Deutschland

Our second stop on our Europe trip was Berlin!

Traveling to Berlin.




Our favorite hostel of the trip, EastSeven.



I just got a kick out of how big my pillowcase is...random, I know.


On our first full day, we went on a very long walking tour. We took a free walking tour in each city. The company's great - no price for the tour, at the end you just tip the tour guide what you think he/she is worth. Check out the site here.

Hotel Adlon, where all the rich and famous stay in Berlin, so we were told. You all know this hotel whether you know it or not. This is where Michael Jackson hung his baby from the balcony!


Brandenburger Tor.



The most gigantic memorial in Berlin. The name alone gives me the chills. There are over 2,000 of these concrete slabs, all the same length and width, but of varying heights. The person who designed it has never given a straight explanation of the memorial, it is to be experienced. As you walk through the memorial, with its rolling hills and rising slabs, it's very easy to lose track of your loved ones. Possibly a small fraction of the fear that those in the Holocaust felt as they got lost from their families. Well, that's just one explanation.







Continuing on the walking tour...a piece of the Berlin Wall.


I wish I could remember every detail he told us about all these buildings...





As soon as I took this picture, I got yelled at. In German. I guess I wasn't supposed to take this picture...?


The next day we went on yet another tour, to one of the nearby concentration camps. It sounds kind of glum, but it was actually a really good experience. Jess, Kristina and Sarah waiting for our tour guide.


I took many pictures inside, but will only share one. A memorial inside the concentration camp, in the room where thousands of people died.


It's a beautiful day.


After the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, seeing the large memorial to the Jews who died in the Holocaust and going to a concentration camp, what could we possibly do next? Apparently a pub crawl was appropriate. Over 100 people went on this pub crawl. We went to 3 pubs and ended at a club. We never waited in line to get to a club and whenever we bought a drink, we'd get a free Jaeger shot. We met so many people, either students on their spring vacation or people teaching abroad mostly. So.much.fun.










Beer garden yumminess.



One of the days we went to the zoo!


Zoo flowers.


The most exuberant seals!


Very random, but I loved all the trees in Europe. The trunk and branches were so dark, but the leaves were so vibrant green.


Sarah had to fight through little children to get this picture, haha!


Currywurst. Yum.


Baby elephant!


Something I will probably never see again - a panda eating pretzels.


Crazy skeleton fish.


Tarantulas in the bench! Eek!


On the elephant in the front of the zoo.



After more walking, eating and sight seeing in Berlin, we hopped on a plane to...LONDON!