This weekend, I flew to Berlin with Maggie, Rachel, Austin, Angelica, and Sarahi, and we met Nathan and Ethan there. I loved my time in Berlin so much. I hadn't really traveled with this group before, and it ended up being the least stressful and one of the most enjoyable trips I've taken. I think I was laughing the entire time. We got in late Friday night and crashed in our hip little hostel in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin. On Saturday morning, we headed to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. After seeing the Arc de Triomphe, the Brandenburg Gate seemed pretty small (we are such snobs). We weren't able to go inside the Reichstag because we didn't have a reservation. We then spent a few peaceful hours walking around the huge and beautiful Tiergarten. We were struck by how empty everything was; it was really nice to not be surrounded by crowds of other tourists. We then climbed to the top of the Berlin Victory Column. If you or a loved one is considering climbing it, don't. It was exhausting and the views were not that great (snob move #2) but we still had some good laughs struggling our way up there. We then took a long walk back to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial is so abstract and striking that I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Walking in that maze of blocks is like something straight out of a dystopian book. We then ate some East and West Berlin currywurst (it was great) and then went to Checkpoint Charlie. We were pretty confused by Checkpoint Charlie because it was literally a tiny outpost with fake American soldiers charging money to take pictures with them. It was a letdown at the time, but I read more about it later and I was glad that we saw such a historically relevant place. We then went to the Berlin Wall Memorial. It was surreal to stand in what had been the kill zone of the Berlin Wall just 40 years ago. It made me realize how difficult it must have been to live in Berlin at such a tumultuous time. That night, we got these amazing burgers at a small stand called Burgermeister. I also tried Ethan's doner, which was the best doner I will probably ever have in my life. The area was pretty sketchy but the food was so worth it.
We slept in the next morning and then headed to Museum Island. We had some amazing Vietnamese food overlooking the Spree River. It was almost 70 degrees and sunny, so basically the best weather I've encountered in Germany. We checked out the Berlin Cathedral and shopped at a cool outdoor market. We then headed to the Pergamon Museum. The first two rooms of the museum were probably my favorite museum rooms of all time. The sheer scale of the monuments make you feel like you're back in ancient times. The Ishtar Gate of Babylon was so huge and beautifully blue. It's hard to believe that it was standing in Babylon all the way back in the 500s BC. The Market Gate of Melitus was also wonderful and very well preserved. We then walked through the rest of the museum, which was nice because I don't know a lot about Middle Eastern history and culture. We then went to the Neues Museum next door to see the Egyptian exhibits. I was so pleasantly surprised to find the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti in this museum. I've seen her in books before so it was cool to see her in person. Next, we ate and headed to the East Side Gallery. It was so edgy and quintessential Berlin, set in an edgy but beautiful area on the river. We then hurried back to the hostel and then to the airport. I was sad to leave after such a wonderful weekend.
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