This is going to be a long one. We spent three full days in Berlin and that certainly was not enough time to see even close to everything. Berlin is an incredibly exciting city, packed with history either rebuilt or well-preserved. It is also very spread out with sprawling neighborhoods connected by the best underground rail system we’ve seen so far. Each neighborhood looks similar to the next, but Berliners will surely disagree with this claim.
We met up with my friend Lydia who lives in the city. She graciously gave us a grand walking tour which lasted almost ten hours. We met across from the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was bombed during WW2 but the destruction was preserved. It’s amazing and strange to see remnants of the war, preserved and memorialized, across the street from shopping centers and fast food chains. On with the tour: we boarded a bus that took us through scenic Tiergarten and stepped off in front of the Reichstag, Germany’s Parliament. Across the street is the infamous Brandenburg Gate, towering over what used to be East Germany. If anything has become the recognizable symbol of Berlin, it’s the Brandenburg Gate. In an area between the Reichstag and the gate is a line of darker colored bricks that symbolize where the Berlin Wall once stood. Placards along the way indicate the location of the wall. We continued on through a large square that housed two Protestant churches, one French and the other German, and a 
concert house. Both of the churches look exactly alike, aside from some of the reliefs and statues, to show tolerance for both of the Protestant beliefs. However, it’s rumored that the German church is slightly taller, but it has not been confirmed. Apparently, according to Lydia, a very famous German actress was walking her dog right in front of us in the square, but we wouldn’t have recognized her anyway. We stopped by the Ritter Sport store, which happens to be my favorite German chocolate company. After loading up on my favorite bars, dark chocolate with marzipan, we
moved on toward Checkpoint Charlie. Now a complete façade, the check point was once a gateway between East Berlin and West Berlin. The guards standing at the post are not military but actors who want money to have pictures taken with them. The day was getting on and we decided to stop for lunch. We were really hoping to have something authentically German since most of the food we’ve been eating since we started this trip has been from train stations or grocery stores. Lydia took us to an out-of-the-tourists area shop that we would have easily passed up ourselves, not knowing much German to begin with. The food was delicious and we were ready for another rest at a biergarten. Taking Lydia’s advice, Mark tried a Berlinerweizen, a typical drink in that area, which is a mix of beer and sweet syrup. Lydia and I enjoyed lattes and we sat in the shade for a bit. Afterwards, we walked along a river path until we came upon an open-air flea market. To our surprise, Johnny Cash was being played throughout. We decided to make out way toward the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall. Along the way, we found an intact Wall watchtower which overlooked what used to be the death strip. That term is very literal as anyone who made it over the first wall would certainly be killed trying to get over the second wall. And between that were barriers, barbed wire, sand to track footprints, armed soldiers and guard dogs, and sometimes explosives or self-firing weapons. To say the least, death strip seems like an accurate name. We met up with Lydia’s boyfriend at the East Side Gallery and walked down the mile long path past still intact pieces of the Wall. This segment is considered an art gallery with all portions painted by several different artists back in the nineties.From this point we were able to have a good view of the TV tower, a looming ball with a spike on top that can be seen from most anywhere in the city. Not far from the gallery was a world clock, which was considered a gift to the people of East Germany. Some gift; the clock allowed the people to know the time in countries they were never allowed to travel to. Near the clock was a very informative exhibit detailing the beginning, disenchantment, protests and ultimately t
he fall of the Wall. The evening was upon us and we decided to make our way the Museum Island. It’s exactly what it sounds like, an island filled with museums. There are several giant buildings housing all types of art and history. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to browse through one on this trip. Across from the National History Museum is the Berliner Dom, an impressively large and old-looking cathedral. I say old-looking because it was built at the turn of the twentieth century and designed to look old and classically baroque. It fooled us, I thought the structure could have been hundreds of years old. After dessert and then dinner, in that order (I love the Germans), we said goodbye to Lydia and Ilko. We were so thankful to have them show us around Berlin. We were able to see the city outside of the tourist areas, which is always refreshing.
