(Turkish lunch in Berlin)
(Greta, Kurt, and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate)
(throwing Trevor off the Reichstage)
(Olympic Stadium)
(The Wall)Hello blog readers!!! I just got back from Berlin not too long ago and I am very excited to report that I now get wireless in my room! It'll be soooo much easier to update and download pics now. But anyway, about Berlin...
Mallory, Noelle, Jared, Preston, Kurt, Trevor, Greta and I took one of the school offered trips to Berlin through Anderson tours this weekend and it was AMAZING! The trip started with getting up at 3am on Friday morning and taking a cab to where the Anderson bus was going to pick us up and take us to the airport. This ended being a bit more difficult than expected. All we had was a street name for the place that we were supposed to be picked up. Baker St. Baker street is a relatively long street. So we wandered a lot and made a fair amount of phone calls and found out that we were to be picked up in front of McDonalds. Crisis averted. We took the bus to the airport and flew Air Berlin to the city. Immediately after getting off the plane, we got on a tour bus to take a 3hr. tour ride of the city. This was really cool. First we went to the Olympic Stadium and got off the bus and walked around. Our tour guide, Gareth, a young Irish guy pointed out where Hitler sat and all this crazy stuff. Here, we also met a new friend who we called "abuelo" (Spanish for grandfather). He was an older gentleman from Argentina who was traveling by himself. He was such a kind man and he took some pics with us and spoke to Trevor in Spanish because he knew very little English and German. We got back on the bus and didn't get off for another 2hrs and 45mins. This was a little rough for most of us, especially considering the fact that we got up so early and none of us had eaten anything. Trevor, Noelle, and Mal were passed out for almost the whole tour. Those of us who were awake saw the US embassy, the German Parliament buildings, where the chancellor lives, the tall television tower (looks kind of like the Space Needle), the Sony Center, the Tiergarten (big park), the Reichstage, the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, parts of the Berlin Wall, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the place where Michael Jackson hung his baby out the window. At the very end of the tour we got out and got a closer look at part of the Berlin Wall. As fascinating as all of this was to see, my initial impression of Berlin wasn't exactly a great one. Berlin, isn't a "pretty" city. It's very industrial and extremely spread out. I don't know why, but I wasn't too impressed, but that eventually all changed...
We checked into the hotel and freshened up a bit, then the eight of us walked down to this Turkish restaurant and had pizza and falafels. Then we decided to take the underground to this shopping area that Gareth told us about. Not as easy at the tube. In Berlin they have an underground, overground and a tram. It took as a good hour and a half to get to the shopping area that wasn't that far. We shopped around for a bit and then we split up. Mal, Noelle, and I decided to hang around and do a little more shopping. I bought sunglasses and then we sat and had iced caps at this outdoor cafe. This is where my feelings on Berlin started to change. I was sitting with my two best friends at a beautiful cafe in the center of this lovely area with a sax player just as the sun was going down. The rest of the crew ended up playing a lawn game with some people from Norway in front of the Berlin Cathedral... but I'm sure Preston will write about that.
Gareth called Noelle's phone and all of us met up with him to follow him to this bar. I think it'll be hard to put how completely awesome this place was into words, but I'll do my best. There's this building that is about seven stories high and it is completely ugly and falling apart. The walls on the inside are completely covered with graffiti and there are a couple studios on each floor where there are all of these artists hanging out drinking, smoking, and selling jewelry and paintings. Ont the top floor there is a bar with old mismatched furniture and it's big and open and has an incredible view. After a drink there, we went outside in the back of this building where there is sand all over (like a beach) and big tire, tube things and tables and benches all over. We stayed there pretty late. It was probably my favorite night abroad so far.
Saturday started wonderfully because we had a great night sleep in the hotel beds... much better than Schiller. We had breakfast and Trevor and Kurt went to meet Trevor's friend, Michael from Nuremberg, at the train station, then brought him back to the hotel. The nine of us made our way to the Brandenburg Gate and then the Jewish Memorial and Museum. It was really intense. The museum was very well done. It was very heartbreaking and something I will never forget. After that, we went souvenir shopping and got popsicles. Did I mention that it was in the mid eighties the whole weekend? Yeah, totally sweet weather. We took our popsicles to the park and layed in the grass for a while and rested. After that, we went to the top of the Reichstage where there's this really huge glass dome with a spectacular view of the city. Then we made our way back to the hotel to change and get un-sweaty. Greta's friend, David, had a photography exhibit going on so we all went to check that out around 8:00. Being in Germany, we decided to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was fun and delicious. There were three different languages going on that evening. Spanish, German, and English... it was pretty cool. We went back to the bar from the previous night and stayed there until about 1:30 hanging out and having Michael teach us dirty German words. We also had a good laugh at the only other Americans in the bar and their obnoxious state of intoxication. Oh yeah, and we saw 4 guys dressed up like The Beatles.
Sunday we went to this HUGE flea market with Gareth. Trevor, Michael, Jared, Greta, Noelle, Mal and I had a great time looking at all the cool handmade art and jewelry as well as all of the complete junk that was there as well. Afterwards, we went to a place called Fat Ass and had New York style pizza... YUM!!! We eventually made our way back to the hotel and hung out until the bus picked us up for the airport. The one and only bad part of the trip is the fact that the plane really messed up my right ear. Ouchies. Now, I'm uber excited to take other trips. Trevor and I started watching the movie Paris, Je T'aime the other night and after seeing all of the beautiful shots of Paris... I'm sooo ready to go.
