Ready for Berlin? GO!

My next day in Germany was probably the most educational experience of my life. Being the ambitious woman that I am, I thought I would do it all in one day by signing up for an 8 hour walking tour of Berlin. Starting just before 11 o clock, I was actually pleasently surprised to find that our tour guide for the day was the man who started the tour-guide business back in 1992(His name was Terry Brewer from Brewer's Best of Berlin tours). An older man with an obvious huge passion for history (and for walking!), we toured all around the east side of Berlin , while Terry told us everything he knew about Berlins past, present and future. I honestly think we left no street corner unattended to - literally. In fact, one of the coolest things I experienced on the tour was down an old side street. He stopped us in front of an old broken down building and told us a story of how a Jewish Girls School had been raided by the Nazis (one of the first raids) and they were taken away to concentration camps, where the majority of them were killed or sent away to work. Turns out that building we were standing in front of was that very same building - and you could even see traces of bullet holes to prove it. Terry mentioned that people walk by this building every day, yet most don't even know about the massive events that occurred at that very spot in the not-so-distant past. Berlin is a lot like that in general - it is a very modern city with lots of new and extravagant buildings, but then right next to those buildings are ones that are severely damaged - a constant reminder of the past. It makes me think about what went on in other places I have been, and what life must have been like years ago.... So besides just the girls school, we also got to see the great tourist attractions: the Jewish memorial, Brandenburg Gate (entrance to Berlin), Checkpoint Charlie (entrance into the American part of Berlin), Jewish Synagogue (which is where all the prostitutes work - no joke - and they even have a Prostitutes Union), the Berlin Wall, and Hitler's Bunker (well, I stood on top of it!), as well as many museums and embassys. By the end of the tour, it was half past 9 - so my 8 hour tour turned into over a 10 hour tour. I was so tired and I almost instantly fell asleep when I finally arrived back in my hostel! It was proabably a good thing though, as I was going to make my way to Hamburg for just the night to catch my flight back to Dublin - I cannot believe that the trip was already coming to and end - but I'm still just getting started!

xoxoxoxo