In addition to what we saw 
on Lydia’s tour, we also learned a great deal of Berlin’s history through the New Europe walking tour. Just down the street from the Brandenburg Gate is the Holocaust memorial. Walking through hundreds of giant rectangular structures placed alongside one another on uneven ground gives you the feeling of oppression. The artist’s meaning is up for interpretation, and there are a lot of theories about what the boxes represent. Some say graves, others say train cars carrying prisoners, and many other interesting suggestions. Not far from the memorial is the above-ground site of Hitler’s bunker. On top of the site are modern apartments and a parking lot, so there’s nothing worth taking a picture of. As it’s told, the bunker was about fifty feet underground and was the place of Hitler’s death. I’m sure many have heard the story, but it’s interesting anyways: The Russians were closing in, and everyone in the bunker knew that inevitably they would be captured. Hitler decided to marry his long-time mistress Eva Braun, symbolizing his divorce from Germany, and then they planned to commit suicide. He had heard about what happened to Mussolini and his mistress after they were executed: they were hung by their feet on meat hooks and their bodies were beaten and spat upon by civilians. He did not want this to happen to him, so he instructed his remaining soldiers to take his body to the surface and burn it until it was unrecognizable. They both took a cyanide pill, Eva first, and Hitler also shot himself in the head. The Russians found the charred remains and confirmed dental records to prove the identity. Some say that his remains were buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in northeastern Germany. Another claim is that his ashes were flushed down a toilet. I think the latter is fitting. Continuing on the tour, we stopped by the former headquarters of the Luftwaffe, the Nazi air force. When communism took over, it became the center of the East German government. Early on, a mural was painted on the wall depicting what a wonderful life everyone was sure to have under Communist rule. Not long after, a photograph was taken outside of the building during a protest over a raise in work quotas with no raise in wage, and undoubtedly moral had been crushed. The photo is juxtaposed with the mural to show how ideals and reality are often quite different. The building is now used as the German version of the IRS, so citizens still don’t care for it. Apparently, the awful Tom Cruise movie “Valkerie” was filmed there and the building was once again adorned with Nazi flags and symbols, much to the dismay of Berlin’s citizens. I can’t imagine what it would have been like for them to wake up and go to work and see that. How unfortunate. Around the corner is the now hollowed out SS headquarters. Running alongside it is a remnant of the wall, broken and beaten, rebar showing
and tagged with graffiti. This part of the wall is meant to look the way it did for almost four decades, oppressive and disheartening. We found our way to a square between a library and an opera house that was the site of the Nazi book burning. All Jewish literature and anything considered “non-German” was burned in an open fire in the square. Many first editions and original texts were destroyed, and some were the only copies in existence. There, too, is a memorial located under the square, visible by a small window in the ground, of a room with empty bookshelves representing the amount of books lost at the hands of the Nazis. Across the street is Humbolt University, where
Albert Einstein taught for several years. We went to an incredibly sobering memorial of a statue carved by a woman who lost sons in both World Wars. It depicts a mother covering her dying son with her cloak, shielding him from the cold. There is a large hole in the ceiling of the room where the statue is kept; therefore the statue always endures the elements. It was quite a troubling yet moving memorial. We passed by the old armory building, which was covered with reliefs and busts of warriors from the past, onward to the Art History Museum. We passed by the museum earlier with Lydia, and she pointed out the columns just outside of the building had bullet holes in them from the war. I’m glad she mentioned that because our tour guide did not. We finished the tour three hours later and we were definitely beat.
We spent the whole next day wandering throughout Potsdam, a half hour train ride from Berlin. Potsdam, once the city of the Prussian kings, is a quaint town boasting numerous ornate palaces and generously proportioned citadels. Strolling through the forested trail we came upon the ruins of an old fort that were under construction. I suppose they want to make them look more ruined? We saw quite possibly the smallest Russian Orthodox church, filled with all sorts of knick-knacks that allowed for little parishioner space. The Sanssouci Palace is certainly the main attraction. It sits upon a hill with large cascading stairs flowing from the top. At the bottom is a fountain surrounded by several marble statues and gardens. We were fortunate to have had good weather on this day and it was nice to get out of the city and into some green space.By and far, Berlin has been the most exciting city we’ve visited. The history of the city is incredibly fascinating and worth taking extra time to absorb. It’s obvious that no one can get everything they want out of Berlin in only three days, but we feel satisfied with our time spent. We both hope the return in the future and stay for a bit longer. Moving right along to: Dresden, Germany
So it goes.
We left Bergen, Norway early in the morning and, after a stopover in Copenhagen, made it to Gothenburg, Sweden by about 10 p.m. We spent the night in a hostel and then departed early in the morning for Hamburg. About half way through the ride, our train boarded a ferry to cross the Baltic. It was definitely interesting being on a train that was on a boat. After two straight days of travel, we finally arrived in Hamburg. We made arrangements through Couch Surfing to stay with a family that lives in the suburbs of the city. We were so fortunate to have stayed with Mel, Sven and their four year old son Lars. And although shy, little Lars was not too interested in us, we found him to be quite adorable. They were very gracious and welcoming and made us feel right at home. We hope to see them again if they travel again to California.
