The Beginning: Berlin

[Written in pieces and poorly patched together:]

[Wednesday/Thursday in Europe] We landed in Berlin today. It's almost a miracle that it worked out. We had issues with our flight information. We bought the tickets, but weren't sent confirmation, even though we were charged for them. Amanda finally emailed them, and they sent confirmation... for the wrong day. We had booked for Tuesday, but they had us as Monday and I couldn't leave then. I had to go dress shopping. So we had to move it to Wednesday. Then, the day before I left, I got sick. I have no idea why, because I don't know anyone else with flu-ish symptoms, but it wasn't a great way to start. I still had some packing to do, and all I wanted was to sleep. So the next morning, I still wasn't feeling great. And then I get a call from Amanda.

She's my travel partner, and she has all the information for our flights and our train tickets and hostel reservations. She had been watching the passes closely because she lives in Ellensburg, and didn't want to be stuck on the wrong side of the mountains. We had talked of her coming and staying at my house, but the passes were looking clear and the weathermen hadn't predicted any more snow.

The morning we are going to leave, she calls me. Two of the passes are closed. She's already left (at 7 and our flight isn't until 2:45) for Whitepass, which is open. A while later, I get another call. This pass is now closed as well because of mud slides. They missed it by like 30 minutes. There is no way over the passes. (I'm panicking.) So they are going to go to the Yakima airport and see if they can get a flight to Seattle in time to catch our flight to Germany.

I have to leave however before they know what they are going to do. My dad drove me to the airport and I checked in just fine. And I got a call from Amanda that she got a flight (it had been full, but he had gone back up to the counter and there had been a cancellation) and should be there in plenty of time. So despite the morning's crisis, we both made the flight, even if I am still not feeling well.

We landed in Frankfurt, and then caught our flight to Berlin. In Berlin, we were met at the airport by Jayne, our friend from Korea. And she greets us by telling us she's got a surprise in store for tonight. We fall in together, just like old times. I've really missed them both, and it's great it's not awkward.

We walk a bit, and Jayne directs us how to do everything. (She majored in German, so she can actually talk and understand people. It's amazing.) We catch a bus and then a subway, and then walk the little bit to the hostel. It's freezing and there's snow on the ground. It's just how I pictured it. The buildings are old and lovely, and I'm really glad I came. (Believe it or not, there had been a few moments of doubt when it came time to leave. I nearly wanted to bail on the whole thing. I wasn't excited about coming, more like stressed over money and planning and things.)

So we took a bit of a nap (though we talked a lot). (Amanda and I were tired, because we didn't get much sleep on the plane of course. Though the second flight we both passed out and didn't wake up the whole time. It was great.) And Jayne got some food. (Curried sausages and chips. Yeah...) Then we headed out in to the cold for our adventure. (Jayne was worried about Manda's wet hair and lack of hat.) (Amanda wants the record to show that she had a hat, but refused to wear it.)

Jayne has lived in Germany before and so she was our tour guide. She told us about a number of famous sites that we'll get to see in the daylight tomorrow. (We are thinking of kidnapping her for the rest of our trip.) Then she brought us to our lovely surprise. Anyone want to guess? Here's a hint: She told us to dress "sharp."

I didn't guess correctly and neither did Amanda. We went to the Opera house. And we got to see "The Nutcracker"!!!!! It was fantastic! I was so in awe. It was wonderful. Just the whole first night. Landing with the snow and friends and ballet. The ballet was a slightly different version than the ones I've seen before. There was no sugar plum fairy. But I loved it. The music, ah the music! Just what I remembered from going when I was younger. And I loved all the costumes and dance... Wonderful.

[Friday] Today we walked all over...mostly East Berlin. One of the telltale signs of East Berlin is in the little crossing light men. They are wearing hats and are very cute. We walked to the Brandenberg Gate which is one of 14 gates around the city, and the only one still standing, I think.

The statue on the top was captured by Napoleon and later returned, as well as the Victory Column, down the street. Then we went to the Reichstag Building (the old parliament building) and saw amazing views of the city from the dome at the top. Hitler surprisingly never stepped foot in it.

By then we were really cold from walking around, so we went to Starbucks and hung out for a good little while and got all warmed up. That was about perfect. We had to brace ourselves and go back out into the cold. Jayne took us to a bunch of cool places. We went to the Holocaust Memorial which is about the size of a city block and covered with grave shaped stones of all different heights. It's very disconcerting being in it, because the ground is all sloped different ways. (We very inappropriately decided it would be the perfect place to play hide and seek).

Then we started to walk through "the Topography of Terror" which is the site of the old Nazi and SS headquarters. However, it was now getting dark, so we had to leave. There is the last remaining portion of the Berlin Wall in it's original location still standing right outside the area. Very cool to actually see. Then we walked around through beautiful courtyards (platzes) and eventually came to "Checkpoint Charlie" in West Berlin. We wandered the city a bit more, and stopped at an art show for a while as well.

[Saturday] We started the day by going to a church. It had been bombed during WWII and never repaired. They had instead made the left over part into a bit of a memorial, and built the new church building on the spot where part of the church used to stand but no longer did. It was a bit eye opening for me. I guess I never really thought about the damage the bombs really did, but looking at the picture, huge portions of Berlin were completely demolished. There was a rather touching display of three nails sent to the church from the one church in London that was really hit, as a sign of forgiveness.

Following that, we went to the Jewish Museum. This was really cool to me. It had been designed architecturally to make one feel certain things, and I really felt it achieved a lot of what it was going for, which I don't often think. There are three hallways, all with different themes, and neither the floors or the walls are straight, which makes one feel rather disconcerted. Reading all the different stories was really touching. At the end of the Axis of the Holocaust, there is a big empty room, which is unheated. It really did give the impression of a void. The top floor is a history of the Jewish people in Germany. (I had no idea that much of Yiddish draws on German.)

From there, we went to an art display on the Berlin Wall. However, sadly a lot of it had been graffitied over. Jayne said she had pictures of pieces of it that you now can no longer read. By the time we were done, it was dark and we went to another coffee shop to warm up before heading back to our hostel.
[Sunday] Despite having stayed up far too late the night before, Jayne had to get up early to catch her flight back to England. (Sadly, she'll be back in Korea by the time we get there.) (I'm really going to miss her.) Amanda and I packed up and headed back to the Topography of Terror. We walked along it, and found two English Tour groups to listen to a little bit. We started reading, but there was so much information there. We were running out of time, and only managed to get half way through, so we had to rush the second half a lot. Then we headed to the train station (we were a bit nervous without our German speaking guide) but we managed just fine. We caught a train to Prague, and got to watch the snowy German countryside out the window. It was very cool, and comfy. I think train travel is my favorite kind.

We made it to Prague and caught the subway at the same time that I think a hockey game was getting out. However, we made it to our hostel without any real glitches. It's now very very late, having taken the time to try to catch up on some emails, and I am quite knackered.