Bleibe, reste, stay...

First I'd like to take a moment to push Jonathan's Video Blog on YouTube- check it out (link to the right). He's in Alaska (9 hours different from me). It's almost like seeing both ends of the world at the same time....woah...

Anyway, and now for Berlin... (*really dramatic music and cool flashy lights*)

(The Berlin Cathedral)

So we got up at some awful hour that may go by 3:30am. Ew. We then proceeded to take a cab, a bus, and a plane to Germany. We went to the wrong statin- our bus would still pick us up there, but we were supposed to use the other station it stopped at. Oh well. Anyway, we did make it. Our tour guide's name was Gareth. He was born in Ireland, but has Ireland/British Isles dual citizenship. Two pastports. And he speaks with an Irish/English dialect. Pretty sweet.

Anyway, we get to Berlin. There's a 3 hour bus tour around the city. Not exactly what we all wanted to be doing, as we were tired, but it was fun and worth it.

We started out by visiting the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. It was built for the 1936 Olympics. It is one of the few remaining complete Nazi Structures in Germany.

It's amazing how we as Americans think of WWII as a thing of the past. Very few people alive remember it, and it was fought in a distant land. In Germany it is still very real. They are still rebuilding (They estimated it was 90% destroyed in the war). The Iron Curtain was only torn down in the last few years, and buildings are still being put up where it stood. They are still working on unifying the airport in Berlin (because there were 4 before, one in each sector- French, British, American, Soviet). Only in the last 10 years have they erected a memorial to the Jews. I was talking to Gareth about it, and part of the reason Germany is so against the Iraqi war is the fact that they haven't been to war since 1945. It's a touchy subject. Even the fact that they focus so much on the Environment is because they cannot dedicate their passions to nationalism. When Germans do something, they do it all out

The following is a picture of what's left of the Berlin wall:
Yeah, that brick line in the sidewalk represents where it used to be. It zig-zags through the city. I have better pictures of it, but this particular site is where the first boy was shot after the installment of the wall. And he was left to die- the Soviets wouldn't rescue him, for fear of the Allies. And the Allies wouldn't rescue him for fear of the Soviets.

This is a place where the wall is still standing. One of the few where it's fully intact- most places is crumbled and partially destroyed.

So one of the most amazing things about Berlin is the RIDICULOUS amount of greenery. It's a forest. There are more trees in Berlin than in my back lawn. And that's not really much of an exagguration. Like I mentioned earlier- they are very environmentally conscious (at least in some areas). Like, bottle deposits are 25 euro cents. Not 5- 25.

We spent probably an hour figuring out the public transportation system. The map was a little confusing. And the tickets are all done on an honor basis- they don't ask for them or automate them. You buy the ticket you need to use then you use it. And if they catch you misusing the system it's a 60 euro fine.

After a little while we split up. Emily Noelle and Mallory went shopping while Kurt, Greta, Jared, Trevor and I went around the city. We were actually heading to the Reichstag (big building- I'll explain later) when we stopped in the lawn in front of the Berlin Cathedral. Kurt decided to keep going, but the four of us sat in the lawn watching 5 people playing a game called Kubb. Now I don't want to explain the whole game, but it's a lawn game with techniques not to different from horseshoes. Basically you have to knock all the wooden cubes down on the other side of the field with the wooden dowels before the other team knocks the cubes on your side down. If you knock down a cube it switches ends. That's the basic gist. It's really cool, and we're going to have a bonfire and play it when I get home. We'll make our own set, but for more info- http://www.kubb.co.uk/ Anyway, it was really cool because two of the guys were German and 3 of them from Norway.

At that point, we all met up again to go out to a bar. We had invited Gareth, so he joined us too. It was at this point that we first noticed the prostitutes on the street- yes, even before it was dark. How do you know? They're the ones in corsets just kinda standing around... Yeah. Anyway, after dodging the occasional, erm, businesswoman, we made our way to the bar. What it was was an old factory that instead of tearing down, someone rented it out (real cheap) and put bars and artwork in it. Some artists of some sort took pictures and did junk sculptures and creations and put them on display/sold them. It was sweet. The bar was on the 5th floor and the wall was completely knocked out (not on purpose. Probably a bomb)- so it was a giant balcony (they installed a railing). It was sweet. And at the back of the building, on the ground was a kind of beach bar. They had laid sand down and set up a few bars and cheap furniture around. It was awesome.

The wall of the stairway leading up to the bar:

I went to bed exhausted, too late, and actually fell asleep trying to write in my journal. It was a good day.

So, if I journal my entire trip in one post it would be ridiculous. Installment #2 comes tomorrow.