The following day was spent walking around Hamburg’s city center. We took another free New Europe walking tour and learned quite a bit about the city’s history. In a nutshell, the city has had numerous devastating fires through the centuries. First, the Emperor of Germany in the ninth century, Louis the first, ordered the archbishop of Hamburg to convert the Vikings to Christianity. That didn’t work out so well, and the Vikings burned Hamburg to the ground. Apparently they enjoyed destroying the city so much that they returned another eight times to burn it down after the city was rebuilt. Then the entire city was victim to arson in the mid-nineteenth century that destroyed almo
st all of the buildings, some dating back to the twelfth century. No one knows who did it or how, but they know it was started at a cigar factory, which is now a restaurant. And finally, after many years of rebuilding, the city was repeatedly bombed during WW2 and again lost many of its structures. The church of St. Nikolai is a preserved example of some of the bombing devastation. The church was basically hollowed out, but the glockenspiel (bell tower) and spire remain intact. An elevator takes visitors to the top for a wonderful view of the entire city. The remains of the church are now a memorial dedicated to Holocaust victims. There are several memorials throughout the city dedicated to individuals from Hamburg who died in concentration camps, with placards placed in front of buildings where they once lived.
Hamburg’s his
tory was deeply rooted in the shipping and trade industries. It is known for being a huge import city from countries all over the world, evidenced by the architecture of many of the old port buildings. Because of this, Hamburg has always been a rather wealthy place. We also found out that Hamburg has the most bridges in all of Germany, which they are very proud of. In addition, the city has more canals than Venice or Amsterdam, supposedly. There is a famous story about an apparently well known German pirate named Klaus Störtebeker, who is seen as almost a hero in history. The story goes that he and his men were caught in Hamburg, guilty of piracy obviously, and were sentenced to die. After unsuccessfully pleading for his life, Klaus made a deal with his captors that would hopefully set some of his men free. He knew he would be executed by beheading, so he told his captors that after his head was cut off he would run as far as he could along a line of his men and each one he passes gets to go free. Sounds ridiculous, I know. And apparently, with his head chopped clean off, he was able to run past eleven of his men, saving them from his fate. There is even a live stage show depicting this highly inconceivable act. The story is apparently very popular amongst school children. 
The weather was changing by the hour, from sunny to rain, but it was still fairly cold. We unfortunately didn’t spend enough time in Hamburg to really take in all the sights. It would have been really nice to take a ferry into the city or to get further outside of the city center. It really is a beautiful place with a rich and interesting culture. It’s very unfortunate that Hamburg lost so many of its historic structures, effectively losing lots of its history. We made the best of the time we had and we were glad we took the time to see Hamburg.
Coming soon: Berlin!
We. Love. Norway. It’s simply a gorgeous country. Photos are simply unable to fully capture its magnificence. Our only regret is that we didn’t spend more time here. Oslo seems like such a cool city, and being the capitol of Norway, it definitely has a modern and upbeat culture. Bergen, situated along the coastline, is a smaller city with a college town feel. Our hotel in Oslo was located within walking distance to the city center, which had a mix of old and modern buildings lining the sides of a pedestrian plaza and park. A few blocks away is the central shopping district leading up to the train station.
Across the freeway from our hotel, the Oslo Opera House seems to float along the shoreline. Everyone is free to walk the perimeter and up to the roof for a view of the city. Just offshore, sitting above the water, is a glass sculpture that at first looks like a pile of sea junk, but close up is really quite nice. A twenty minute bus ride through the city took us to the neighborhood of the Norwegian Royal Estate and farmland. There we went to the Viking Ship Museum to see real Viking ships! Over twelve hundred years old, the ships were discovered buried beneath farmland and are the best preserved ships to date. The ships, along with other artifacts such as textiles and tools, wer
e truly magnificent. A few blocks away from the museum is a park that houses one of the oldest churches in Norway. At four hundred years old, it’s certainly a refreshing departure from the more traditional gothic and medieval churches. The looming wooden Stave church, with its rich color and texture, was indeed an exciting find. That and the Viking ships were on our list of things to see here. There were also original buildings and farm houses from around the same time. The structures were well worn and the roofs were overgrown with grass and weeds. The area certainly had a Tolkien feel to it.
