Day two of Berlin started off fantastic. There was no sleeping through alarms, no cold showers, no bed bugs, no obnoxious roommates, and we got free breakfast. Then we went to the ever famous Berlin Zoo, which I recently learned survived WW2. We saw the panda, polar bears, hippos, kangaroos.. what a wide variety..
That however was the end of our luck because we got back on the metro to go to the Olympic Stadium (where the 1936 Olympics were held) we got a ticket. I would you what happened and what we're going to do about it.. except that I dont know. News flash.. I dont speak German. nor do I read it. Gabby and I were in shock, we have no clue what happened or what to do about it. All we got from the forced conversation was something about a ticket, online, international bank code, and in the literal words of the Germans who gave us these tickets "okay. thats all. goodbye." (say it in a frustrated voice with a german accent and its much more intimidating.) But we finally made it to the Olympic stadium.
It was amazing! but for some reason I had expected it to be bigger. It felt like Autzen stadium to me, but with a half roof, or maybe it just felt smaller since it was completely empty except for the 20 or so tourists looking around. We were also able to walk around the grounds and see the swimming pools and a few courts. Most shocking to us was walking past the bell tower and the field below it and then reading that from that exact spot is where Hitler watched the Olympic games. Then we wandered around to the side of the stadium where the giant bell from the bell tower sits. Its cracked, rusted, and beautiful.. except for the fact that it has disguised swastikas on it. So we all learn about world war two and the holocaust in school, and its sad to hear, but its a completely different experience when you are in Berlin and look down and see a real nazi symbol right in front of your face.
While Gabby and I were ecstatic to be spending the weekend in Berlin, we didn't realize how solemn of a trip it would actually be. This isn't to say that we didn't have a great time, because we did, but we were also faced with the harsh reality that we were literally walking in the birthplace of the second world war, and stood in the same places that Hitler did.
Now on to a less depressing part of the story. We took a tour through the city on a hop on hop off bus which we never actually hopped off of.. BUT we got to see all the sights in a short amount of time, and we had front row seats which is always fun! Oh, and our bus was a double decker that was painted with zebra stripes.. YESSS!
Then we ate schitzle, yes schnitzle, for dinner and headed towards the TV tower to ride the elevator up to the top of the 203 meter tall tower to look out over the whole city! It was gorgeous up there, I love getting a view from above and pinpointing where everything is.
Finally, we made our way to a Biergarten, then to a palace, and finally made it home around 1:00 am.
That however was the end of our luck because we got back on the metro to go to the Olympic Stadium (where the 1936 Olympics were held) we got a ticket. I would you what happened and what we're going to do about it.. except that I dont know. News flash.. I dont speak German. nor do I read it. Gabby and I were in shock, we have no clue what happened or what to do about it. All we got from the forced conversation was something about a ticket, online, international bank code, and in the literal words of the Germans who gave us these tickets "okay. thats all. goodbye." (say it in a frustrated voice with a german accent and its much more intimidating.) But we finally made it to the Olympic stadium.
It was amazing! but for some reason I had expected it to be bigger. It felt like Autzen stadium to me, but with a half roof, or maybe it just felt smaller since it was completely empty except for the 20 or so tourists looking around. We were also able to walk around the grounds and see the swimming pools and a few courts. Most shocking to us was walking past the bell tower and the field below it and then reading that from that exact spot is where Hitler watched the Olympic games. Then we wandered around to the side of the stadium where the giant bell from the bell tower sits. Its cracked, rusted, and beautiful.. except for the fact that it has disguised swastikas on it. So we all learn about world war two and the holocaust in school, and its sad to hear, but its a completely different experience when you are in Berlin and look down and see a real nazi symbol right in front of your face.
While Gabby and I were ecstatic to be spending the weekend in Berlin, we didn't realize how solemn of a trip it would actually be. This isn't to say that we didn't have a great time, because we did, but we were also faced with the harsh reality that we were literally walking in the birthplace of the second world war, and stood in the same places that Hitler did.
Now on to a less depressing part of the story. We took a tour through the city on a hop on hop off bus which we never actually hopped off of.. BUT we got to see all the sights in a short amount of time, and we had front row seats which is always fun! Oh, and our bus was a double decker that was painted with zebra stripes.. YESSS!
Then we ate schitzle, yes schnitzle, for dinner and headed towards the TV tower to ride the elevator up to the top of the 203 meter tall tower to look out over the whole city! It was gorgeous up there, I love getting a view from above and pinpointing where everything is.
Finally, we made our way to a Biergarten, then to a palace, and finally made it home around 1:00 am.
Picture of the day 1: Olympic Stadium
Picture of the day 2: Checkpoint Charlie
Picture of the day 3: Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe
Picture of the day 4: TV Tower! (check out the tiny moon in the corner of the picture :) )
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