Bye Bye Berlin

Bradenburg Gate

Well, my five week Germany experience is over and though I won't miss the toilets, the waiters hovering over me at my table while waiting for me to pay, or the excessive amount of second hand smoking I have been doing, I sure will miss the great friends I got to visit, the interesting strangers I met and the country itself.

Prison lock at Sauchsenhausen concentration camp

This may be brief as I don't have a ton of time to write but basically after I was in Friedrichshafen I made my way to Jena, to the east of Germany! This was meant to be a six and half hour train ride (long enough already) that turned out to be almost eleven hours, changing more trains than I would have preferred and well, all the other fun but actually not fun things that go with it. I made it, though. There's only so much you can do in situations you can't control so I figured I would get to my destination sooner or later and I did but definately later than sooner. I spent about three days with my friend, Reini who I worked with at Capernwray Harbour. One day I spent walking around the city and the other we headed to a place called Weimar and strolled around there. We also visited the Buchenwald concentration camp which was freezing cold. All I could think of was the fact that I was freezing cold though wearing wool socks under my boots,  long underwear under my pants, winter jacket, scarf, gloves, toque, the whole shabang while the prisoners here would normally just have worn a striped, simple uniform, just one layer of clothing. How awful and this wasn't even close to the hardships they had to face.

A little difficult to see but that is the steeple of the church in west Berlin

I then headed to Berlin which I absolutely loved once I got over how terrified I was of being in a huge city all alone with a whole lot of unknown. The first day I went on a walking tour and saw alot of cool things like the Berlin Wall of course, we stood above Hitler's bunker, Checkpoint Charlie and even saw the hotel where Michael Jackson hung out his baby. Lots of history in this city I tell ya! I walked alot and just looked around. One day I saw a church in west Berlin that had been bombed during world war two and they left the steeple the way it was as a reminder.

Toilets at Sauchsenhausen

The hostel I stayed at (Grand Hostel Berlin, I highly, highly, highly recommend it!) offered a tour to Sauchsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin so I went on that one day too. I was mostly hit by the treatment of the prisoners. I mean ya, that's pretty normal I suppose. That's what people go to see really. The physical abuse is indescribable but I never thought too much about the emotional. There is one story that just reminded me of immature little 12 year old bullies. In this camp they put together the tallest man and the shortest man, and I mean to the extreme, probably 7 feet to 3 and a half feet and the guards would make them go everywhere together. They were not aloud to be apart even if one had to use the bathroom. All for the entertainment of the guards. They were just made fun of and I thought, "Really?" I don't know, maybe it's not a huge deal compared to everything else that went on there, but my heart hurt for them and it reminded me how we often fall short in loving one another. Okay, so we don't force our neighbor/friend/family/enemy to work for us, and then starve them or beat them, or throw them in a gas chamber alive, but how do we treat them day to day, how do we love them? There is alot to see there and alot to think about, but it doesn't really feel like you're actually standing in those same places when you are there which I think I am thankful for because it could have been just too overwhelming.
When I arrived back and walked out of the train station I found myself at the premier of 'Burlesque'. I think that's what it's called. Anyway, Christina Aguilera and Cher were to be walking down the red carpet in two hours so I made friends with a very nice couple and just hung out until the stars arrived! I thought it may be a waste of two hours and gosh it was cold but I'd never done anything like that before so I thought what the heck?
On other days I visited the Memorial of the Murdered Jews which was, well I don't know what you would call it...simply sad perhaps. I also visited The Topography of Terrors where the whole work of the SS from the 1930's leading up to the war was explained. This really was a very educational time.

One day I got together with a friend of mine from Canada who is actually German and happened to be in Berlin the same time as me visiting family. This was really nice and happened to be a very cool provision from the Lord when my flight got cancelled not once, but twice and needed a place to stay for an extra couple of nights!
Hmm...it is hard to think of everything I did because there was so much but it was really a great time, lots of learning, walking, snow, meeting people, ah! It was great and I am so thankful for my time in Berlin. The last night I went to Vapiano's which is an aboslutely incredible Italian resturaunt that serves fresh pasta and you can choose what kind of sauce and pasta you want and they make it right infront of you. It's amazing and I hope it makes it to North America one day (unless it already has and I just don't know it yet!!) Anyway, so I ate pasta, sipped wine and just stared outside to a busy Berlin street. This of course didn't end up actually being my last night in Berlin but oh well, there is only so much you can plan! So that is all for now, England has welcomed me back and more adventures are in store I am sure. I hope you enjoyed reading and that you all have a Merry Christmas!!!

A Baroque Church on Museum Island

The Berlin Wall

A little bit of alternative Berlin