure us catching the train, Katie and I set off to Berlin! We arrived around noon and dumped our stuff off at the hostel. Puzzle of the day number 1: How to use the public transportation system of Berlin... If you haven't been here, you can't possibly imagine how strangely intricate the entire system is. You have the S-bahn lines, the U-bahn lines, the Regio lines, the trams around the city, the buses around the city, and then the normal trains that are at all of the city's train stations. (Of which, they have about 4 or 5) In addition to to all of these lines, all of the stations are multi-story and some of the escalators will get you to some platforms and some to others. Of course, this is completely dependent on whether or not you have found the right line to begin with. Another thing is the way that you buy tickets for all of these lines. It's one ticket for all of them, and you have to validate it by stamping it before you get on the trains. And you may, or may not have your ticket checked. But after finding a map and figuring out a plan of attack, Katie and I set off for probably the most famous tourist attraction in Berlin since 1989, the Berlin Wall.
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| Memorial Chunk of the Wall |
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| Cool piece of Art along the Wall. |
Or at least, whats left of it.
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| The Brandenburger Tor |
There is only about 1.3 km left of the wall still standing in its original position. And that 1.3 km is now an art gallery full of sanctioned politically based wall murals and some unsanctioned graffitti. Very cool!
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| Reichstag |
After this an a well timed lunch, we trek back to the hostel to completely check in to our rooms and settle a bit. Then we head out again to the famous TV tower of Berlin, where we deemed the line far to long to wait in, and head back out, this time to the Tiergarten.
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| The Holocaust Memorial |
The Tiergarten is this lovely garden surrounded by the Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag, various war memorials, and the Holocaust Memorial.
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| The US Embassy |
(Not to mention, the US Embassy....)
After a few on/off rain showers, Katie and I decide that we are yet again hungry, and we set off in search of a classic German meal of sausage, potatoes and saurkraut! After this satisfying meal (I'll probably weigh 300lbs by the time I leave this country!), we decide to crash early as we have a pretty busy morning tomorrow!
Tomorrow, Katie and I are off to see the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial!
Cheers!
KM
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