Off to Berlin!!

I left for Berlin on the train at about 8:15ish. My host parents took me to the station where we met up with Courtney and Herr Mundt.

( view of the Kaiser-Wilhelm statue from the train station)

(my host dad at the train station)

We had to change trains from the local one to the ICE train.......I have no idea what that means I just know it goes really fast. On that train we had 1rst class tickets!! Thank you Sister Cities!! Leather chairs and cold AC that is my kind of train ride.

 When we got in Berlin it was about 12. When we got there we locked our bags in a locker and went out to walk around in the city for the day. On the way out of the train station we aw a movie poster for Dispicable Me 2.

Looks weird seeing it in German doesn't it.

We saw the German Parliament(Deutcher Bundestag).

It was in West Berlin barely separated by the Berlin wall.

You can really tell in this picture because the building it on the right side and the wall was right on the thick line of a different pavement.

Here we are at the Brandenburg Gate. (photo by Herr Mundt) There were random people that you could take pictures with including; Darth Vader, Nazi Soldiers,A big bear,and many others. But you had to pay and that is just rediculous. There were also alot of street performers dancing to alot of Micheal Jackson. Speaking of MJ, the hotel that he held his baby out the window was right next to the Gate.

Honestly I think that Herr Mundt could lead his own tour around Berlin. He knows it like the back of his hand. He could go on and on telling you everything you ever wanted to know about Berlin.

Berlin is where they have different country's embassies. Right now they have alot of security by all of the embassies because they are afraid of a terrorist attack.

Great Britian's Embassy.

And of course the most important Embassy to see the USA Embassy.

 Of course I bet you are wondering why I put a polar bear in here. I mean it is just a regular polar bear.......but not to Berliners. The polar bear is a symbol of Berlin. After the war Berlin gave out a lot of theese bears (originally white) to stores and other places to decorate and display. You can find them just about everywhere in Berlin. They are all painted different and not one bear looks like another.

The Amplemann (the stop light man) another popular thing in Berlin. It is just the light to let you walk across the street but it is a big deal here. They even have stores with different clothes and other things with The Amplemann on it.

We climbed all the way to the top of the French Cathedral. A total of 254 stairs one way. Herr climbed it like it was no big deal. He is just like an energizer bunny he just keeps going and goin gand going. I was really impressed.

 Here is where the Nazi students burned all of the books because the books were against the Nazi propoganda. The little glas in the ground shows the empty bookshelves where all the books were in the University that were burned. 

Now this guy was cool. he was playing really hard and imprssive songs just by using the glasses. How cool!!

Here he is Herr Mundt in action! I still don't know how he was able to walk so much. I am really impressed. We had to of walked all the way around East Berlin in one day. We walked for 4 or 5 hours at least. 

Around 4:30 we heading all the way back to the train station to get our bags and meet his daughter who was picking us up at the station. When we got to her house we had a BBQ and then Courtney and I went downstairs to our room and passed out. What a long day!! But it was worth it because we got to see a lot of cool things in Berlin.