So for 2 weeks of my Euro trip I was to be joined with none other than MEGAN BEAZLEY!! So Wednesday after Oktoberfest, I was off to Berlin to meet her at our hostel.
After almost missing my bus out (as in the bus was pulling out of the station when I flagged it down) I arrived on the other side of Germany, Berlin! I cabbed it to my hostel to meet up with Beaz. We stayed at Eastern Comfort, and it was a Boat Hostel. Yes, we slept on a boat. Once I arrived, I went down to the room and was reunited with my main girl!
We spent the day wandering out, grabbing dinner (she had her first Kebab), and then relaxed the night away. She was jet-lagged, and I was just plain tired. We planned the next day what we wanted to do, then we made sure we were up and ready when the sun came.
One we got up, we had breakfast and then ventured over to the Brandenburg Gate to meet our free walking tour. We spent about 2-3 hours walking the main streets of Germany, and here's some of what we learned/saw:
- The statue on top of the Brandenburg Gate is Arenia, who is the goddess of peace. Her name was changed after the war to Victoria, who is the goddess of victory. The statue is facing Paritz Platz and is viewed as having "Victory over Paris"
- The Victory Column was erected for the Unification War
- The Holocaust Memorial is called "The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe". The location (in the middle of the city) is so that people are forced to remember the past during their daily lives. It is made up of 2711 blocks all the same size and height and it is open to interpretation. The artist has never said what the memorial actually represents.
- Hitler died by a cyanide and gunshot suicide
- In 1953 36,000 people protested FOR democracy and lost to communism.
- On the East side of the wall of Germany no one was allowed to get close. If you were found getting too close, you were arrested. There was a "death strip" in between the walls and the soldiers were told to "kill on command" if you tried to cross to the wall leading to West Germany.
- Checkpoint Charlie was the 3rd checkpoint to get into Berlin. (Checkpoint Alpha was the 1st, then you passed Checkpoint Bravo, and THEN Checkpoint Charlie). The Soviets and Americans both shared Checkpoint Charlie.
- At the modern day Checkpoint Charlie there is a poster of an American soldier facing the soviet side, and a Soviet soldier facing the American side.
- Gendamenmart (the Square of Tolerance) has a French Cathedral and a German Cathedral facing each other. Both are identical, but the German cathedral is 1 foot taller.
- The Opera House in the "book burning square" was the 1st free standing opera house in Europe, and was COMPLETELY destroyed by they allied forces twice.
- In the Book Burning Square 20,000 books that didn't preach about Naziism were burned in public.
- "Bibliotek" is the memorial for the book burning. It is a hole in the ground full of empty bookshelves (you have to look through glass on the ground to see it). The quote on the memorial is Israeli "When you burn books, you burn people"
- Friedrisch the Great was the first every to be called Great while he was still alive.
- The TV Tower in Germany was built to prove the Germans could build a tall building without the help from the western world. At the time, it was the tallest building in Europe.
- The East German leaders took down all crosses in Europe, but when the sun his the TV Tower, it makes a cross.
- The TV tower is also called "Pope's Last Revenge" and "Pope's Last Erection"
- At the Protest in Liupsy the people chanted "We are the people". When the police came, it ended politely. Each week the protest gets larger and larger. This gave way to East Germans being allowed into West Germany, with a long list of stipulations.
- At a press conference, a memo was read (without preparation) and when the speaker gets asked about East and West Germany, he reads a line out loud "Restrictions lifted" and adds "as of now" on his own. The people storm the wall and the peacefully break the wall and the Fall of the Berlin Wall takes place.
After the tour, since we enjoyed our guide so much, we decided to do his afternoon tour. He then took us on his "Alternative Tour" which was about the artwork (graffiti) around Berlin. We learned that a lot of the graffiti is actually advertisements for artists in the area. We got to learn some of the meanings behind some of the work around the city, and I will say that now when I see graffiti, it just doesn't compare to Berlin graffiti.
