30 März
Started the day leaving the apartment around 8:30am to pick up some bread rolls at a nearby bakery for Frühstüke (breakfast) with Marc’s dad and Tanja. Frühstüke consisted of various meats and cheeses, red bell pepper slices, marmalade, Nutella, the bread rolls, and tea with honey. After breakfast we took the U-bahn to Checkpoint Charlie. It was definitely a tourist trap but really neat. There were remnants of the Berlin Wall hanging on the side of the buildings and guys dressed up as WWII soldiers. I learned that I could get a ‘West Berlin’ and ‘East Berlin’ stamp in my passport which I will try to do on Sunday. I bought 10 postcards for 6.50€ just to find a deal across the street of 12 postcards for 5€. Rats, oh well at least I have my postcards. After Checkpoint Charlie, we visited Marc’s University. It was HUGE!!! One of the larger classrooms he showed me was even bigger than the largest classroom in Kane Hall back in UW where I had a 750 person chemistry class. Sheesh! Then we went on a walk in the Tiergarten where eventually we were walking along the outside of the zoo where you could- surprisingly enough- actually see quite a few animals. It was so cool!!
Eventually we went out of the Tiergarten and walked over to the Siegessäule, which is this gorgeous monument of an angel that is in the middle of a roundabout (that has at least 3 lanes going around it). To get to it, you go through an underground tunnel which was really neatly lit all sorts of colours. At one point, there was a section of the walkway where when you walked through it one wall would light up as if by majic. Sensors were on the opposite wall of course but it was so cool! At the Siegessäule, Marc asked if I would want to go to the top of the angel. I told him if it costs 3€ or less I would. Luckily it cost exactly 3€, better yet since Marc and I are students it costs 2.50€!
Inside the base of the monument was the history of the Siegessäule as well as other monuments. At one point Marc pointed out a monument he hadn’t seen before which I immediately recognised to be the Wahallah in Regensburg which I went to when I visited Kathrin. After getting enough history and pictures of monuments, Marc and I began to ascend one. I would guess we climbed roughly 285 steps at least, as it never seemed to end. Nearing the top my thighs were burning as I realized that the Siegessäule was the ultimate Stairmaster of Berlin. At last I made it to the top, slightly out of breath. The view was incredible. A 360° view of the entire city, enough to realise how closely clumped certain monuments are. The wind whipped my hair in my face as I remembered why I keep a spare hairband in my pocket. Marc was leaning into the wind further than normal and not falling over- it was that strong! My hands grew bright pink from the cold as my fingers attempted to move enough to press the button on my camera to take some photos. My eyes started to water from the cold too that after 10-15 minutes or so we eventually decided to head back.
We wandered through the Tiergarten again to get to the Scholss Bellevue which is Germany’s equivalent to the White House since it is the residence of the German President. It was from what I could tell standing from the street, a lovely estate, kept well maintained and well-guarded. Marc and I then went to the Russian WWII memorial which according to Marc was considered Russian territory till 1991. It had the plaques all in Russian and tanks around the front of it.
Back in the Tiergarten we moseyed about trying to locate the Holocaust Memorial. During that time we stumbled upon a statue in honour of famous German composers, as well as some random polished boulder sized stones of marble and other familiar rock types. Eventually we made it to the Holocaust Memorial which was made up of multi-layered rectangular columns. It was so neat, I really enjoyed it (though I am not sure if that word is quite appropriate here but it’s true) though it is sad to think of what it represents. Marc thought the design was random and couldn’t quite grasp how it relates with what the memorial stands for; but for me I feel that the rectangular shaped columns represents the countless and nameless graves of those who had perished during the Holocaust in WWII.
Cold and somewhat hungry we went to the train/U and S Bahn station called Potzdamer Platz. The station itself was so modern and definitely one of the coolest stations that I have seen thus far. In the mall adjoined to the station known as Potzdamer Platz Akarden, Marc treated me to a fresh warm soft pretzel. It was go-oo-ood!! Then since we were in the mall of the ice cream place he wanted to take me to, we decided to go there today. I got a streusel and pistachio flavoured gelato. The streusel was a fabulous flavour that I must have again sometime in the future. After heading back and checking email, we went to have Döner, which is a Berlin style of Turkish food, and boy Döner is amazing!! So I ended the day in a tasty manner.
Es ist Wunderbar!
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