The next day we boarded a train headed for Bergen. Along the way we were witness to the most beautiful countryside we’ve seen thus far. Every so often there would be a small town; maybe it could be considered a village. Kind of like a Nordic “Little House on the Prairie.” They were so quaint. Six hours later, we arrived in Bergen. We were hoping for good weather, but instead we were greeted with clouds and rain. Our hotel room was awful; I won’t go into any more detail other than to say that it was depressing. We made the best of the little time we had that evening by walking to the fisherman’s wharf and to the Bergenhus fortress. The wharf isn’t used as often by the fishermen anymore but is more a tourist attraction. It’s lined with souvenir shops and fish weren’t being sold at the time we were there. The Bergenhus fortress was once used as a royal residence and contains buildings that date back to the thirteenth century. On a clearer day, I’m sure it’s more spectacular. Unfortunately, we were too tired to read historic information placards in the rain. On the other side of the water lies the University, the shopping district and the largest church in the city. We walked through just to say we saw everything we could. Graffiti seems to be a well-respected art form all over Norway, especially stenciling. We saw many large works by the same three artists in both cities.
Our primary goal for 
traveling to Bergen was to see the fjords. Taking the advice of the well-traveled Rick Steves, we took the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour which takes you on a sightseeing train from Myrdal to Flåm, a boat through what Steves calls best fjords out of all the fjords, and then a scenic bus ride back to the train station. In all, the tour was eight hours long and totally worth it. The train made a few stops for pictures, and at one particularly large waterfall. The mountain sides had numerous waterfalls of all sizes fed by melting glaciers. At this point, the weather was still a bit gloomy and our pictures were not the best. But once we arrived at the boat, things were starting to clear up. It was just our luck that we had about an hour of sunshine, which afforded us an opportunity to get some great pictures. Unfortunately, none of them compare to what we actually s
aw. The mountains were so green and lush, we can only imaging (for now, at least) how gorgeous they are when covered with snow. Along the way, we passes so many remote villages, some with no roads and only accessible by boat. One of the oldest churches in Norway belongs to one of these villages, and it can hold thirteen people at one time. Our trip through the fjords was two hours long, and by the second hour the rain had returned. We hunkered down inside the cabin until it was time to disembark. The bus ride back to the station took us through the curviest and steepest road I’ve ever been on. I could hardly believe a huge tour bus could make it down the road safely. Clearly for my benefit, the bus had seat belts. Along the road was another massive waterfall that was quite impressive. We had a long day but it
was the most rewarding and exciting part of our trip so far.
On our way back to Oslo, we passed through a snow covered landscape that was green only days earlier. We didn’t expect to see snow so soon on our trip. It definitely got cold the last night we were in Bergen. I suppose summer is over for Norway. We accomplished exactly what we wanted to during our time in Norway. We both agreed that we will definitely visit here again and spend at least two full weeks to really explore the country. Mark has decided that our next trip here will be during ski season, which I think is a good choice. We would love to see snow covered fjords.We are really excited to return to Norway some day!
All aboard for: Hamburg, GermanyOslo:Bergen & the fjords:
First, I would like to correct a statement made in the previous entry regarding trains being better than planes. This only applies when the train is a high speed rail and the trip is under five hours. We had the most miserable experience on an overnight train from Amsterdam to Copenhagen that took fifteen hours, stop and go. In order to save a little money, we thought it would be a great idea to go with the standard seats over a sleeper cabin, which have beds. We ended up in a six seat cabin with a couple from Denmark. They were very nice people and even gave us some Danish Kroner (their currency) as a souvenir. In exchange, we gave them some of our American coins, which were of very little value compared to what they had given us, but they were happy to receive it. It was great talking with them and getting to know them, but if we had to do it over again I think we’d pay a little extra and get a sleeper cabin. I won't go into too much detail about the sleeping arrangements, but let's just say I hope I never have to sleep on the floor of a train ever again. It was the worst travel experience ever, and was compounded by the intense head cold we both had. So we can say that we learned a lesson, at least. Moving on. We arrived in Copenhagen, exhausted and starving, around mid-morning. Everything in Denmark, and I'm sure everywhere north of Germany, is insanely expensive. They are not on the Euro and the exchange rate is horrible. We finally settled into the cheapest hotel we could find, which was not cheap at all. For the most part, the hotel was really nice. But our room was incredibly small, had bunk beds and the toilet was in the shower. You heard right. We decided against doing anything more than relaxing and called it a night. 