Mallory, Noelle, Jared, Preston, Kurt, Trevor, Greta and I took one of the school offered trips to Berlin through Anderson tours this weekend and it was AMAZING! The trip started with getting up at 3am on Friday morning and taking a cab to where the Anderson bus was going to pick us up and take us to the airport. This ended being a bit more difficult than expected. All we had was a street name for the place that we were supposed to be picked up. Baker St. Baker street is a relatively long street. So we wandered a lot and made a fair amount of phone calls and found out that we were to be picked up in front of McDonalds. Crisis averted. We took the bus to the airport and flew Air Berlin to the city. Immediately after getting off the plane, we got on a tour bus to take a 3hr. tour ride of the city. This was really cool. First we went to the Olympic Stadium and got off the bus and walked around. Our tour guide, Gareth, a young Irish guy pointed out where Hitler sat and all this crazy stuff. Here, we also met a new friend who we called "abuelo" (Spanish for grandfather). He was an older gentleman from Argentina who was traveling by himself. He was such a kind man and he took some pics with us and spoke to Trevor in Spanish because he knew very little English and German. We got back on the bus and didn't get off for another 2hrs and 45mins. This was a little rough for most of us, especially considering the fact that we got up so early and none of us had eaten anything. Trevor, Noelle, and Mal were passed out for almost the whole tour. Those of us who were awake saw the US embassy, the German Parliament buildings, where the chancellor lives, the tall television tower (looks kind of like the Space Needle), the Sony Center, the Tiergarten (big park), the Reichstage, the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, parts of the Berlin Wall, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the place where Michael Jackson hung his baby out the window. At the very end of the tour we got out and got a closer look at part of the Berlin Wall. As fascinating as all of this was to see, my initial impression of Berlin wasn't exactly a great one. Berlin, isn't a "pretty" city. It's very industrial and extremely spread out. I don't know why, but I wasn't too impressed, but that eventually all changed...
We checked into the hotel and freshened up a bit, then the eight of us walked down to this Turkish restaurant and had pizza and falafels. Then we decided to take the underground to this shopping area that Gareth told us about. Not as easy at the tube. In Berlin they have an underground, overground and a tram. It took as a good hour and a half to get to the shopping area that wasn't that far. We shopped around for a bit and then we split up. Mal, Noelle, and I decided to hang around and do a little more shopping. I bought sunglasses and then we sat and had iced caps at this outdoor cafe. This is where my feelings on Berlin started to change. I was sitting with my two best friends at a beautiful cafe in the center of this lovely area with a sax player just as the sun was going down. The rest of the crew ended up playing a lawn game with some people from Norway in front of the Berlin Cathedral... but I'm sure Preston will write about that.
Gareth called Noelle's phone and all of us met up with him to follow him to this bar. I think it'll be hard to put how completely awesome this place was into words, but I'll do my best. There's this building that is about seven stories high and it is completely ugly and falling apart. The walls on the inside are completely covered with graffiti and there are a couple studios on each floor where there are all of these artists hanging out drinking, smoking, and selling jewelry and paintings. Ont the top floor there is a bar with old mismatched furniture and it's big and open and has an incredible view. After a drink there, we went outside in the back of this building where there is sand all over (like a beach) and big tire, tube things and tables and benches all over. We stayed there pretty late. It was probably my favorite night abroad so far.
Saturday started wonderfully because we had a great night sleep in the hotel beds... much better than Schiller. We had breakfast and Trevor and Kurt went to meet Trevor's friend, Michael from Nuremberg, at the train station, then brought him back to the hotel. The nine of us made our way to the Brandenburg Gate and then the Jewish Memorial and Museum. It was really intense. The museum was very well done. It was very heartbreaking and something I will never forget. After that, we went souvenir shopping and got popsicles. Did I mention that it was in the mid eighties the whole weekend? Yeah, totally sweet weather. We took our popsicles to the park and layed in the grass for a while and rested. After that, we went to the top of the Reichstage where there's this really huge glass dome with a spectacular view of the city. Then we made our way back to the hotel to change and get un-sweaty. Greta's friend, David, had a photography exhibit going on so we all went to check that out around 8:00. Being in Germany, we decided to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was fun and delicious. There were three different languages going on that evening. Spanish, German, and English... it was pretty cool. We went back to the bar from the previous night and stayed there until about 1:30 hanging out and having Michael teach us dirty German words. We also had a good laugh at the only other Americans in the bar and their obnoxious state of intoxication. Oh yeah, and we saw 4 guys dressed up like The Beatles.
Sunday we went to this HUGE flea market with Gareth. Trevor, Michael, Jared, Greta, Noelle, Mal and I had a great time looking at all the cool handmade art and jewelry as well as all of the complete junk that was there as well. Afterwards, we went to a place called Fat Ass and had New York style pizza... YUM!!! We eventually made our way back to the hotel and hung out until the bus picked us up for the airport. The one and only bad part of the trip is the fact that the plane really messed up my right ear. Ouchies. Now, I'm uber excited to take other trips. Trevor and I started watching the movie Paris, Je T'aime the other night and after seeing all of the beautiful shots of Paris... I'm sooo ready to go.
3 comments:
HI Em--love your blog!!!! Are you taking care of my girl? You all look like you are having a great time--So--do you think Berlin ,Germany is much different than Berlin,NY?? NO?!?! lol
Thanks again for the blog!! (I know it takes time everyday)
Love
Leslie
Sounds like a wonderful time. Loved your comment Leslie because when people asked us where Emily was this weekend we had to remember to not pronounce it like BERlin NY. Love you Em, mom
Hi Emily. Your Mom told me about your blog. This is wonderful. Sounds like you are having a great time. Enjoy your trip and continue to take tons of pictures!
Love Helen
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