We were greeted by a week of heat wave in Berlin; hot was an understatement. We would go walk around, come back, and take a cold shower so that we wouldn’t pass out from heat exhaustion. All the grasses were dried out due to the drought they were experiencing. But of course, this didn’t stop us from seeing what Berlin had to offer.
The first day was dedicated to seeing the Berlin Wall, or what was left of it. It's really incredible to imagine what this particular city has gone through within the past 30 years. The area around the memorial dedicated to the pieces of the walls were dead quiet, and the heat seemed to make the silence even louder. Most of the visitors whispered, as if attending a solemn funeral (an appropriate gesture, since precious lives were lost in that particular location). They had preserved a portion of the walls, with 'no-man's land' between the East and West wall. There was a tower we could climb to peer into the forbidden piece of property.
After we returned to our hostel, we ventured out to catch the final of the World Cup on one of the main streets of Berlin. We had arranged it so that we would be in Berlin for the final because we thought Germany would make it to the finals; you can imagine our disappointment when Spain beat Germany. Despite our disappointments, it was pretty cool to catch the World Cup in Europe; the soccer capital of the world.
The next day, we took the train out to Potsdam, to see...actually, Alex was more excited to see Potsdam. I was excited about the Cola ice pops because it was another hot day. We took a tour bus to see all the major attractions, including Sanssouci. On a scorching day like that, we could only do so much during the day; we were exhausted by 3pm, so we headed back to the hostel for a cold shower.
Next few days in Berlin were spent walking around in the heat, seeing all the sights in walking distance from the main train station in Berlin. There's the Bauhaus Archives, with a collection of works by students and professors at the infamous school started by Walter Gropius (first photo below). There was the National Gallery designed by Mies Van Der Rohe (second photo below). The Jewish Musem by Daniel Libeskind. Reichstag with an interior renovation by Norman Foster, including the dome (third photo below). Altes Museum by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (fourth photo) and the famous Brandenburg Gate (last photo). I'm not putting up any pictures from the Jewish Museum for my blog because they just didn't come out so great; it's hard to capture the 'it' of the building from the street views, and after going through a security check equivalent to that of an airport, I was kind of exhausted. The building itself seems to work in theory and concept, but I can't really say it works realistically.
When it came to food in Germany, beer and sausages aren't the only ones popular. Apparently, there is a huge community of Turkish people, and Donner Kebab has rooted itself into the culinary history of Germany. They are cheap, convenient, probably healthier than McDonalds, and very tasty.
Our hostel was sort of unusual too. It wasn't exactly a hostel per say. A nice lady had converted her apartment into a hostel like environment, where she rented out a couple of rooms to travelers. The result is a very cozy and welcoming environment. If ever in Berlin, I can recommend "Comfy Little Corner". It was clean, affordable, near transportation and we were always in very good company of the staff and fellow travelers. Unfortunately, I failed to take a picture of the lovely place; hopefully I can plan another trip to Berlin so I can go back to Comfy Little Corner to snap a photo for keepsake.
And I leave you with what was apparently the model of "Sauron's Eye" in Tolkien's famous "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The masterpiece was written as the Second World War was breaking out, and we were told by our hostel owner that this TV Tower was the inspiration for the 'Eye of Mordor'. If it's true or not, I don't know for sure.
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