The next morning, Mark was on the mend from the cold, and mine was hitting its peak. Upon our first look at Copenhagen, we really weren't impressed. Right outside of the train station is the city's main attraction, Tivoli. It's an amusement park opened over a hundred years ago but has since been renovated of all its original charm. Since we didn't have a solid plan of action, we decided to traverse the city on foot. Copenhagen is a very modern and green city with lots of parks and open spaces. We set off to explore some of the city’s many public gardens. One of the features of these gardens was weather-worn statues, many of which were carved in the likeness of Hans Christian Andersen. He is the beloved author of one of my favorites, “The Little Mermaid” and hails from the `hagen. Apparently the Botanical Gardens were in their blooming off-season, as we encountered little in the way of flowers.
The one destinat
ion we had on our list was the Danish Resistance Museum. I didn't know much about the role of Denmark during WW2, but apparently they more or less welcomed the Nazis in return for not being invaded. There was a small contingency that rebelled, but it had little effect. Moreover, out of all of the European countries, they lost the least amount of lives, both civilian, soldier and Jewish. We continued to walk around the city, found an old fort with a giant windmill, went inside a lackluster Episcopalian church, wandered around a port area and then finally took a train back to the station. Walking while being sick took a lot out of us, but we carried on to try and see more of the city. We stumbled through what I can only call the hip shopping district that rambles through alleyways on cobblestone roads. We found the old stock exchange building and city hall, along with a few museums throughout. When we were done with our walking adventure, we came away being a bit disappointed with Copenhagen. All in all, it was actually pretty uneventful.
We gladly continued onward to Stockholm, Sweden, hoping for a better experience. The train took about five hours, and we didn’t have a reserved seat, so we were forced to move about to find a new one throughout the trip. Again, lesson learned. The Swedish countryside is very lush and forested. Our hotel was quite a distance from the central train station, but thankfully we were able to get one metro pass that works for all public transportation. Two trains and a bus later, we arrived. We figured anything had to be better than our last place, and thankfully it was. Clearly the room was inspired by IKEA and was just as efficient. We arrived in the early evening and decided to stay around the hotel. Luckily, we found a grocery store just across the street. You know, I always thought that American grocery stores were gigantic in both size and quantity of product, but they are quite small compared to the Nordic grocery stores. These places are like Fred Meyers, where you can get anything and everything, but three times the size. We soon figured out that it’s a bit of a tap dance to try to use a debit or credit card anywhere in Scandinavia, but somehow it all worked out. After making and consuming dinner, which would also be leftovers for breakfast, I decided to do laundry. And when I say do laundry I mean take our clothes to the shower, soap them up then ring them out to dry. I’ve never done laundry in a bathroom before, but whatever works, right?
We woke up early in hopes of getting as much done as possible. We started by walking about Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s preserved old town. This city has done a better job at maintaining the historic value of its buildings. We went into the Nobel Museum, which was neat. We learned a lot about old Alfred Nobel and his dynamite. They had on display the first ever multi-geared bicycle! It was so cool and totally strange. It had wooden rims with metal spokes and used forward/backward pedaling instead of making a full circular rotation. It’s kind of hard to explain, but the gears were not attached to the wheel but to the frame near the right pedal and slid along a bar to change. We followed the history of the Nobel Prize and its various recipients and found it enjoyable.
Continuing on though the city, we came across the Royal Palace and saw a medieval church. We made our way to a harbor which was near what I’m sure is called museum row. We planned on going to the Nordic museum, but it seemed to have collections too recent in history to be interesting. The Swedish History museum was boasting three hundred years of fashion, at which Mark cringed. The shipwreck museum was just too expensive, so we called our museum mission finished. We hopped a bus back into downtown and decided to walk around the shopping area. Our final goal, after getting food, was to go to the Observatory. Like many observatories, this one was at the top of a really tall hill, and we had been walking constantly for the last six hours. When we finally got to see the telescope, the tour was given in Swedish and all I got out of it was that it is one hundred years old. The day, for the most part, was gray and felt on the verge of raining. It wasn’t until we were almost back at the hotel did the sky finally clear up and the sun ready to set. That’s just the way it is. Our time in Stockholm wasn’t very exciting but it was enjoyable. I have to say that I am slightly bummed out for three reasons: 1. The ABBA Museum is not complete, and I really wanted to go
2. We did not visit an IKEA anywhere in Sweden3. Mark did not eat a Swedish meatball. In fact, I don’t think they really exist hereSo long, Sweden......
