We went from Praha to Berlin but we didn't arrive until midnight so we hiked down the peacefully empty streets to our hostel and crashed. I say it was peaceful because it was not scary at all, we felt very safe and that feeling was refreshing.
In the morning we took an S-Bahn (Suburban train) to the zoo (we didn't go in because we will see all the exotic animals in Africa for free) and walked through their "city park" which is huge and beautiful with great flat trails for bikes and lakes and huge fields. We stopped for a picnic and continued walking to this big arch, Brandenburger Tor, that was the main gateway that was blocked off when east and west were separated and then it was a symbol of reunification. Anyways, now we were on the east side of Berlin where a lot of the "sites" were. We walked a ton and went to a museum called ¨Checkpoint Charlie¨that was all about the wall and the war and it was really interesting. We were able to connect the dots from things we learned in Praha and we have seen stuff about the war and the Nazis everywhere we've been. So we have heard every ones side by now!
We went to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp the next day and that was a very somber and terrifying experience. We viewed two cabins that had bunk rooms and a toilet room. Seeing it in real life conjured up images that we had seen at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem of people actually on the beds we were looking at. We had an audio guide that was really helpful and told some crazy stories. On our way beack home that afternoon we stopped at the Olympic Stadium where Jesse Jackson made all his crazy world records and them we visited the Jewish War Memorial the next day but it was night and like a big concrete corn maze that was way over your head so that was a little scary- like the start of a scary movie.
We wanted to stay in Berlin another day but there were no beds available anywhere that we could find so we were forced to hop on a night train to Copenhagen where we had 2 nights booked.
That was the WORST train ride ever! We paid 30 extra euros for beds on the train and it left around 11pm. At 1 am they woke us up in a hurry and told us to get off and take a bus to a ferry. No explanations in English. The ferry was packed already so we had to sleep on the floor and then at like 4 am we got off the ferry and took a different train to Copenhagen. We definitly didn´t get our money back.
All that to say, they really jacked up our first day in Copenhagen.
In the morning we took an S-Bahn (Suburban train) to the zoo (we didn't go in because we will see all the exotic animals in Africa for free) and walked through their "city park" which is huge and beautiful with great flat trails for bikes and lakes and huge fields. We stopped for a picnic and continued walking to this big arch, Brandenburger Tor, that was the main gateway that was blocked off when east and west were separated and then it was a symbol of reunification. Anyways, now we were on the east side of Berlin where a lot of the "sites" were. We walked a ton and went to a museum called ¨Checkpoint Charlie¨that was all about the wall and the war and it was really interesting. We were able to connect the dots from things we learned in Praha and we have seen stuff about the war and the Nazis everywhere we've been. So we have heard every ones side by now!
We went to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp the next day and that was a very somber and terrifying experience. We viewed two cabins that had bunk rooms and a toilet room. Seeing it in real life conjured up images that we had seen at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem of people actually on the beds we were looking at. We had an audio guide that was really helpful and told some crazy stories. On our way beack home that afternoon we stopped at the Olympic Stadium where Jesse Jackson made all his crazy world records and them we visited the Jewish War Memorial the next day but it was night and like a big concrete corn maze that was way over your head so that was a little scary- like the start of a scary movie.
We wanted to stay in Berlin another day but there were no beds available anywhere that we could find so we were forced to hop on a night train to Copenhagen where we had 2 nights booked.
That was the WORST train ride ever! We paid 30 extra euros for beds on the train and it left around 11pm. At 1 am they woke us up in a hurry and told us to get off and take a bus to a ferry. No explanations in English. The ferry was packed already so we had to sleep on the floor and then at like 4 am we got off the ferry and took a different train to Copenhagen. We definitly didn´t get our money back.
All that to say, they really jacked up our first day in Copenhagen.
The Jewish Holocaust Memorial at night
Probably the most decadent Prodestant church we have ever seen. Every ¨famous¨church is Catholic and this one totally stood out and was so beautiful.
Hanging out at the park by the zoo. David is trying to scare the ducks.
The entrance to the concentration camp. It says ¨Work Makes You Free¨. On the other side of the fence is where they did roll call a million times a day and where those staying here would test shoe soles by walking 12-28 miles a day-here.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment