Berlin

The hostel I stayed at in Berlin is called the Circus and is located in Mitte, the commercial center of the city. I just have to say, it is probably the best hostel I have stayed in so far. If you ever travel to Berlin and decide to stay in a hostel, this is the one to pick! One of the funnier things about it: there is a shrine to David Hassellhoff located in the the ground floor bar.
After I checked in, I still had enough of the afternoon left to see some of the sights. So I took an inner-city train to Alexanderplatz, which is a main public transport station and big noisy commercial center. After dinner, I caught another train to the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall, and is also the world's largest open-air art gallery. That night, some of my roommates and I went out to Dr. Pong, a bar that looks more like a frat house with a ping pong table in the middle. Up to thirty people in a circle playing at a time, as people miss and drop out the circle shrinks. The final two play until one loses, the winner then thumps his paddle in the table and the game starts again. I found out the next day during a tour that ping pong, or table tennis, is very poplar in Berlin and there are even public courts throughout the city where people can play.
The next day I decided to sign up for a free walking tour with an organization called Brewer's Berlin Tours. The tour was supposed to take about three hours and would cover most of the sights. About a quarter of the way in, we were to meet with another group and people who had signed up for a tour of the historical sights of the Third Reich were going to join another guide's group. I had read up on the tour guide, Terry Brewer, after whom the company was named. He was a young boy who was living in London when it was bombed during WWII. As a young man in the Royal Navy, he traveled to Berlin and lived in the West and worked in the East. Eventually, due to his extensive knowledge of the city, he became an official guide for visiting politicians and soldiers. He is now about 75 and still has daily tours for visitors. I had been thinking about joining his tour (it was only 10 euros) and felt it would be a unique opportunity to learn about Berlin's history, so I switched. Terry's tour is about 7 hours long, and we all had to work hard to keep up with him. We visited, among other things, the Jewish Quarter, the Neue Synagogue, the Jewish Girls school, Reichstag, SS and Luftwaffe Headquarters, and the bunker area where Hitler committed suicide. He related many stories of resistance and atrocities that occurred during that dark period of time, some I hadn't been aware of. We "young ones" were exhausted by the end of the tour and Terry went off to meet up with his pals at his favorite pub ( he invited us to come along and we just couldn't walk anymore! ) but it was worth it.
That night I had dinner with Sam, one of the girls I had met on the tour. It's funny but it was in Berlin that I have had some of the best Italian food ever. Afterwards, we met up with the some of my roommates from the night before and went to a club called the Week-End. It's well - known in the techno scene, but although I had fun with new friends, I think it was over priced and the guys at the front door were hostile. I wouldn't go again. It was a long night, and although the club doesn't close until the sun comes up, I got in "early"; I only had one more day in Berlin.
The next day I was pretty tired, but it was beautiful out and I began to plan out my day. It turned out many of the places I had wanted to visit, such as Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berliner Dom, and Postdamer Platz, had been covered on Terry's break neck tour the day before! The tour had also been pretty emotionally intense, so I decided to have a little light hearted fun and visit Zoologischer Garten, Germany's oldest zoo.
The train line I needed to take to Zoologischer was under repairs so I had to use another line to get within walking distance to the zoo, and I arrived right next to the Erotica Museum. I decided to go in (see everything, right?). Although I learned a few things; what the role and form erotica has taken in different cultures in history, from Bali fertility figurines to instruction manuals for japanese brides on their wedding night, and Parisian erotic takes on fairy tales, I wouldn't go out of my way to visit. And as in any other museum, you have go through the gift shop before you can exit, and it was pretty raunchy.
The zoo was much more fun! I spent a few hours enjoying the sunshine and seeing all of the animals, most of them in open-air exhibits. That night I had an early dinner with some friends (Italian again) from the hostel and then the next morning I was off to Amsterdam.

Berlin's Hauptbahnhof Train Station is from the future.






Alexanderplatz


















The Wall





































Haha, the flyer for Circus Hostel's watering hole, Goldman's Bar.






Circus common room, where the tour starts.






The first tour, our guide points out we are in the largest group of connecting squares in Europe, with just enough space for an H&M! Anything not brown and plain in east Berlin neighborhoods has only been recently renovated in the last 17 years or so, the city is 2 billion euro in debt in its attempt to modernize itself.






Musuemsinsel






Berliner Dom












Lustgarten. The site of many of Hitler's speeches. There was once a podium where the massive bowl sits.













Terry going a mile a minute, telling us about Herbert Baum, a jewish member of the German Resistance against the Nazi party.






Fernsehturm, a TV tower, known as the "Pope's Revenge" or "Walter Ulbricht's Last Erection".






Many of the buildings that were pivotal to the Jewish community and Third Reich were either destoyed during WWII or torn down purposefully. In many cases there were only plaques, monuments, or just building foundations left to tell the story of each location, usually the site of a new building. Terry was great at filling in the rest.

























A museum dedicated to what used to be the "Workshop for the Blind", a factory that made brushes. It employed mostly blind Jewish people in an attempt to save them from the camps and was owned by German Jewish sympathizer, Otto Weidt. Unfortunately, only one of them survived the war.
Otto Weidt has been recognized as one of the Righteous Men of the World's Nations for his efforts.


















Modeled after the Alhambra when it was built in the 1850's, the Neue Synagoge was destroyed during WWII bombing and restored in 1995. Right now it's too big for the remaining Jewish community, so it's more of a museum.












Porsdamer Platz, an architect's playground of ideas.






At Fuhrerbunker, the spot where Hitler committed suicide.






A memorial for the Holocaust victims, it represents an unattended graveyard.






Best guide ever! I hope I have Terry's energy when I'm his age, because I certainly don't right now :)






Meanwhile, back at Goldman's Bar...






I think the band was from Australia.












The next day I wandered around the Mitte before heading off to the zoo.












He seems to say, come closer, I want to tell you something. This lion was regarding me for a minute or two this way. Pretty intense. The lions are indoors for a short period of time when they are fed, so you can get really close, which can terrifying if they decide to roar and you don't expect it.
























What a great way to spend a warm and sunny day. I had to leave early the next morning for Amsterdam, so it was a low key evening for me.
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