Next up: Oslo and Bergen, Norway
Copenhagen:
Stockholm:
We left Dusseldorf a little late on Sunday, not because we wanted to but because the train to Amsterdam afforded us a two hour layover. We gladly sat in the station Starbucks and made the best of the free internet. A few hours and a couple of early morning crazy people later, we finally boarded the high speed train heading for the Netherlands. The trip in total is about two hours and it was very comfortable. Trains are far better than planes, any day. Once we arrived, we were caught up in the commotion of what I hoped was the weekend rush. There were people everywhere, and all the tourist traps are right outside of the station. Within five minutes, someone tried to pickpocket from Mark’s bag, but his attempt was futile as Mark recognized right away what was happening. That guy wasn’t going to get anything anyway, that bag was locked down. Although, I think that soured our mood, that and carrying around twenty-five pound bags from here to there. We went back into the station looking for a place to use the internet when we came across the “first class members” lounge. That’s when we realized that our Eurail tickets allow us to use these facilities. We were able to locate a nice hotel outside of the crowded areas at a reasonable price. We had such a busy day trying to navigate the city and trying not to get run over by the thousands of bicyclists in the city that we took ‘er easy for the night.A few things we
learned about Amsterdam right away: bicyclists outnumber vehicles and they will hit you without remorse. It seems as though everyone who lives there gets the same steel, retro-60's standard issue cruiser bike upon moving to the city (at least that's what I think). Also, the Dutch are in love with fried foods and food from vending machines. Everyone spoke English very well and was very friendly and eager to help. The city is a very busy place filled mostly with tourists. The next morning we headed down the street to a café, not a coffeeshop (be warned). After that it was back toward the train station to embark on the first of what we hope to be several free New Europe tours. The walking tours are given usually by students or young English speaking residents for gratuity only. The tour lasted just over thr
ee hours and we certainly absorbed a lot of Amsterdam's history and culture. It's such a picturesque place with the encompassing canals and old brick houses. One thing we noticed is that many of the buildings have very narrow and steep spiral stairways. Apparently this is very typical of the design. And because of that, when bringing in large pieces of furniture or what not, the Dutch have a hook and pulley system at the top of every building to hoist the items up and through the window. What's more interesting is that at one point, some developer thought it would be a good idea if the houses leaned forward a bit, to prevent the item from hitting the side of the house. It took them a while to figure out that all they needed to do was extend the hook and pulley. Therefore, a lot of the older houses in the city look crooked and slanty. The history of the Netherlands during WW2 is very bleak, indeed. The Dutch pride themselves on being of the most tolerant people, defending their citizens regardless of race or religion. And because of that they suffered greatly.When our tour was ov
er, we went to the Anne Frank House Museum. It is the actual house where she and seven others hid for just over two years before being discovered by the Nazis. It has been restored to look very similar to the conditions they lived in during their time in hiding, which were actually pretty good. However, being locked away for so long certainly had mental ramifications. It was incredibly surreal to be there, it's going to be difficult going to Auschwitz next month.
After so much walking we decided to catch a tram back to the hotel. One thing is certain, navigating Amsterdam's tram system can be a challenge sometimes. We accidentally stayed on a tram too long that took us way outside of the city and had to wait at the turn-around station for forty minutes before another train took us back in. We finally got the hang of it, sort of. But because of that we didn't make it back to the hotel and decided to make our way the Red Light District. We don't have any photos of this place for two reasons: one because I really didn't want to take photos of prostitutes and two you can't take any and if the prostitutes catch you, they'll literally grab your camera and smash it on the ground. You'll be lucky if that's all they do after that. I mean, what can I say? No trip to Amsterdam would be complete without wandering around the alleys with girls behind windows, red fluorescent lights highlighting the streets, waiting for work. And it's a legitimate job for these ladies, they rent their s
paces and pay taxes like everyone else. I don't know if it's considered good work, but who am I to judge. The most interesting part, I thought, was that there is a Catholic church right in the center of the district, although it is no longer in service. Apparently that was a main port back in the day and the church knew that once the sailors were off the ship, they'd go straight for the ladies of the night. So, the church allowed the sailors to confess their sins afterword. At one point, that behavior was so expected that the church offered a chance to confess before any sinful deeds were done, at a price, of course. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.
