Der Mauer

Woke up with my neck feeling AWFUL and immediately took some ibuprofen. I've had the same thing happen before, once where I couldn't stand up without crying and other more normal neck cramps, but this was somewhere in between, heading to the worst. I decided to ignore it though, because I was in Berlin and wasn't going to let that stop me. We ate breakfast and then headed to the U-Bahn (subway). I ended up having to walk with my neck creaked to the left and my shoulders aligned to the right, which I think made Franzie's parents worry. PLUS the fact that it honestly made me very quiet as I was thinking about how I needed to be standing and which way I could look and blahhhhh. It was annoying, anyways, we headed first to a Flea market in Mauer park which I would love to go back to next week, because the Kleinfelds didn't seem to enjoy it as much and I was annoyed with my neck and didn't get to look around very much. We left there and went to a site where the Berlin Wall was recreated in a sense with metal beams standing along where the wall would've been. I don't remember the site name, but it was centered around the history of Bernauer Straße and Ackerstraße. It described and showed what living near the wall was like including Tunnel 57, (where the most civilians were able to cross underground in one place) the separation of families and friends, the brutality of the police and security around the wall, and the typical day in the life of a Berliner. We then headed into the city and I was able to visit a gift shop and bought shot glasses for some of my friends (typical german present). With my neck still contorted, we went to a pharmacy where the pharmacist explained to me (in english) what she suggested I put on my neck to make it better and then the Kleinfelds bought it for me even though I insisted that I could buy it. They are way too nice to me (: The cream actually worked pretty well and I was at least able to stand up straight and look around a lot more than before! We then arrived at the area around the DDR museum where we had planned to take a boat ride along the river Spree. Along the river Spree is the Berlin Cathedral, probably my favorite building in Berlin (above). I took so many pictures it was hard to decide, but I figured yall should see it in its entirety to understand why its my favorite. It was also partially destroyed during raids in WWII and took a long time before finally in 1993 it was fully complete. Knowing that one war caused so much destruction and devastation is a reminder that the word war accompanies so many different aspects, it is not something to be toyed with. We read about the war and learned about many aspects in school, but seeing it up close like this was surreal and is something I will never forget. I know many people say this and its cheesy or whatever, but its true and being able to experience it makes me grateful for this trip! On our boat trip, the tour guide spoke some in english, but spoke so fast he was very difficult to understand which meant that he was even faster in German. I had no hope, but the buildings along the river were very beautiful! We got off the boat and ran to the DDR museum as it was ridiculously hot outside, and hotter on the boat. The DDR museum was very interesting and very interactive which made every piece of information easy to read/learn. The entire museum was English friendly which was perfect for me. The museum showed information on things like the Trabant importance, the set up of the wall, daily life in Berlin, travel, clothing, a segment on the nudity movement, the overall costs, advertisements, music, and really anything you could imagine. It was interesting and nice to escape the heat. We then saw the front of the Berlin Cathedral, but couldn't go inside because there was a worship service in place. We then walked around and saw the local university and other buildings surrounded by new construction. somewhat ironic...We then took the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn to make it to the Sony Center. If you don't know what that is you have to look it up as it can not be described. Overall it costed 750 Million euros. This is a number I can't even imagine. There was a cone in the middle of the "tent" that catches the rain and weather, climate control floors that absorb hot hair or push out the cold air (something like that), and is complete with an IMAX center and ridiculously expensive restaurants and shops. Feeling out of place, we headed to Checkpoint Charlie which is, honestly not all it's cracked up to be. Imagining what took place here was interesting, but overall you can stay there for maybe 10 minutes before you're ready for the next thing. For dinner we headed back to the Hauptbahnhof and ate Burger King and sat and talked until it was time for our reservation to go in the tower of the Reichstag building. The amount of security was very intimidating, but obviously necessary and after 20 minutes of security checks, we headed up to the tower. The structure itself is BEAUTIFUL and has very interesting, modern architecture which looks somewhat comical on top of the old Reichstag building. Nonetheless, it was crazy to be inside of. the structure itself is a big spiral on the outside wall with a cone of mirrors on the inside. The mirrors direct the sun away from the government employees but allows just enough light to not have to use electrical light. However, to avoid glare, at all costs, there is a giant metal structure that rotates around the cone and acts as a blind for the sun. You probably have to look up a picture. Its crazy, but beautiful to see. From the high point of the tower, you can see the most of the top spots in Berlin and was cool to have another perspective of what I had already seen in millions of pictures and my own. My camera died going up to the top, but that was ok because I was able to get pictures of everything I wanted and then we headed back to the apartment for the night.