Ich bin eine Berliner

On Monday Whitney and I woke up early to see all Berlin had to offer. Because of our train delay, we only had one day in Berlin. First, we took the S-Bahn to the East Side Gallery. It is the longest remaining strip of the Berlin Wall that has been made into an art gallery on the street. You can actually go up and touch this part of the wall. It was a really long strip, and the art was really extraordinary.

After the East Side Gallery, we made our way to the Brandenburg Gate where a free walking tour was starting. We were in a group of about 30 or so and walked around Berlin for about 3 hours. It was really great because we had no idea where to go or what to see and we learned a lot about the buildings and history of Berlin. It started at Brandenburg which is right across the street from the German Parliament building. This building burnt down soon after Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. He said that the burning of the Reichstag was an act of communist rebellion and was granted more power to suppress the communist rebels, and there we have the beginning stages of WWII.  The Reichstag, of course, was rebuilt. You can go into the dome, but you must register online 3 business days before you plan on doing it. No one informed us of this, so we didn't get to go into it. But it's still cool.

The discoloration on the pillars of the Brandenburg gate are bullet holes from WW2. Really very cool to see up close. I touched some of them because I thought it was just so neat. 

We also saw the Holocaust Memorial to the Jews. A free memorial right outside Brandenburg.

We saw another section of the Berlin Wall that in now having to be protected from tourists and citizens of Berlin. There is a gate surrounding the wall so people don't chisel away the remaining section of the wall.

We also saw Checkpoint Charlie, the American check point station in West Berlin. It's a giant tourist trap now, but still pretty cool. There are "military" men waiting to greet you into West Berlin. I did get my passport stamped in East Berlin then in West Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie. Pretty cool. Best euro I spent.

After walking all over Berlin, Whitney and I found a cute little pub for dinner where I had a fantastic bratwurst, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. Seriously, I wish I could eat it again right now.

For students considering traveling to Berlin, I'd highly recommend the Grand Hostel Berlin youth hostel. It was a really great hostel, very clean and the staff was super friendly and helpful and they are available 24/7 in the lobby. The rooms were also really cheap, and were the nicest we stayed in our whole trip. It's also located right down the street from an underground stop which makes getting around Berlin really easy.