Berlin - Day 2 and 3!

the start of day 2 begins with breakfast at the hostel - then we took a bus to Brandenburg Gate (which, as I already said, is where they announced the tearing down of the Berlin wall) cause that was where our walking guided tour started and Youth Olympic Day was starting when we got there

interesting fact about the statue up on top of the gate: Napoleon actually liked the statue when the French defeated the Prussian army that he had it taken back to France with him

and then when the Prussian army defeated the French later on, they took it back and renamed the statue Victoria symbolizing their victory over France

the next stop of the guided tour was the Holocaust Memorial

it's basically an area with a whole bunch of gray blocks that are the same width and length but different heights

the architect wanted it to be a place where you could walk around and wanted it to promote thought so it's not a big memorial with some words on it

some people think that the big blocks represent coffins and then there are some more abstract interpretations like one person thought the height of the bars represented anti-Semitic feelings across time (highest during the war and the lowest near the end of the war with some anti-Semitic attitudes still present today)
but anyways, it's up to your interpretation

there's also actually a museum underneath the memorial but we didn't get to go down

next stop: over Hitler's Bunker
underneath this area is actually a bunker where Hitler and his new wife (i think the guide said Hitler married his long time mistress shortly before) shot themselves - some people say that he also took a cyanide capsule just in case
Hitler doesn't actually have a final resting place (his ashes were spread out somewhere) so this is the closest thing to his final resting place

and the apartment buildings behind were luxury apartments built in East Germany in order to show off to West Germany - but it didn't really work since they look so drab anyways
then we stopped at this building cause our tour guide (her name is Ice - cause her parents thought her eyes were colored like Ice) liked it - the bullet holes remain from when it was taken in during WWII

and most of the bullet holes are around the first floor cause that's how you capture a building - all the shooters will be on the first floor and you shoot at them so they die or move up into the second floor

then you send your army in and take the first floor when most everyone on the first floor is dead or has fled to the second floor - then you go to the second floor, trapping everyone else on the third floor where they can't escape - and then you take the third floor

so Ice commented that when people in scary movies keep running upstairs, thereby trapping themselves, they're stupid haha

next, i think we went to what used to be the Luftwaffe Headquarters?
there was a mural depicting socialism as a grand happy fest, when in reality it was miserable
i think there was a protest outside of the building during the Soviet government's and over 200 people? were massacred so they put this photo outside to contrast it with the mural inside
and this is also the last building with traditional Nazi architecture - basically HUUUGE buildings and you can see the windows are smaller at the top to make the building seem even bigger - and Ice said that the door handle would be up near her chest and the doors really tall

basically, it's to make you seem really insignificant and small
yea, not a happy place - and still not a very happy place since it's now the tax office hahathen we saw a part of the Berlin next stop: Checkpoint Charlie

the most well-known of the different checkpoints along the Berlin wall
lots of people tried to sneak through to West Germany
one way was paying a diplomat so you could sit in their trunk (which wasn't a good idea since they eventually started searching trunks) and a cleverer way was sewing yourself up inside a seat (which was very uncomfortable since you might have to stay there for hours waiting to get through but at least you got in to West Germany)
sad story time: there once was a young teenager (Peter Fechter) who worked in a building that was near the wall, so him and his friend planned to escape to West Germany

they waited until everyone left their building on one work day and jumped out the window over the main wall and onto the death strip (basically a strip of land between the main wall and another lower fence that was topped with barbed wire where you got shot at) and although his friend made it over the fence, Peter got shot in the pelvis and fell back into East Germany

there were actually hundreds of people who witnessed this (including journalists), but nobody from the west side could help him and the guards on the east side didn't do anything either - so they listened to Peter crying out for help for over an hour until he bled to death

next: Gendarmenmarkt
this is the French Cathedral built for the French Huguenots who went to Germany during the persecution in France
Konzerthaus Berlin

the German Cathedral next: Bebelplatz where the Book Burning Memorial is
there's a sheet of plexiglass in the middle of the square and you can look down inside it and the memorial is basically empty white shelves that would be enough to house the 20,000 books that were burned (many of which were original copies)
St. Hedwig's Cathedral
Humboldt University - the oldest university in Berlin and also where Albert Einstein taughtnext:Neue Wache (New Guard House) with the statue "Mother with her Dead Son"
then the Berlin Cathedral
and Altes Museum we concluded our tour at the cathedral, and then we went with Ice (and took the tram) to go eat some German pork schnitzel - it was pretty good =)
then we went to a shopping area by tram - there was an H&M there =) except there really wasn't anything to buy since it was a small store

but the area around it was pretty nice

then we took the U-bahn back to our hostel and shopped on Kurfürstendamm
sales at H&M aren't as good as the ones in CPH, but i'm guessing that's because the sales are coming to an end

i did end up buying a t-shirt for €7.95 and a belt for €5 at H&M

but ZARA always has awesome sales =) bought skinny jeans for €10 and a t-shirt for €6.99

there was another ZARA down the street, but we didn't have enough time to go in there =( i was really really disappointed =( cause i really really wanted to go in lol

but i guess our dinner made up for it - super cheap meal since we got soup, salad, a main course, and dessert all for only €9.90! (the pictures are up on fb)

and then we went to a souvenir shop where i bought a cup - which was so expensive >< music ="\" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizh6__lqRQLX1xqieEAbGzg48Qz1AZzmFzJRg5MfUdHJxPmoHju0TiiSwXBpQhAtYtyNFkMD6YmaRbUA2ABx_oN_JJpBKz2oyYWzNBHW4vdx2zi6WhHEAip1QqYd5jF1FqtlkKrygB7_U/s1600/P1050385.JPG">
and so ends a loooong exhausting, but pretty fun day in Berlin

at least i had a good nights sleep because we now had the window open, so it was cooler and i put in my earplugs so i didn't hear all the traffic down below - i think i literally slept like a log cause i remember falling asleep in one position and when i woke up, i was in the exact same position lol

ate breakfast, packed up, ended up leaving my mirror there i think - cause i can't find it anywhere =(, and then we left on the bus to go to Sachsenhausen concentration camp - and all of the pictures and depressing information is all on facebook - i really don't want to type it all out again cause it made me feel pretty depressed all over again

anyways, afterward was the looong bus trip back to CPH - we stopped at a rest stop and i bought some chocolate and an ice cream bar =D
then we watched Zoolander on the bus - which is always enjoyable cause that movie is so ridiculous and funny haha
next was onto the ferry and then back onto the bus to ride back to CPH where we all saw the beautiful sunset =)
and we surprisingly got back on time - we arrived back at Dalgas Have around 11:15 pm (the schedule said 11 pm)

and finally, took the metro back to Fasavej and walked back to Porcelaenshavn~