Day 27: Hamburg

Our last day in Germany has been a pretty good one.  I think I mentioned how we usually spend up to an hour searching for our hostel when we get to a new city but today was quite fantastic.  We woke up at 7:15am and made our way to the hauptbahnhof (main train station) in Berlin heading towards Hamburg.  Brendan was dying for Dunkin Donuts since we'd seen it for the first time in Europe in Berlin so we grabbed a doughnut for breakfast and then hopped on the train which, per usual, was leaving from a different platform than was previously listed.  So far I think we've only had one German train that came on time to the right platform hah.  Anyways, we got off the train two hours later and walked across the street to find our hostel right in front of us!  Then we tagged along on a free tour that was leaving just as we got there.

Hamburg is basically a port city and makes a lot of money from trade.  A lot of the city was destroyed in 1842 in a fire and then everything that was rebuilt was destroyed in WWII.  The city has since been very nicely rebuilt and seems like a great place to hang out!  We have heard good things about the red light district as well (good dining, the opera house apparently... not what I was expecting in a red light district) although we plan to just stay in and work on our essays.  We're pretty tired anyways so it's a nice way to relax.  We're staying in Generator hostel which seems like a really nice place!  It reminds me a lot of Wombats if you're ever looking for a cheap place to stay in Hamburg.  Anyways, check out the photo captions to see what kind of things we saw on the three hour tour.  Thanks for reading!

Our train ride to Hamburg was quite lovely!

The Chilehaus designed to look like a ship.  It's an old shipping company's building (left).  The tower for the Church of St. Nicholas (right).

What was left of the Church of St. Nicholas after the bombings.  Now a memorial.

Boats.

This isn't even the harbor--the harbor is apparently the size of Colone!

Lots of boats in this town...

The new "Harbor City" that is being built after the destruction caused by WWII.  It's going to be a city within Hamburg.  Pretty neat.

Their new concert hall.  I think they're trying to compete with RPI's EMPAC.

The unusual stop signs.  Two men?  So unnecessary lol.

Day 26: Berlin / Potsdam

    

Me with Buddy Bear and in front of the 1936 Olympic Stadium

Our last day in Berlin was pretty good!  We didn’t get to make it to any more museums unfortunately but we did make it out to Potsdam and over to the 1936 Olympic Stadium/Park.  After a short metro ride out to Potsdam (and one bus) we strolled through the giant Sanssouci park.  At every turn you’ll find either another palace of sorts or an entire forest.  Sometimes we thought we were heading into the wilderness but at the next fork in the road we would see a palace at the end of it.  We weren’t sure what the ornate buildings were for or where the Potsdam Conference was exactly but we enjoyed the park and eventually stumbled across the downtown area.  We didn’t actually know where we were going but the downtown was really nice!  It was like the downtown of Nuremberg a bit—rather small but still pretty busy.

We caught a bus back to the station and then a train over to the Olympic Stadium/Park.  For only 5 euro we got to walk around the entire, well, village.  The park reminded me a lot of ECAV in the sense that it was literally an athletic village.  The stadium was designed in 1933 for the 1936 Olympics and definitely looks like Hitler’s kind of building.  It also had a stand for him to speak from in front of a massive field (I think it was the Polo field).  There was also a huge bell tower we could go up although the original was destroyed in the war.  The stadium has also since had a roof put over it for the 2006 World Cup.  While it was refurbished, 70% of it is still original.  It didn’t just have a stadium.  There was a polo field, the bell tower (the bell for which we saw on the ground at the entrance—it had the swastika and everything.  We’re guessing it was replaced since there was another one up there), a swimming stadium, an amphitheater of sorts, a horseback riding training area, a bunch of soccer fields, and so much more.

We found our way back to the U-Bahn (metro) and over to meet up with one of Brendan’s friends from high school, Kristine.  She’s in Berlin for a quarter from Stanford and brought along her friend Will.  We had some tasty curryworst and a doner kebab.  It was a good time hanging out with them for a bit before we headed over to see the Brandenburger Gate at night.  Our last stop was a quick look at the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe in the dark which was pretty… well… dark.  Now we’re back at the hostel and ready for an early morning off to Hamburg tomorrow.  Thanks for reading!

One of the many palaces.  Not sure what it's called!

Another palace of sorts.

When there weren't palaces, there were just trees.  So many trees.

Another place we stumbled across.

Downtown Potsdam!

1936 Olympic Park

The Stadium which was also used for the 2006 World Cup.  Straight ahead is the bell tower we went up.

The Torch

The view from the top of the bell tower.  This field below is the polo field I was talking about.

Horseback Riding Training

We used a metro pass to get around both days.  So nice not to have to walk everywhere.

Curryworst.  Quite common in Berlin and so cheap!

Brendan's friend, Kristine, brought along Will.  He ordered our doners for us in German hah.  They had just changed the meat--it was a new experience seeing that lol.

Spargle... It's everywhere!  We never got to try it but saw so much of it.  It's a vegetable that just came into season so they'll have stands dedicated to just this asparagus.

Brandenburger Gate at night.

We took the wrong train twice in the same day!  We haven't taken any wrong trains so far I don't think but the U-Bahn and S-Bahn can get confusing here.  We live on the U2--not the S2 :)

Day 25: Berlin

I don't know what is more tiring, walking up giant hills in each city or spending the day in museums.  Today we visited five museums: The East Side Gallery, the Pergamon Museum, the German History Museum, the Topography of Terror, and the Jewish Museum.  That trip lasted about eight hours and our heads are filled to the brim with history I'd say.  About 95% of the history we read about was from the 1900s.  Tomorrow we plan to use our museum pass for just a few more after a trip to Potsdam and the 1936 Olympic Stadium.  Hopefully we can squeeze it all in (both the information in our heads, and the sights in one day)!

The East Side Gallery is a 1.3 km (almost a mile) long remaining piece of the Berlin Wall that was opened up to a handful of artists for decorating (there were around 106 sections/paintings/artists).

One of the gallery sections.

More of the gallery.

I love this!  It's a cartoon of Checkpoint Charlie and, according to the story that our tour guide from yesterday told us, it is depicting a guy who purchased a very short car with a removable windshield breaking  his his girlfriend (in the backseat) and her mother (in the trunk) out of East Berlin.  I liked that story.

Pergamon Museum

German History Museum (a former palace)

The Topography of Terror Museum (outdoor bit) which is the former foundation of one of the main Nazi buildings.

The inside of the Topography of Terror

Checkpoint Charlie which is now just a tourist trap unfortunately.