Berlin Days 1-5

“A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” 

-Moslih Eddin Saadi

Over the past 5 days I have had many observations during my travel time in Berlin. It all started with the 8-hour flight from Dallas to Amsterdam where the group then took a quick flight to Berlin.  Immediately upon arrival we bused over to Brandenburg Gate where we waited for our apartments to be ready for the group. The apartments are very nice and spacious for me and my 2 roommates; however, we still do not have wireless internet and only 1 of us 3 girls in my room have internet access on their computer by an internet stick which is not compatible with Apple computers.  Hopefully the wireless will be fixed soon! 

During the past 5 days I have been able to so many new sights such as the: Brandenburg Gate, multiple pieces of the Berlin Wall, the television needle, many churches, and the Victory Column just to name a few.  Even though I am not an architecture student I have really enjoyed getting to view so many styles of architecture throughout the city.  I found the inside of the DZ Bank really interesting because I had already seen one of Frank Gehry’s previous works in Seattle.  I really like the old style of the architectures to the Dome and on Museum Island.  On Wednesday while touring St. Mary’s Church I was so surprised to look up to find Dr. Joni Noble from the British Studies Program there too, with a class of hers.  It was so neat to have run into someone that I already know in Berlin.  Later that evening we received access to one of my roommate’s computer, Victoria’s, because she doesn’t have an Apple.

Thursday, we started off the day by going on a tour for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  I thought the tour was well done and their museum was sadly amazing.  The Museum reminded me of being at the American National Cemetery in France by reading all the heartbreaking letters from members of the Jewish communities across Europe that were mainly sent to loved ones as they were headed to an extermination camp.  I can only imagine how depressing Dachau’s concentration camp will be, later in the month.  Later in the day we viewed the House of the Cultures of the World, which I found the architecture to be really ahead of its time form the 1950s.  During lunch, I was finally able to Skype to both of my parents.  Next, we walked onward to the Victory Column, which built to commemorate Prussia gaining their independence from France.  I really found its style to be similar to the Key to the Bastille Monument in Paris.  After seeing the Column I went along with the architecture students to see a famous Turbine Assemble Factory. Then we stumbled into this amazing car warehouse full of Lamborghini's, Jaguars, Aston Martins, and so many more. 

Today, Friday, we had an early start by taking the train over to Potsdam.  We started off by going to the Einsteinturm, which I found to have a very unique look.  Then we headed on over to the city of Potsdam and toured two stunning churches St. Nikolaikirche and St. Peter and Paul both of which were amazing.  St. Nikolikirche is a protestant church while St. Peter and Paul is a catholic church.  Right after viewing St. Peter and Paul we stumbled in to an open market full of vendors and food trucks.  Two of my friends and I found a very tasty lunch there, which included for me a German sausage dog and a strawberry shortcake.  From there we strolled through the city and met up with the rest of our class to go tour Sans Souci.  Sans Souci is where members of the Prussia’s Royal Family lived in the 1800s.  The gardens for the palaces were so remarkable.  I found it obvious that the palaces were modeled after Versailles outside of Paris; however, all of the palaces were on a much smaller scale.  I enjoyed being able to tour Sans Souci, but I found the tour far too short and that it lacked so many aspects of a typical palace.  Afterwards Aaliyah, Sarah, and I walked through the entire city back to the trains to go back towards Berlin.  We stopped in a very cool and hip part of the town and walked for a good bit and eventually had a delicious dinner before heading back to our area of the city.  Finally we returned to our apartments to catch one of the World Cup games, which started today.

Hopefully, my blog will be updated on a more daily basis in the future; however, I cannot guarantee anything seeing that there is still no wireless for our apartments.  I will leave you with four pictures so far of the Brandenburg Gate, the Dome, the Victory Column, and Sans Souci Palace.