So Day 2 in Berlin... a nice fun filled day. It all began at 7:30am. The hostel room we stayed in, well when we got back at like 11pm everyone was sleeping so we tried so hard not to make noise. When we got up, it was still dark, and everyone was still sleeping, expect the kid who coughed all night. It was a nice hostel though, we didn't spent any time in it really, but still nice. So our first stop of the day was the Reichstag. The guide book said to be there early to avoid lines, aka we were then a few minutes after it opened. The view in that early morning was awesome. Different than at night, but just as beautiful. I took some nice pics. It was pretty windy, so we snapped a few shots and left.
After that we went to the train station which is basically right next to the Reichstag, this train station is like the main one in East Berlin. On the way, I had my first of many Hogan Heroes references... sweet. We passed the street Otto-von-Bismarck, and all I could think of was one of my favorite Hogans when Hogan and Kinchloe convince a German general that Hogan can communicate with the spirit of Bismarck. Ummm funny stuff. So for like an hour after that, I had two quotes running through my head, "Otto? Otto you old dog" and "I know you were the Chancellor of Germany, but what have you done recently?" Yeah it was fun. On the subject, I forgot when I saw this car that had a company logo on it, it was, "Muller and something" but in another Hogans, Newkirk posing as a man called Muller is accepted into the German army and assigned as a guard at Stalag 13. Yeah that's a bit of sticky wicket.
Anyway back to my trip, it was so much being in Germany and thinking of Hogans! The train station was nice, they kinda all look the same. We got our passes validated no problem, so now we could go onto Munich. After that we tried to walk to Alexanderplatz, but realized it was much further than we thought, so we got on a bus next to the Reichstag. While waiting, I found a Berlin Wall memorial, one big cross, and little ones behind it.
So we got onto the bus and went to Alexanderplatz to take pictures of the Cathedral, Red Town Hall with the Poseidon statue in front of it, and just random things in Alexanderplatz. Right near there we found two statues, one of a man sitting down, the other is standing up... and yeah no label. Weird. In front of them are stone tablets, some with pictures on them, others that look a little carved... it was so weird. But then Germany does not label their memorials, so it could be anything.
When we were done talking pictures we walked north to meet Monica's friend Debbie, who goes to Oxford. When Oxford got out of school, Debbie came to Berlin. So we met with her, and it took us awhile to get there, but we did, and then we walked a while to a waffle place! Food! I was so hungry. Now we are in northern East Berlin, away from all the tourist stuff, and it was awesome. There was these little streets with cute little stores, and it was really residential. It was just cool being away from the touristy stuff. And the waffles were delicious!!!!!! I devoured mine. We were there for a little bit, but then walked on exploring the cute parts of Berlin. We stopped at a cafe, just to rest, and while there I wrote a postcard to send to St. Bs. Debbie had to go to the post office, so I got to mail the post card! It was cool. The post office was in the mall, and we went in, and there is a fruit market. I did a double take. I've been trying to remember, but don't think I've ever seen a fruit market in a mall. It was actually a store, it didn't pack up and leave at night.
I must say there is an awful lot of graffiti in East Berlin. It doesn't look that bad, but if I could read German I'm sure I would find it very insulting. But I'm oblivious, so it looks okay. Another observation I made was, we went into a kid's store. There was no toy soldiers. If there was any reference to war, it was knights, or Robin Hood looking people. No army soldiers at all. I was shocked beyond belief... yeah okay that was sarcasm. Germans, I've noticed, and in speaking with the Germans I met in Spain, they are not proud of their past, they tend to push it under the carpet to forget about it, and no where will you find reference to it. I noticed this much more in Munich, because it was pointed out to me, but especially in Berlin they tend to push forward and not think about the past. After the war Berlin built modern buildings, but for some reason Munich built everything the way it had been before it got bombed.
Well after that, Monica and I left Debbie. We agreed to meet up for dinner, but we wanted to hit up a museum or two, so we did that. We went down to museum island, which was like 5 seconds from our hostel. It was good, because we did have to go back there at some point and pick up our bags. We were leaving for Munich that night, a few minutes before midnight. Or was it after midnight... um can't remember. Anyway the museums... oh wow.
Temple. All these things were rebuilt in the museum! It was unbelievable! On the walls in the room the Temple is in are put back together pieces of panel that feature all the gods. Some of them you can tell who they are.. its so cool! The temple is wicked! My jaw never lifted from the ground! We climbed the stairs of the alter, and went into another room with panels that were put back together, and these panels told a story of probably Hercules, and how he had a problem, and The first one we went to was the Pergamonmuseum, and though smaller than the British Museum, it puts it to shame! There is more Roman stuff in the British Museum, but the British Museum does not have the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, the Roman Market or the PergamonOdysessus saved the day. Oh Odysseus! Other rooms had Greek columns, a copy of the statue of Athena, different art, and then we walked into the Roman ruin. They have a do it yourself Julius Caesar statue... wow. They found a headless statue of what they consider the perfect Roman, and put the head of Julius Caesar on top of it, because Caesar was the perfect Roman! YEAH CAESAR!!!! You're so cool you can have a salad named after you. Joke. Anyway, so I was saying hello to relatives of Augustus, when Monica came up behind me and told me there was a statue of, well haha, I thought she said Maximus. I turned to her and asked, why was there a statue of a general who got kicked by Spartacus. But then she looked at me and said, "I said Marcus Aurelius." I know, I always have Maximus on the mind. So I turn around all excited, it was a young Marcus Aurelius! WHAT! He was dressed in armour, and no beard! All the statues I've seen of Marcus Aurelius have been old! I was so excited.
So after that we found the Market, but it's being worked on, so then we went to find the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, which was amazing. It was huge! Unbelievable!
After that museum we went to the Egyptian museum, which was again unbelievable. It had a lot of mummies, and I could tell some of the dates of the stuff, because some of it looked a little Roman. There was a lot of art, and it was just so cool. Really small museum, but awesome.
So after the museums, we went to a cafe, took a break, then got our bags and headed to another section of Berlin. LOL, it was the gay section. It was completely dead... nothing was going on. Debbie picked it, because it was her last night in Berlin and she had never been in this section before. We met her three friends from her school in the States, and we found a place to eat dinner. The three girls got breakfast, I got eggs and ham, and no they were not green. It was fun, her friends were cool. Debbie is great too, a lot of fun. We hung out here for awhile, but it was getting late, and we wanted to get to the train station in plenty of time. So we left, and headed there, and around midnight we were on the train heading to Munich. It was sad to say good bye to Berlin, it's a great place, and we both enjoyed it. So Munich is the next post... and really our trip is still just beginning!
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