Hello everyone!
Surprise, surprise, I’m in Europe
again. I don’t know what it is about this continent but everything feels at
ease when I’m here. I landed at 7 am and far be it from me to waste my only
free day. So I walked to the concierge, asked her what I needed to see and that
I could take 12 hours to do it if need be, I only had one day and I planned to
make the most of it. She pointed me to a bunch of areas and told me it was too
far to walk so I should take the tube. Yeah. Right. I would have missed all this!!
I started off walking towards the East
Side Gallery which is basically a long remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall
which has been repurposed with murals on one said. And plain old graffiti on
the other. What’s so crazy is literally people were dying to get over the wall,
and now in 2019 the parts of the wall are broken down and you just walk right
through the gaps. Progress for society in general, but let’s face it WWII
wasn’t that long ago so it’s simply wild how times have changed. I’m not
kidding you, the lady behind me on the plan was alive during the war and
sharing how she remembers the wall and thankfully she was on the west side.
If there’s one thing I learned from
Tanja, it’s when you think you can’t walk anymore you’ve got another mile in
ya. So I was like okay, the next big monument is only 2 miles away. I can walk
that. Honestly, I just didn’t want to miss out. And I was walking by the water
so it was lovely. That’s how I found this cute little town!
I made it to the Berlin cathedral but
as luck would have it, it was partially under construction just like most of
London was this summer. So I got one good photo and carried on.
Also another thing about Germany is
that people here are so friggen tall!! I’m not sure what’s in the water here.
Seriously, my 5’5’’ frame is nothing on these German Giants? Don’t believe me?
Look at this photo outside the war memorial.
I think this is what the world must
feel like for Kelly . Im not sure I like
this feeling hahaha. But on the flip it is kinda of nice to no longer be
“average.
This war memorial was actually really
interesting, as it changed throughout the times and was bombed and
reconstructed over and over again, each time the memorial changing to honor
different groups of people. Ultimately, the human remains of a concentration
camp prisoner and a war soldier are buried here and the memorial has a statute
of a mother holding her dead son. I guess it’s true when they say no one really
wins a war, ultimately everyone loses…
I continued walking until I came across
the Brandenburg Gate and then walked over to the Reichstag Building aka the
neo-renaissance parliament building. By this time I had hit mile 9 and was
started to get tired, but there was still so much to see and literally a whole
park was right there! It’s called Tiergarten.
That’s the one thing I can’t get enough
of, you’re smack dab in the middle of the city and yet off to the side you’ve
got a mini forest. No one told me the sun set at 4 pm here! So I got a warm
street pretzel and continued exploring. Also, not going to lie, you haven’t had
bread until you come to Germany. I’m not sure what they sell us in the US and
I’ve never been a really big bread person, but be prepared for me to come home
in 10 days looking like the Michelin man because IT IS SO FRIGGEN GOOD.
By this point I was tired and cold, but
I still couldn’t bring myself to go home. I wanted to explore more, so I kept
walking along the park until I came to a Soviet War memorial. I know I’ve been
to countries with hard histories, but coming to a space like Berlin I feel like
it’s constantly present. I wonder what it’s like for Germans growing up here,
if these reminders are as striking as they are to a foreigner. If they itch and chafe or they’re like the
Hollywood sign, where you don’t even notice it’s there until someone else
outside LA comes to see it.
After waiting until I was practically
frozen solid, I walked back to the city center and stopped at the Adlon Hotel
for a nice cappuccino to thaw my hands. One thing I’m sure of is I cannot stay
in a cold country. A certain someone came to this hotel as a bodyguard for
Steven Spielberg, so I simply couldn’t resist taking a peek inside. Honestly
since I was on the company dime, I was SO tempted to eat dinner there, but I
figured I better not abuse the system so I can hopefully go on another trip
this spring. I figured a $3.50 cappuccino (outrageous here when you can get
them for $1.50-$2 at a no brand café) wouldn’t raise too may eyebrows.
By 6:00 pm I accepted defeat and called
an uber back to my hotel, it was too cold and I walked over 10 miles so I feel
like I did my fair share of exploring. I’m really nervous for this conference
tomorrow but mostly excited! I think it’s going to be great! Guess I better get
to sleep now.
Love you lots,
Carolyn
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