Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Berlin: What a complex city

Berlin was quite the city, it is difficult to even know where to start. But I guess I will start with the beginning; that would make the most logical sense.


The train ride, once again, was a lot of fun. After 7 hours, we arrived in the notorious city of Berlin. 

After we settled in at our hostel, Wombats Hostel, we set out to explore the city a bit. 




Then we had a good time at the bar on the top story of hostel, as well as a few clubs. 


Day 2


The following day, we set out explore the city some more. My main site of interest was the Wall, of course. But this is what we saw along the way...

Damaged during the bombings of WWII



Karl Marx Memorial

The filming of a Vince Vaughn and Dave Franco movie, "The Business Trip", was being filmed in a central part of Berlin. Pretty cool. 



Don't know how this will be incorporated into the movie

Currywurst...Super popular in Berlin

Charlie's Checkpoint
Charlie's Checkpoint




The last remaining 100m of the Wall


Nazi Terror Museum...Difficult to go through

Holocaust Memorial


Many buildings that still stand from the war still have bullet and shrapnel damage
Then, we found out about the best Doner Kebab in the city (which were invented by Turkish immigrants in Berlin), known as Mustafa's . For those of you who watch Seinfeld, it reminds me of "the soup Nazi" which is something I should not have said out loud while inline (oops). We actually waited an hour to get one of these kebabs, but by far the best I have ever had. 

Chicken kebab meat, cucumbers, lettuce, bell peppers, onions, potatoes,
special tzatziki sauce, and feta cheese on almost a ciabatta bun

Day 3

I made the decision to take a morning tour to a concentration camp about an hour north of the city. Known to be the Nazi's model concentration camp, over 55,000 prisoners died at  Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp between 1940-1945 when it was liberated by Russian and Polish troops. 



Means "work makes (you) free" in German. It was motivation for prisoners to work harder. 





This is actually a very controversial memorial that was put up in 1961 by the Soviet controlled East German government. During WWII, those that were imprisoned her for being communist were given a red arrow to wear. This memorial only commemorates the communist prisoners that died, neglecting the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, etc. The memorial commemorates the victory of communism over fascism. 

Gas chambers

Crematorium 

While it may not have been a happy tour, visiting Sachsenhausen was a great experience; what I learned that day was invaluable. 

Some interesting facts:

When the Soviets took control, instead of dissembling the camp, they actually continued to use it for their own political prisoners etc. where thousands more died. 

There was one portion of the camp that was specifically used for high profile prisoners. Stalin's son, who was a lieutenant in the Russian Military, was actually captured in battle and held here. At the time, Russian troops had captured a high ranking Nazi general. The Nazis offered a deal to exchange Stalin's son for the Nazi general. Stalin's response, "Why would I trade a lieutenant for a general?" Stalin's son ending up "committing suicide" at the camp a year later; he deliberately stepped into the "no man's land" and was shot from the guard tower. This proves how ruthless and little soul that Stalin had. 



Unfortunately, I got lost on my way back from the tour and ended up missing my bus with all of my friends to Prague. Instead of trying to waste money to get there in another way, I decided to stay in Berlin for Friday and Saturday night and hangout with the group of people I had met on the tour. One guy was from Melbourne, Australia, a girl from Perth, Australia, a girl from London, and a guy from Washington DC who goes to Clemson. They are all studying in Denmark's second largest city, Aarhus. 

I actually had a lot of fun with them. I got to see some of the sights again, which I really enjoyed because the history of Berlin is so complex and rich. 


Randomly saw this contraption on the last day. It is a "bicycle bar" where everyone is peddling while enjoying beers. It's crazy that this actually exists. Wish we could have done it. 

Overall, Berlin was an amazing city. I would really like to study the history in more depth in the future. I look forward to going back one day. 

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