Berlin!

This weekend we went to Berlin, Germany. We had already been to Maunshau and so we were ready for another German city! We had to make train reservations and book our hostel in advance so we were ready. Ellen, Reid, and Zach went a little early to go get train reservations and spend the afternoon in Liege. I waited till Kat and Jenna were out of class and then met up with them in Liege. Jill ended up leaving by herself to Liege (about a 25 minute train ride) because we were worried there wouldn't be any spots left on the train but everyone got a seat. Then Decker and Cam met up with us at the train station in Maas. Then we left! We took the 409 train leaving Maastricht and changed trains in Liege and again in Koln. We got to Berlin at 11:08 at night. Our hostel closed the reception desk at midnight so we had to high tail it over to our hostel. We ended up taking a taxi but got there on time! That night we all pretty much crashed and went straight to bed. our hostel was interesting. It wasnt very nice but we only really wanted a bed to sleep in and we got that! And we only paid about 6 euro a night. Which is less than 9 dollars. so we were pretty happy that we didn't spend alot considering we had to pay for train reservations. So the next day we woke up and decided to go on a walking tour of Berlin. We were staying in West Berlin and the tour started right on the border of East and West. We started walking and ended up getting there about two hours later after being lost for a little while. But it was fun! it was sooo cold. We really didn't think that much about it but it was freezing. And all the sidewalks are pure ice. They don't really salt their sidewalks they just wait until they freeze and cover them with gravel. But that doesn't work sometimes. I fell probably 5 times. It was hilarious but at the same time i am a little bruised. By the time we got to the tour, we had missed it. :( but we had some starbucks and caught the same tour the next time around. We went on the New Berlin walking tour. It is done in English and the whole tour is free. they took us to Brandenburg gate, the Berlin Wall, Hitler's bunker, and a bunch of other places that were just as historic. It was a long tour but totally worth it. We got to know a lot of history of Berlin. When we got back to the hostel after some confused metro riding, we were all exhausted. We stayed close to home and ate some pizza or kababs or chicken, whatever was in the nearest kiosk near the hostel. We all fell asleep and overslept actually. We woke up at 10:20 and were supposed to meet the boys at 10. So we missed our tours for the day but thats ok. We kind of did our own thing and split up. Half of us went on a Potsdam tour and saw a bunch of castles in Berlin. The group i was in decided to go to Sauchsenhausen. It is located in Oranienburg, Germany about 30 km north of Berlin. It was a concentration camp back in WWII. We decided to go because 1) cam has to go to a concentration camp for an independent study she is doing, and 2) none of us had ever been to one. I have been to the Holocaust museum in D.C. but going to the actual place was so different. We split up to see everything and it ended up just Camille and I walking around looking at all the stories, and all the exhibits. They still have all the original buildings and watch towers and fencing everywhere. It was said to have housed over 100,000 prisoners duriing the years it was open. It was a Nazi concentration camp as well as a Soviet Special camp. Everything is just so eerie. Everything happened almost 70 years ago but it is still so serious and ominous. I'm so glad i went though. It is such an eye opener and i don't think i'll think about it the same way. In 2003, there was a bottle found that had a letter in it. It was a letter written from a prisoner during the time when it was a concentration camp. He had written a letter to his wife telling her how he missed her and loved her. It was left there because obviously it could not have gotten to her but they didn't find it until 60 years later. SO sad. We headed back to the hostel and then headed out for the night. We went to a pub crawl run by the same people that did our free tour. Berlin is said to have some of the best nightlife, many clubs not closing till 8 in the morning. We had so much fun. We danced alot and met alot of fun people. We went to bed exhausted again and got up at 9 to head back to Maas. We barely caught our train and left at 1030 and got home at 830. It took alot longer because we didn't want to have to pay for a train back but it was worth it. We got home and i showered and crashed! It was a great trip and we learned alot about traveling, which i think is the point of the first weekend trip. I didn't feel like we missed anything and can now know what to do and not to do for next time!