Learning about Berlin

The day started with the standard hostel breakfast: rolls with butter and jam. This hostel gained points by having nutella as an option, and that was definitely an option I took advantage of. As we left the hostel, the weather was exactly what we expected from the forecast--it was raining pretty hard, but luckily we had umbrellas and we decided not to let the rain stop us.

Brandenburg gate in Pariser Platz

Having stumbled across Sandeman’s New Europe tours in Dublin, Meg and I continued our New Europe free walking tour streak and went on the tour through the Berlin city center. Some of the sights we covered included the Brandenburg gate, (one of the most iconic gates of Berlin), the Reichstag building, (a government building), Hitler’s old bunker, a Holocaust Memorial for all the murdered Jews of Europe, the Book Burning Memorial outside of Humboldt University, Checkpoint Charlie, the SS Headquarters, the Berlin Wall, and finally the Museum Island. It was almost unreal walking on the tour because the history is so recent and powerful. I guess I just hadn’t realized that the Berlin Wall only came down about twenty years ago, about a month after I was born. This was definitely the most intellectual and historical tour that I had been on and was very sobering. After the tour, Meg and I continued in our Paris mindset and got crepes—best crepes ever!

Checkpoint Charlie

After the crepes, I went to the Topography of Terrors, a museum about the history of Hitler, the Holocaust and the Berlin wall. Walking alongside the wall was very thought provoking, and while it wasn’t the happiest or most joyful thing to see, I am very glad I got to experience it. The museum was teeming with information and pictures and it was overwhelming to try to take it all in. We spent quite a bit of time in the museum and ended up sitting for a little while to rest our very tired feet.

A remaining portion of the Berlin wall

We walked back along the walking tour route and stopped for an early dinner near the Holocaust Memorial. The day had tired me out more so than past travelling days, and I decided it had to be because it was the last travelling weekend and my body was just tired. We headed back to the hostel around 6:30 to get ready for our pub crawl later that night.

Holocaust Memorial-different height blocks on uneven ground

The pub crawl made for one of the best nights out in Europe. We left the hostel around 8:15 and the first place we went had an outdoor backyard which was super crowded with other “crawlers.” The entertainment provided at the pub was a really outgoing pyro-man, juggling fire and playing with a blow torch. We met quite a cast of characters throughout the night including a stag party (think bachelor party) with the groom dressed as Elvis, a trio of “Teach for England” teachers, two awesome girls from Ireland, a pair of au pairs from Munich, 2 engineering students from Cincinnati, and some German natives. Everyone was extremely friendly and it was just a solid fun night.

Meg and I with the groom to be (Elvis), the best man and another friend. They were a riot!

August 14