Day 2: Berlin

Despite some rain, we had a busy and wonderful second day in Berlin!  Read all about it below:

Today we started with a bus tour with our first stop being the olympic stadium from the 1936 games. Then, we went to the remains of the Berlin Wall, which was painted with many different murals. Also, we walked through a Holocaust memorial which was designed by an artist from New York. We also could see the Brandenburg gate and Hitler's bunker there. After the bus tour, we had time for lunch and to either go to the Check Point Charlie museum or a panorama of the city with the wall up. It gave you a feel for what it felt like to live near the wall. Next, we went to the topography of fear museum, which had a lot interesting pictures and information about life when the Nazi's were in power. We then spent some time in the German history museum where we saw a lot of art and artifacts. After that, we had dinner together in the Jewish quarter. Finally, we ended the night with a beautiful river cruise tour.

-Mariah B.

Today we had breakfast and left for a bus tour of Berlin. During our bus tour we had a very funny tour guide who helped us better understand the buildings and history of Berlin. We made stops at the Olympic stadium, Brandenburg gate, the holocaust memorial, and remains of the Berlin Wall. During our lunch break we went to a museum that showed how life was during the 1980s with the Berlin Wall. Also during our lunch break we went to the checkpoint Charlie museum. This museum was really cool because it went through the whole history of the Berlin Wall. In the museum they also had perceived many attempts at crossing the Berlin Wall. For lunch we went to a small cafe that had really good sandwiches and donuts. After lunch we went to a really fancy chocolate store called Fassbender & Rausch. We then went to many museums on museum island in Berlin. We had dinner at a nice restaurant that served us noodles and steak. For dessert we got ice cream with some sort of pancake. After dinner we went on an exciting boat tour of Berlin. We then concluded the tour by getting snacks at a gas station near our hotel.

-Scott G.

So today we are leaving for Dresden (followed by Prague) so I'd like to highlight what I think are the best parts of Germany's capital. The architecture was the thing we saw the most of, considering we walked almost everywhere. All of the palaces, museums, and capital buildings are so intricate and detailed and definitely characterize Berlin. Something else that makes Berlin unique is Ampelman. He's a small silhouette of a man who appears in the traffic lights to let pedestrians know when to cross the street, and he's a pretty big deal (there are whole souvenir shops dedicated to Ampelman). Although he is more of an East Berlin-thing, West Berlin is very slowly starting to accept him. This leads me to my closing point: the differences between East and Wast Berlin. It's almost like opening a textbook and living history as we looked at the remnants of the Berlin Wall, and visited the Jewish Holocaust Memorial. This was a trip where if I hadn't taken AP Euro, I wouldn't have appreciated the sites and exhibits as much as I do! Tschuss!

-Irene A.