The next day was gray and rainy, a stark contrast to the previous day. We loaded up at the breakfast buffet at the hotel, checked out and headed for the train station to stuff our bags into lockers. We purchased a "city pass" that, for a flat fee, gets us unlimited tram rides, free museum entrances and a canal boat tour for the day. Our first stop was the Van Gogh museum which boasts works from the artist's early days up until the year he died. It was quite a collection with several of his more famous works ("Starry Night" is in NY, go figure). It's weird, though, because some of the images, like his most famous self-portrait, on ones we've seen over and over thousands of times. But the one that was right in front of me was the original, painted by Vincent himself. It's hard to wrap your head around it, sometimes. After that we took a canal tour, which takes you around through the neighborhoods and off into the harbor while giving you bits of history here and there. It wasn't very exciting, but I suppose it's one of those things that you do if you're a tourist in Amsterdam. By that point, we were both starting to feel ill and getting a little cranky. We had plans to go to a few more museums, but they were either closed or required more money on top of the passes we'd already purchased, so we decided to end our sightseeing. For the most part, everyone in the city was friendly and gladly spoke English with us, until we went to this one restaurant. They were incredibly rude, and it was only because we were tourists and, probably even worse, Americans. By that point, we were ready to get out of Amsterdam. We saw what we wanted to, and it was time to leave. We both feel like we can check Amsterdam off our list, and we probably won't return for an encore. Many of the preconceived notions that we all have about Amsterdam are more or less true. However, we definitely felt safe wandering around the city. And if anyone is wondering, no, we did not go into a coffeeshop. But they were so abundant that you could smell the stank in the streets.Next up: night train to Copenhagen, then onto Stockholm
This is going to be a long one. We spent three full days in Berlin and that certainly was not enough time to see even close to everything. Berlin is an incredibly exciting city, packed with history either rebuilt or well-preserved. It is also very spread out with sprawling neighborhoods connected by the best underground rail system we’ve seen so far. Each neighborhood looks similar to the next, but Berliners will surely disagree with this claim.
We met up with my friend Lydia who lives in the city. She graciously gave us a grand walking tour which lasted almost ten hours. We met across from the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was bombed during WW2 but the destruction was preserved. It’s amazing and strange to see remnants of the war, preserved and memorialized, across the street from shopping centers and fast food chains. On with the tour: we boarded a bus that took us through scenic Tiergarten and stepped off in front of the Reichstag, Germany’s Parliament. Across the street is the infamous Brandenburg Gate, towering over what used to be East Germany. If anything has become the recognizable symbol of Berlin, it’s the Brandenburg Gate. In an area between the Reichstag and the gate is a line of darker colored bricks that symbolize where the Berlin Wall once stood. Placards along the way indicate the location of the wall. We continued on through a large square that housed two Protestant churches, one French and the other German, and a 
concert house. Both of the churches look exactly alike, aside from some of the reliefs and statues, to show tolerance for both of the Protestant beliefs. However, it’s rumored that the German church is slightly taller, but it has not been confirmed. Apparently, according to Lydia, a very famous German actress was walking her dog right in front of us in the square, but we wouldn’t have recognized her anyway. We stopped by the Ritter Sport store, which happens to be my favorite German chocolate company. After loading up on my favorite bars, dark chocolate with marzipan, we
moved on toward Checkpoint Charlie. Now a complete façade, the check point was once a gateway between East Berlin and West Berlin. The guards standing at the post are not military but actors who want money to have pictures taken with them. The day was getting on and we decided to stop for lunch. We were really hoping to have something authentically German since most of the food we’ve been eating since we started this trip has been from train stations or grocery stores. Lydia took us to an out-of-the-tourists area shop that we would have easily passed up ourselves, not knowing much German to begin with. The food was delicious and we were ready for another rest at a biergarten. Taking Lydia’s advice, Mark tried a Berlinerweizen, a typical drink in that area, which is a mix of beer and sweet syrup. Lydia and I enjoyed lattes and we sat in the shade for a bit. Afterwards, we walked along a river path until we came upon an open-air flea market. To our surprise, Johnny Cash was being played throughout. We decided to make out way toward the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall. Along the way, we found an intact Wall watchtower which overlooked what used to be the death strip. That term is very literal as anyone who made it over the first wall would certainly be killed trying to get over the second wall. And between that were barriers, barbed wire, sand to track footprints, armed soldiers and guard dogs, and sometimes explosives or self-firing weapons. To say the least, death strip seems like an accurate name. We met up with Lydia’s boyfriend at the East Side Gallery and walked down the mile long path past still intact pieces of the Wall. This segment is considered an art gallery with all portions painted by several different artists back in the nineties.
