Berlin!

Seeing as I went to bed around 2-3ish the night before and woke up at 6, I was pretty dead in the morning. However, we woke up and headed to the train station. I packed everything the night before and just rolled out of bed, so obviously I looked beautiful. I slept most of the way, minus the abrupt train change that we had to make because of train work or something. We got there and the train station Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station) is BEAUTIFUL! It really sets the bar for the rest of Berlin. We then headed to the apartment complex where we were staying. The renter lady was late so we headed to the grocery store to get some things for breakfast for the week (bread, cheese, cereal, ect.). The renter finally got there and showed us around the apartment. Franzie and I were staying in the living room/kitchen (which had a bed...) and then Franzie's parents in the other room with a Bathroom between the two rooms. After we got unpacked we headed out into the city. (: We got on the subway and got of...somewhere. The subway system was super confusing to me as 1.its in german 2. i've only ridden in the subway a few times in my life and 3. i might have well been a zombie that day. We left the subway and first came across a shopping area and heard the Drehorgels. (literally translated, Rotating Organ, with the music punched into the barrel) These were turned by people wearing traditional cosutmes and accompanied by stuffed monkeys to resemble the old times when they would have real capuchin monkeys. (I did my research ;)) Beside this was the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which was seriously damaged in WWII, but is currently being rebuilt. The mosaics inside were insanely impressive and beautiful. After this we took a city bus around the city and saw a lot of the top places to go. The weather was super hot, and the bus hotter, but it was cool to see what we would later see up close. We got off the bus next to Alexanderplatz and saw a large array of people from tourists, musicians, families, bachelor parties, and anything else you could imagine, including bungee jumpers on a skyscraper nearby. Also in Alexanderplatz is a world clock and it was interesting looking at my home and thinking about what I would be doing if I was there (probably sleeping...). From Alexanderplatz you have a perfect view of the Fernsehturm which is surreal. We then headed to the Ritter Sport museum (a popular German chocolate) and had chocolatey coffee in the cafe, yummy. Upon walking around the city we saw tons of old buildings, new construction, old DDR buildings, the British and American embassies, and then finally saw the Brandenburg Tor (gate). Seeing the gate up-close was crazy and surreal (yes, I have to use that word a lot, because it was was true!) Its a lot bigger than it looks. ha. We then walked to the Reichstag (building) which is occupied by the Bundestag (government). It is huge and very beautiful. Seeing German flag after flag showed the pride as the countries capitol. The amount of english speaking people in Berlin was exciting and ironic to hear in front of the Reichstag. I ended up translating numerous times while we were there for other tourists which was literally the best feeling after being in Germany for so long. Staying in Marburg with very very few english tourists I didn't realize how good my German has become, but being able to translate for people showed me what I have learned and how much it has paid off! I asked another American if they would take our picture (above) and it was nice to be able to have that little bit of independence. We also saw the other government buildings where they have offices and other meeting places which were very modern in comparison to the Reichstag building. We walked from there over the river Spree and to the Hauptbahnhof for dinner. We ate Pizza Hut (which tasted soooooo good) with the goal of eating cheaply and then went back to the apartment and slept. Throughout the night I tossed and turned and ended up popping my neck in a way that I had a freak spasm and could barely move it the next day...we'll see how that goes....