The Grey City

Berlin, Germany

By Nos Étapes

August 17^th, 2014

8.17.18. - Eurotrip Day 18

Berlin was so rich in historical buildings, I need to head back to the books and read more about them. We saw so many landmarks today, but we started off with the best breakfast we had in Europe!!! It was a breakfast buffet but with the freshest morning specialities around Europe...@.@ Croissants, honey with the hive still attached, complimentary champagne, ughh...I can't remember everything, but best breakfast buffet I had in my life! Okay, so afterwards... we took the metro to the Reichstag building, which held revolutionary events in 1918s and went through lots of other important events and damage during WWI and WWII. We then walked through a park afterwards and passed by the Holocaust Memorial for the Gypsies, which was a dark, circular pool with a triangle stone in the center and the poem 'Auschwitz' by Spinelli. We came towards the end if the park, and happened to go through Brandenburg Gate. It used to be the city gate and became inaccessible when the Berlin wall was up...and we didn't realize we went right through it until we turned back to see what we went under.

We continued towards the Holocaust Memorial. It was very touching and is definitely worth going. We got lunch, and headed towards the Berlin Wall, but we didn't intend to...We kinda got lost, and bumped into it (not literally cause it isn't really there anymore...hah). They left some pieces around the city as a reminder, and also drew a line through the city where it used to stand. We went back to where the square near the hotel was. I did not realize, but there was another landmark where we chilled at for awhile called the Kaiser Wilhem Memorial Church. I only saw the bell tower and it had a pretty ring to it, but the church was covered for restoration. It had been there since the 1800s and also got damaged from the wars. We went around the shops and then eventually got dinner. We also passed the Berlin Zoo going to our hotel, but it was always closed everytime we came back. It was a very long day, but very historically filled. Three more days left!

08.18.14. - Eurotrip Day 19

This was a relaxation day. We slept in, swam at the pool and Jacuzzi, and walked around the square later that day. We got hot chocolate at a chocolate store, and finished off our night at a steak house. We were preparing for our flight back to London for the next day, so we didn't do anything too tiring. (Refer back to the last day on the "Ello Gov'na" story)