Adventures in Tiruchirappalli, India: Berlin, Germany: A Beautiful Church in a Wonderful City

Hallo!

Since my last post I've spent two days in Berlin, Germany! Every once in a while Morgan and I will forget that we are even in Europe and we will have to look at each other and remind ourselves that we are indeed in Europe, in another country. Berlin was an amazing place to spend a couple of days. Since we had a little bit longer there than we had in Copenhagen we were able to spend our time in a more leisurely manner and really get to experience the city. Copenhagen is still my favorite so far though! Staying in the hostel and meeting the people there definitely enhanced our time spent there. We met people from the UK, New York/Boston, and Canada. It's amazing getting to hear other people's stories and learning about all of the adventures that they have had. People always see the mehandi on our hands (mine is almost gone...) and ask about it. While it's weird to have people staring at your hands a lot, I really enjoy sharing my experiences in India and getting to have a conversation with others about it!

The first day when I arrived in Berlin, I was taken aback by the beauty of it. Morgan had been to Berlin previously, so she already knew what to expect, but it was so energizing. That evening we decided to explore the city around the hostel and ended up finding a burger restaurant and, later, a frozen yogurt shop. I know burgers are not very German-ly, but after having so much Indian food, that burger (veg for me) was a work of art!

A wonderful graffiti wall. "Always Be Yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn, then always be a unicorn!"

The next day we got up bright and early aiming for the 9 am free walking tour... but didn't QUITE make it. The tour started at the Brandenburg Gate so we spent the time before the next tour began at 11 am getting a delicious breakfast in the area and exploring. As always, we learned lots on the tours, but Berlin has an extremely rich history so we spent the majority of the tour learning about the history instead of actually seeing the city. But history isn't always my cup of tea so I'm glad we reviewed the most important information. I always try to take some notes on the tours but sometimes it's hard to take in everything and also write it down, but here is some of the information I learned:
-The Hotel Adlon is located in Brandenburg Gate Square and is considered to be one of the most posh hotels (yes, our tour guide used the word posh). The highest level costs 12,000 Euros per night and includes a butler and a "working desk," but no breakfast. It's also known as the hotel where Michael Jackson held "Blanket" out the third story window. Christine, I know you'll be jealous that I got to see that!
-Berlin is the poorest city in Europe, mostly due to the war debts both World Wars which was finally paid off in 2010!!!
-There is a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe that consists of 2,711 concrete blocks, each of the same area but different heights. This number has no significance and the memorial is not traditional, they wanted to leave it up to the interpretation of the viewers. In addition to this memorial for the . Th, there are also separate memorials for homosexuals, politicians who stood up against the Third Reich, Gypsies, and mentally and physically disabled.

Of course we also got to see the Berlin Wall on the tour and to be honest, I was a little disappointed! Apparently I'm not the only one that is disappointed when they see the wall because it is in fact not very tall and not very thick, but the tour guide addressed this disappointment immediately. Apparently there was the wall and then Gestapo on the other side of the wall, where they were instructed to shoot to kill as wall as ground covered with broken glass and other harmful materials.

After a very late lunch (we are on very strange eating schedules), we headed out again to see a couple more must-see things in Berlin. A side note, we were also very surprised with our well we picked up on the public transportation system in Berlin. The subway system is called the U there and there are only four lines, so it was very easy to understand, but it was also a relief that we didn't have to try too hard to understand it!

Our first stop of the evening was the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This church was bombed in WWII and now serves as a symbol of the peace and reconciliation in Germany. The church is also absolutely gorgeous. It was built in the 1800s and the stained glass pieces were all placed and cut by hand - truly stunning. The church is being restored and the actual sanctuary has been reconstructed in a separate building so you are able to walk in and see what it would have been like with its 5,100 of organ pipes and 170 trumpets, but they have left the steeple in its damaged form as well as some of the other areas of the church. They set up a small memorial/museum in the inside so you can see what the church looked like before the damage, learn about the Kaiser and different associated things, as well as light a candle. The church was so amazing I think it was my favorite part of Berlin!

After we headed over to Alexanderplatz since it's one of Berlin's trademarks. I'm not sure we navigated it as well as we should have... but we found a really cool grocery/department store and bought some delicious German chocolate! As we headed home we got a closer look at TV tower as well as a church that we are able to see from our hostel. Since it was our final night in Berlin, we packed up our things and prepared to head out the next morning and then hung out with the friends we had made the night before!

Currently we are on our way to Munich and will arrive in a little over an hour and will officially have visited 2/4 cities in Europe! We are staying in another hostel in Munich, but with a different company, so we can only hope the experience will be just as good! However this time, instead of being in a 4-bed dorm, we have a 12-bed dorm... we are both excited and anxious to see how this will turn out! What is a Europe trip without a very crowded hostel room?!?

Anyways, until the next train trip,
Marissa

P.S. I wrote this blog like two days ago... Sorry I'm late and that I didn't change the tense or anything! My next post will be about the beautiful city of Munich!