Chris and I made it to Germany Tuesday afternoon and have been in Berlin since then. It is a much bigger city than Amsterdam and has that feel to it. We have had a great day and a half here exploring the city on foot and via the metro, so I'll try to fill you in below.
We left Amsterdam around 7 a.m. Tuesday and took the train to Germany. Because of flooding, we had to depart the train in Hanover, Germany, a city of about 518,000 people located a little more than half way to Berlin from Amsterdam. We decided to spend a couple of hours here so we could try one of the "Lonely Planet" book recommendations for lunch: The Markthalle, a big covered market that houses a plethora of food stalls where the vendors sell everything from sausage to sushi. I found a tapas stand and had some tortilla española and albóndigas while Chris sampled the sushi and paella. Lunch was great and it was fun to explore Hanover for a couple of hours.
Tapas in Germany!
Afterward, we caught a high-speed train to Berlin. We traveled at speeds up to 82 miles per hour! We arrived in Berlin a little after 4 p.m. and took the metro to our hostel, a short trip that took less than 10 minutes. I was surprised that we did not have to present our passports once we arrived in Germany via train, but two of my friends who are German teachers in the United States confirmed this wasn't necessary!
Chris and I have been staying in hostels since we first arrived -- dorm style. In Amsterdam we had three other people staying in the room, and in Berlin we are staying with four other people. In all of my traveling, this is the first time I have stayed in this type of lodging, as Jason and I normally stayed together in a double room in all of our travels throughout Latin America. It is cheaper to stay in dorm-style lodging, but we are going to switch it up in Prague tomorrow and just do a double room.
We explored Berlin a little Tuesday night before going out for dinner and then taking a tour of some Berlin pubs. We met a myriad of people from all over, such as Amsterdam, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Mexico and more. Our guide for the evening: A guy named Hollywood.
Today (Wednesday), we spent the day exploring Berlin on foot and via the metro. We visited four spots. Here is a list of where we went, a brief description and a bunch of pictures to follow!
+ Brandenburg Gate -- This was an East-West crossing point after the Berlin Wall went up in the early 1960s. This was also the spot where former President Ronald Reagan said his famous line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
At day..
At night
+ Holocaust Memorial -- This memorial has 2,711 concrete columns that have different shapes. Walking through the memorial is like walking through a maze!
+ Lunch break -- We took one of the "Lonely Planet" book recommendations and visited Curry 36 for lunch today. It is a popular sausage stand. In fact, it appears to be one of the top places to eat in Berlin! Here is what Chris and I had for lunch:
Two sausages with curry sauce and French fries with ketchup. Very tasty!!!
+ East Side Gallery -- This is the longest part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing. We walked the .8 mile wall today to see all of the art and graffiti. I can vaguely remember when the wall came down. Here are some pictures from the wall walk.
Beginning of the wall....
Famous image of Soviet leader Brezhnev kissing GDR leader Eric Hönecker.
+ Checkpoint Charlie -- This is where the famous sign stating "You are now leaving the American sector" is located. Check out these images.
Checkpoint Charlie sign
Checkpoint Charlie
+ Reichstag -- This is the German seat of power ... It has a glass-domed cupola that was added in 1999. We went to the top of it tonight around 9:30.
It turned out to be another great day in our European adventure. We are off to Prague first thing in the morning and will spend July 4 there. I have wanted to visit this city for quite some time. Chris and I both are having a great time trekking around Europe, and I know the trip will be full of many more adventures as we move on.
Thanks for reading!
¡Chau!
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