After our 2nd tour, we had dinner with 2 of the girls from our tours (schnitzel!) and then met up with some other tour friends at the pub crawl. We hopped to 5 different bars - and at each bar you got a free shot of Jager with your drink. Yes, ANY drink. I ordered a cup of water at one point, and it came with Jager! Yes, I was LOVING Berlin. At the end of the night, Beaz and I headed to the area by the East Side Gallery (where we were staying) which looks like a big graffiti park, but in reality it is a big bar area. We explored a few of the bars there, with one of the pub crawl guides, and then made it back home around 5am (I'm assuming that's what time it was).
Once we woke back up, it was time to pack up and check out....and head to our next destination, PRAGUE!
Guten Tag,
Apes :)
After almost missing my bus out (as in the bus was pulling out of the station when I flagged it down) I arrived on the other side of Germany, Berlin! I cabbed it to my hostel to meet up with Beaz. We stayed at Eastern Comfort, and it was a Boat Hostel. Yes, we slept on a boat. Once I arrived, I went down to the room and was reunited with my main girl!
 |
| Reunited and it feels so good!! |
One we got up, we had breakfast and then ventured over to the Brandenburg Gate to meet our free walking tour. We spent about 2-3 hours walking the main streets of Germany, and here's some of what we learned/saw:
- The statue on top of the Brandenburg Gate is Arenia, who is the goddess of peace. Her name was changed after the war to Victoria, who is the goddess of victory. The statue is facing Paritz Platz and is viewed as having "Victory over Paris"
- The Victory Column was erected for the Unification War
 |
| Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe |
- Hitler died by a cyanide and gunshot suicide
- In 1953 36,000 people protested FOR democracy and lost to communism.
 |
| Inside the Memorial |
 |
| Checkpoint Charlie |
- At the modern day Checkpoint Charlie there is a poster of an American soldier facing the soviet side, and a Soviet soldier facing the American side.
- Gendamenmart (the Square of Tolerance) has a French Cathedral and a German Cathedral facing each other. Both are identical, but the German cathedral is 1 foot taller.
- The Opera House in the "book burning square" was the 1st free standing opera house in Europe, and was COMPLETELY destroyed by they allied forces twice.
- In the Book Burning Square 20,000 books that didn't preach about Naziism were burned in public.
- "Bibliotek" is the memorial for the book burning. It is a hole in the ground full of empty bookshelves (you have to look through glass on the ground to see it). The quote on the memorial is Israeli "When you burn books, you burn people"
- Friedrisch the Great was the first every to be called Great while he was still alive.
 |
| TV Tower |
- The East German leaders took down all crosses in Europe, but when the sun his the TV Tower, it makes a cross.
- The TV tower is also called "Pope's Last Revenge" and "Pope's Last Erection"
- At the Protest in Liupsy the people chanted "We are the people". When the police came, it ended politely. Each week the protest gets larger and larger. This gave way to East Germans being allowed into West Germany, with a long list of stipulations.
- At a press conference, a memo was read (without preparation) and when the speaker gets asked about East and West Germany, he reads a line out loud "Restrictions lifted" and adds "as of now" on his own. The people storm the wall and the peacefully break the wall and the Fall of the Berlin Wall takes place.
After the tour, since we enjoyed our guide so much, we decided to do his afternoon tour. He then took us on his "Alternative Tour" which was about the artwork (graffiti) around Berlin. We learned that a lot of the graffiti is actually advertisements for artists in the area. We got to learn some of the meanings behind some of the work around the city, and I will say that now when I see graffiti, it just doesn't compare to Berlin graffiti.
After our 2nd tour, we had dinner with 2 of the girls from our tours (schnitzel!) and then met up with some other tour friends at the pub crawl. We hopped to 5 different bars - and at each bar you got a free shot of Jager with your drink. Yes, ANY drink. I ordered a cup of water at one point, and it came with Jager! Yes, I was LOVING Berlin. At the end of the night, Beaz and I headed to the area by the East Side Gallery (where we were staying) which looks like a big graffiti park, but in reality it is a big bar area. We explored a few of the bars there, with one of the pub crawl guides, and then made it back home around 5am (I'm assuming that's what time it was).
Once we woke back up, it was time to pack up and check out....and head to our next destination, PRAGUE!
Guten Tag,
Apes :)
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