a crowded world: 2013

In 1963 President John F. Kennedy was addressing the Berlin people in regards to the Berlin Wall construction. During his speech he used the phrase- “Ich bin ein Berliner” at least twice. According to legend, many Germans chuckled at the phrase because he was essentially saying, “I am a jelly donut.” Some argue that his word choices were correct but nonetheless the phrase became famous. So while in Berlin a few of my friends decided to try a Berliner… and chose the wrong place to find one. They ended up with a pork type hot dog. Not a jelly donut.

But their experience fit well with our trip. If there’s one thing I’ve learned while traveling it’s that A- you have to be flexible and B- you have to know how to laugh at yourself and whatever situation you find yourself in.

We left our apartments around 21:00 (9:00PM, Europeans use military time) to head for an overnight train to Berlin. I was pretty excited to be experiencing what I would consider a necessary adventure when traveling through Europe.

Then we showed up and realized that we had purchased sitting chairs for the ride. In our inexperience and naivety we had just assumed that buying a ticket on an overnight train means that you would get to lay down. Wrong. None of us were too keen to the idea of sharing a small compartment between the five of us and one random (unpleasantly smelling) man for the next 10 hours. Nor did we think we could ever sleep that way.

So, a friend and I went to see what we could do about the situation. We had to talk to multiple conductors but eventually found that we could upgrade for an additional 15 euro (about $20). Woohoo! We lugged all of our stuff to the other car, claimed a bunk, and lay down to sleep for the night.

I learned an important lesson that night. Being a light sleeper does not mix well with sleeping on a train. There was a random man in the compartment… who despite our banging around fell asleep relatively fast. He snored all night long. And talked in his sleep. In German. Then the train would make multiple stops in the middle of the night. But it wasn’t little stops. They were very abrupt, sudden stops. So I would slide around on my bunk, try to keep from falling off, listen to the sounds of the train doing its thing and try to fall back asleep.

Needless to say, I got little sleep that night.

We arrived in Berlin and hit the ground running. We found our hostel… with no problems this weekend! (we are getting good!) Most hostels have check in times but let you leave your luggage with them if you get there before check in time. So, we dropped our luggage off in a little room and thought we would quickly freshen up. (We had been wearing those clothes for more than 24 hours. Ew) So we changed, “freshened” up, and then realized that there was a security camera in the room pointed right at us. Surprise! You’re welcome Berlin!

Our first stop was the Olympic Stadium. It was used multiple times for the Olympics and is used today by the German Football (aka Soccer team). I actually loved spending time here. The Stadium held more history than I ever would have anticipated. In 1936 the Olympic games were held there and Hitler instructed people to stop Anti-Semitic Actions during the games for the appearance of the capital.

Then we visited the Berlin Wall. Not exactly what I was expecting. I was picturing something between the Great Wall of China and a typical wall. It was much shorter and smaller than what I had in my head. But, ya learn something new every day!

Next we went to the Berlin City Gates and took some pictures. We viewed their Parliament/Government building and took some more pictures. Then we visited a Holocaust memorial in the city. The memorial consisted of blocks of cement covering 4.7 acres (according to Wikipedia) that was designed to communicate confusion and uneasiness. It was very sobering to think about what the memorial stood for- so many innocent people who lost their lives.

That night there was a small festival happening behind the city gate so after grabbing dinner at a café we meandered around the fair. There were food stands everywhere. So of course we stopped and grabbed crepes at one of the stands. DELICIOUS. The best crepe I’ve ever had.

The next morning we decided that we would get up relatively early and head to a concentration camp- Sachsenhausen. We had a lot that we wanted to do that day so we factored in about three hours for the camp.

We get onto their Subway system and we are going and going and going and our stop isn’t coming up. So, we momentarily panic because we are going so far from the city and we contemplate jumping off when a woman leaned over to us and explained (in English) that we were headed in the right direction. PTL. So we felt better. And then a friend picks up the brochure for the Camp and reads that it takes about an hour to get there from the city. And touring takes about three hours. Whoops. Shoulda’ read everything on the pamphlet. But we decided that it would be worth it. We finally get there and did an audio tour of the camp. Let me tell you, visiting a concentration camp is not an easy thing to experience. It left me pondering and questioning for hours. But I’m very glad that we went.

Next we rode the subway back an hour into the city. We picked up our packs and headed to a Dome or Cathedral next to the river.

We were going to try to go to Checkpoint Charlie but decided that it could be cutting it close to when our train was going to leave. So instead we walked through an artisan type market. I love markets a lot. There’s something so adventurous feeling about walking from stand to stand not knowing what you’ll find.

We made it right in time to our train that left at 18:00 after frantically searching for snacks and bathrooms. Thankfully we were able to upgrade again to beds and tried sleeping.

Overall Berlin was quick. Too quick. But very worth it. Even a week in Berlin would not of been sufficient!