he fall of the Wall. The evening was upon us and we decided to make our way the Museum Island. It’s exactly what it sounds like, an island filled with museums. There are several giant buildings housing all types of art and history. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to browse through one on this trip. Across from the National History Museum is the Berliner Dom, an impressively large and old-looking cathedral. I say old-looking because it was built at the turn of the twentieth century and designed to look old and classically baroque. It fooled us, I thought the structure could have been hundreds of years old. After dessert and then dinner, in that order (I love the Germans), we said goodbye to Lydia and Ilko. We were so thankful to have them show us around Berlin. We were able to see the city outside of the tourist areas, which is always refreshing.
on Lydia’s tour, we also learned a great deal of Berlin’s history through the New Europe walking tour. Just down the street from the Brandenburg Gate is the Holocaust memorial. Walking through hundreds of giant rectangular structures placed alongside one another on uneven ground gives you the feeling of oppression. The artist’s meaning is up for interpretation, and there are a lot of theories about what the boxes represent. Some say graves, others say train cars carrying prisoners, and many other interesting suggestions. Not far from the memorial is the above-ground site of Hitler’s bunker. On top of the site are modern apartments and a parking lot, so there’s nothing worth taking a picture of. As it’s told, the bunker was about fifty feet underground and was the place of Hitler’s death. I’m sure many have heard the story, but it’s interesting anyways: The Russians were closing in, and everyone in the bunker knew that inevitably they would be captured. Hitler decided to marry his long-time mistress Eva Braun, symbolizing his divorce from Germany, and then they planned to commit suicide. He had heard about what happened to Mussolini and his mistress after they were executed: they were hung by their feet on meat hooks and their bodies were beaten and spat upon by civilians. He did not want this to happen to him, so he instructed his remaining soldiers to take his body to the surface and burn it until it was unrecognizable. They both took a cyanide pill, Eva first, and Hitler also shot himself in the head. The Russians found the charred remains and confirmed dental records to prove the identity. Some say that his remains were buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in northeastern Germany. Another claim is that his ashes were flushed down a toilet. I think the latter is fitting. Continuing on the tour, we stopped by the former headquarters of the Luftwaffe, the Nazi air force. When communism took over, it became the center of the East German government. Early on, a mural was painted on the wall depicting what a wonderful life everyone was sure to have under Communist rule. Not long after, a photograph was taken outside of the building during a protest over a raise in work quotas with no raise in wage, and undoubtedly moral had been crushed. The photo is juxtaposed with the mural to show how ideals and reality are often quite different. The building is now used as the German version of the IRS, so citizens still don’t care for it. Apparently, the awful Tom Cruise movie “Valkerie” was filmed there and the building was once again adorned with Nazi flags and symbols, much to the dismay of Berlin’s citizens. I can’t imagine what it would have been like for them to wake up and go to work and see that. How unfortunate. Around the corner is the now hollowed out SS headquarters. Running alongside it is a remnant of the wall, broken and beaten, rebar showing
and tagged with graffiti. This part of the wall is meant to look the way it did for almost four decades, oppressive and disheartening. We found our way to a square between a library and an opera house that was the site of the Nazi book burning. All Jewish literature and anything considered “non-German” was burned in an open fire in the square. Many first editions and original texts were destroyed, and some were the only copies in existence. There, too, is a memorial located under the square, visible by a small window in the ground, of a room with empty bookshelves representing the amount of books lost at the hands of the Nazis. Across the street is Humbolt University, where
Albert Einstein taught for several years. We went to an incredibly sobering memorial of a statue carved by a woman who lost sons in both World Wars. It depicts a mother covering her dying son with her cloak, shielding him from the cold. There is a large hole in the ceiling of the room where the statue is kept; therefore the statue always endures the elements. It was quite a troubling yet moving memorial. We passed by the old armory building, which was covered with reliefs and busts of warriors from the past, onward to the Art History Museum. We passed by the museum earlier with Lydia, and she pointed out the columns just outside of the building had bullet holes in them from the war. I’m glad she mentioned that because our tour guide did not. We finished the tour three hours later and we were definitely beat.
We spent the whole next day wandering throughout Potsdam, a half hour train ride from Berlin. Potsdam, once the city of the Prussian kings, is a quaint town boasting numerous ornate palaces and generously proportioned citadels. Strolling through the forested trail we came upon the ruins of an old fort that were under construction. I suppose they want to make them look more ruined? We saw quite possibly the smallest Russian Orthodox church, filled with all sorts of knick-knacks that allowed for little parishioner space. The Sanssouci Palace is certainly the main attraction. It sits upon a hill with large cascading stairs flowing from the top. At the bottom is a fountain surrounded by several marble statues and gardens. We were fortunate to have had good weather on this day and it was nice to get out of the city and into some green space.
