Last weekend, I explored the wonderful city of Berlin. Me and four other girls took a 10hr night bus on Thursday night. For the price, it wasn't a bad option. Minus the obnoxious Dutch girls sitting behind us who proceeded to talk all and braid each other's hair through the entire night. The downside to having 99.9% of the Dutch population speak fluent English is that you can't talk about them without them knowing. So with a few hours of sleep under our belts, we got into Berlin at 8am and got started on the S-Baun to head to our hostel. The public transportation was amazing - cheap, efficient and very easy to use. We bought a 2-day pass and made it our best friend.
The first thing we decided to do was to check out the 3hr "free" walking tour. Best choice we could have made. There's an organization that hosts great free walking tours in most of the big metropolitan cities in Europe. The tour guides aren't paid, but depend on tips based on the quality of their tour. They mainly attract young student travelers (like us) so the guides gear the tour towards a younger crowd and it shows that they truly love what they do. We had an Irish guide named Finn who lead us through Berlin to see all the sights and told great little anecdotes. Over about 4hrs of walking, we saw everything - The Brendenberg gate, the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, Hitler's bunker, some of the few still remaining Nazi buildings, a section of the still-standing Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and the ever popular big Europe cathedrals. I found it so interesting that 90% of Berlin was destroyed during WWII so most of what I was looking at was a complete reconstruction to look like the original. Amazing, cause I probably would have never been able to tell.
That night, we weren't too sure where to go out to. So after a few failed attempts, we found a big pub area and settled. As we were walking down the street, we noticed about 30 Scottish guys dressed up in Oompa Loompa costumes and a Willy Wonka walking into a bar. We obviously found this to be hilarious and asked them why they were dressed up so ridiculously. They were doing a "stag" party which I guess would be a UK-version of a bachelor party where it's common to pick a theme and go all out. All out as in a complete costume, orange faces, green wigs and white eyebrows. A "hen" party would be the same as bachelorette party. Needless to say, they provided us some free laughs because they were so ridiculous.
The next morning, we decided we'd spend the day in Oranienburg which is just outside Berlin to visit Sachsenhausen - one of the first concentration camps. Obviously, it wasn't the most fun day but it was really important to me to at least visit one camp to grasp an better understanding. Sachsenhausen was an all male concentration camp and mainly used for political prisoners in the mid 30s and later for all types of prisoners in the 40s. For me, it took an abstract event that I've read and learned about and made it very real through that experience. I'm really glad that we took the time to go out there.
On the second night, we decided to join a pub crawl put on by the same company that organized the free tour and the Sachsenhausen camp visit since we'd had such a great experience with them. For 12 euro, we definitely got a deal. Free beer, Jagermeister shots and entrance to a club which normally charges 10 euro at the door. Goedkoop!
To expedite the journey back on Sunday, my friend Lisa and I caught an early train back. 6hrs later and literally barrels of laughs about the weekend, we made it back to Amsterdam. I love coming "home", it's always so sunny and beautiful. As much as I love traveling right now, I absolutely love coming back to Amsterdam. I wouldn't have picked any other city to live and study in.
On Friday, I'm heading out to Barcelona for the weekend. So frickin' excited! It's supposed to be 65 and sunny, let's hope that stays true. Kara gave me a great list of places to see, eat and drink. Wish she was coming!
Berlin Wall
Brendenberg Gate
In front of Hitler's favorite Opera House
"Work will set you free" sign at Sachsenhaus
Memorial to all victims of the holocaust at the cremation building
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