Das erste Tag im Berlin!

Well, the first day of our trip is complete. I for one, am EXHAUSTED. I slept very well on our plane rides, so I was awake an alert for the whole day. I was surprised that I was able to even sleep. That marks the first time I have ever been able to sleep on an aircraft.

As soon as we got off our flight, we took a short ride on a shuttle to claim our baggage. Unfortunately, there was about seven of us who were not able to claim baggage. Their suitcases were lost. This backed us up even more on time. Both of our flights were delayed and we had to reschedule the second one. As soon as everyone was on the bus (even without baggage) we were off on our bus tour of Berlin. I honestly felt like crying. This is one of my favorite German cities and one of my favorite cities in the world. I love being back! I remember mostly everything from my visit three years ago, but I know there is so much more to see and do. I don’t feel like you can every run out of things to do in this city. It’s amazing.

We stopped at the Holocaust memorial and got out of the bus. This was very exciting for me. I love learning about the Holocaust and my last time in Berlin I did not walk through the memorial. It was nice to get some pictures inside of the memorial. It is a really neat structure. It’s a bunch of cement blocks at varying heights, but it is much better than I describe it. We had a half an hour to wander around that area. After going through the memorial with Katie, Zack and I went inside of a restaurant. Good thing I know German, because when I asked the guy at the restaurant “Sprechen Sie Englisch?” He said a little bit. I love applying the German I have learned in the past six years in real life situations. That is my favorite part of this trip so far, using my German. I got currywurst and french fries. This was a new treat for me. I love wurst (only when in Germany though) but I was skeptical about curry. I never had curry before… I just hate the smell, but it tasted amazing. I love tasting new foods while I’m in a new country. In the states, I am a very picky eater and do not like to try new things. Here I want to continue to expand my horizons and taste new things and do new things.

Our Hotel is very nice… probably my favorite German Hotel I have stayed in yet. I stayed in another very modern hotel in Berlin in Alexanderplatz, but it wasn’t practical. This one is. I like it better.

 I enjoyed going to the Sony Center for dinner tonight. I have never been to the Sony Center at night while the roof is lit up, but it’s a very cool sight. Since I’m lactose intolerant, I got to choose my own meal. I got some kind of pork and carrot thing inside of gelatin. When I got it in front of me I was like, “What the heck did I order?!” But I love trying new things, and it was actually pretty good, despite the weird texture. Oh and I had the best potatoes I ever tasted too. They were delicious. For my drink I had a Mangoweisse Bier… another new thing I tried. It was delicious as well. For dessert I selected a huge apple pizza… which I wasn’t expecting at all. Because of it’s size I shared with everyone at my table.

All in all, it was a great first day and I am glad to be in this amazing city again. I recommend stopping in Berlin to whoever plans on making a trip to Germany or to Europe.