Berlin

I got back from Berlin last night, and I am very tired today (even though I got 10 hours of sleep!). I took a train there (and back). It was a five hour ride but inexpensive. It was the first time I ever took a train by myself!

On the ride to Berlin I wasn't sure what to expect. The only other time I was on a train was when I went to Krakow with my entire program. It was an overnight train and I didn't have to pay attention to anything because our directors led the way. Well, I get on the train and had no idea where I was supposed to sit. So I picked an empty car and settled into a great book (one my roommate lent me). Two hours passed hardly noticed. I was absorbed in my book. The train stopped in Dresden (a city in Germany half way between Prague and Berlin) where a bunch of people get on. Four people dressed in business attire and obviously colleagues going to Berlin on business came into my car. They look at me quizzically. I smiled and immediately turned back to my book. They didn't protest or anything so I just finished out the ride engrossed in my book.

It turns out there are seat assignments on trains, and I was not in the correct seat. I was actually sitting in first class! No one said anything to me! Not even the ticket checker! I realized this on the way home when I noticed the seats all have numbers and the first class wagons are the first two of the train. So on the way back I found my seat, in second class. The way back was much less enjoyable. First of all the lady checking tickets took my ticket and said something very quickly and angrily in German. I said "I'm sorry I don't speak German" and she said sternly "Invalid! Invalid!". I don't know how familiar you all are with train traveling, but the checkers come around after the train has already left! We were about 10 minutes into our journey when this happened! I thought I was going to get kicked off at the next stop and have to fend for myself! Anyways, I ineffectively told her I bought it online, and showed her my other ticket (to Berlin) and she was still putting up a fuss. A German man sitting across to me had had enough. He stood up and pointed at my two tickets saying something in German. Their conversation got very heated. I think he was saying something along the lines of "look it says she paid and was assigned a seat number. She finally just stamped my ticket and left, very annoyed. I asked the man what just happened and he said "She is an idiot, you're fine." Thank god he was there!! I thanked him profusely but he just grumbled and turned back to his newspaper...I don't think I'll ever know what was wrong with my ticket! Then after the two Germans in my car got off at Dresden, the only other person in the car, an older Czech man, decided he should talk my ear off the entire rest of the way. :( I got lectured on everything from Czech and US culture and politics to physics to Christmas traditions to how to cure kidney stones...

But back to my weekend. I got to the hostel a couple hours before Ryan late Thursday night. It was fine though because I got to finish my book :) Friday morning we ate our "free" breakfast and made sandwiches for lunch, and headed out for a free city tour. The tour was very cool and informative. We saw and learned so much!! We saw where Michael Jackson held his baby over the balcony, the Berlin wall, many Nazi government buildings, Hitler's bunker and many other things.

I learned/relearned so much about WWII! I'm sure you all know this but I will recap what I found interesting. Hitler started the Nazi party in the late 20's or early 30's...can't remember. He got a place in Parliament and held about .25% of the vote...an insignificant amount. He tried to incite a revolution and thought everyone would join his party, but it failed miserably and he got tried for treason. However, he was only sentenced to 4 years in prison. Even worse, he got out after only 11 months for good behavior!! A very light sentence/punishment for treason! While he was in prison he wrote Mien Kampf (sp?). So he gets out and the Great Depression starts, which also takes a toll on Germany's economy. So what do people do in times of crisis? The look to other political parties for answers. So Communism and Nazism increased greatly in the 30's. Hitler learned his lesson from his failed revolution attempt and decided he would get to power legally. The German constitution said any party could instill an emergency dictatorship with 2/3 of the vote. We'll the communists were becoming more and more weary of Hitler so they decided they could keep a better eye on him if they appointed him as Chancellor (head of Parliament)!! Stupid, stupid mistake!! Hitler called for an election but he only received 45% of the vote, not enough to create a dictatorship. Then a radical (cannot remember his name) set fire to the Parliament building as a protest of Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler saw this as a huge opportunity. He said the fire was stared by the Communists and other parties in order to destroy Germany, and had all his political opponents thrown in jail. Then, while everyone was in jail, Hitler called for another election and received 2/3 of the vote. Hence Hitler rose to power!

We also saw and learned all about the Berlin wall and the falling of the Berlin wall, but I won't recite that history here...I think it is recent enough for most of you to remember, even though I was only 1 year old!

Oh and another cool thing we saw was Hitler's bunker...well actually the parking lot that now covers where his bunker once was! It was just so weird to me that we were standing in a parking lot, right over the place where Hitler committed suicide in his hideout. I also loved the fact that it was a parking lot and there were no flowers or monument or crazies around mourning his death! That's how it should be! I also learned that all of his remains, except his teeth (because they prove Hitler is in fact dead) were burned and flushed down a toilet. His final resting place is in the sewer! As it should be!

Also on our tour we saw checkpoint charlie, Humboldt university, the site of the infamous Nazi book burning, the opera house, museum island and a couple of pretty squares where workers were setting up tents for the Christmas markets! We really saw and learned so much on the tour I cannot possibly explain it all here!

After our tour we went to the famous Pergamonmuseum. This was a really cool museum! It held a ton of ancient Greek and Babylonian artifacts including the ENTIRE Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate by Milet (Greek building facades) and the Ischtar Gate with processional road (from Babylonia!) I loved this museum!!

Then we walked around for a bit and found a place to eat in Alexanderplatz. After dinner we went home to drop off my purse and grab a couple of beers before heading out for the night. We went to this one street that was filled with bars! We stopped in at two, and it was really nice! It was nice just to sit and talk in a bar with Ryan, I really enjoyed Friday night.

Saturday we woke up and took another tour called the Third Reich tour. It covered so much! Basically more info about WWII. It took pretty much the whole day! (1pm-5pm). Before the tour we took the train to the far West side of the city. We stopped at a train stop (cannot remember the name) and just went exploring. It was a cute little part of Berlin with tons of shops, little cafes and bakeries. Then we went back to the city center and just walked around for a bit, grabbed an ice cream, and went on the tour. After the tour we were planning to go to the Opera because its only 3.50 euro for students but by the time our tour was over all the tickets were sold out :(

Instead we wandered the city. We stopped inside the Radisson hotel in search of an ATM, instead we found a HUGE fish tank that took up the entire atrium of the hotel! Ryan said he remembered reading about it. I think he said it was the biggest aquarium in the world? Or maybe Europe? Anyways it was huge! We wandered some more, found some food for dinner and ended up just going home, we were both so tired. We were going to go out but ended up just staying in, drinking a few beers at the bar and playing cards. It was nice.

Then Sunday morning we parted ways :( I won't get to see Ryan for eleven days! I'll be in Prague for pretty much the entire next two weeks. My program is taking a day trip to Pilzen, a town in the south where they brew the Czech Republic's famous Pilzner beer. It should be fun. Then the next weekend I will meet Ryan in Budapest! It is hard to believe I only have one month left in Prague!!