Today we took a tour of the city of Berlin where we learned
about the cultural aspects of the city and the landmarks, such as where the
Berlin Wall used to be. We went to the Reichstag building, like the parliament,
and then on many other buildings we were able to see the leftover “scars” of
the Second World War.
We went on a boat ride on the Spree River and while there I (Perri)
saw the colorful and creative forms of graffiti that had a lasting impression
on me. I have been interested in graffiti since I was a child and Berlin’s
graffiti allows me to see the different art forms and the unique tags that the
artists put into their work. We also walked
through an art exhibition where there were satirical pictures of things, like a
hand punching the Facebook logo saying “have more space for real friends” and
other such things similar to that. I found that really interesting, as well as
our guide’s sense of humor and weird facts. Our guide mentioned a lot of
obscure stories, and as we passed a dilapidated slide and makeshift sandbox our
guide said, “I would tell you about a socialist playground, but I think this
speaks for itself!”
On our journey through Berlin we stumbled across the statue
of Victoria on top of the Brandenburg gate. This was a symbol of German pride
over the city during the time of the German Empire before the Weimar Republic.
After Berlin was captured by none other than the infamous French Emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte, he took this glorious statue back to Paris and hid it from
the general public as his own personal trophy of victory over the Germans.
We also visited the city’s Holocaust Memorial honoring the
victims, especially those of Jewish origin, who were killed in Nazi
concentration camps. There are stacks of stone blocks located in a portion of
what was former East Berlin, and as we walked through it we noticed how much larger
the blocks got. This got to a point where we felt isolated within the center of
the memorial site which is most likely how the Jews felt from the rest of
society as a result of undergoing such hardship under the Nazi regime.
While on our tour we were able to see the place where Hitler
lived before he committed suicide. Though the bunker does not exist anymore we
learned how the Russians were able to find Hitler’s body after the discovery of
his death. They were able to use a mold of his teeth made by his dentist to
figure out which body was his because there were 12 burned bodies around the
bunker. The reason his body was burned was because he did not want the Soviets
to have a prize after the war. This experience was eye opening because we were
able to see a place where Hitler was during the war and where he spent the last
days of his life.
The day ended with a wonderful evening walk, a delicious
meal, and the fine company of our fellow travelers.
Perri, Abby, Eliana and Arman
Note: Our hotel's wifi is quite weak so we will load pictures at a later date.
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