Anastasiall's Sunday July 1st, 2012

Departed from Berlin, Germany on Jul 1, 2012 11:49pm CEST. Arrived at Wiesloch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on Jul 3, 2012 11:38pm CEST.

We are sneaky little backpackers; instead of paying for a room, or even switching hostels, we hung out in the common room and slept on the couches for free. Around 5am we ducked out & headed to Berlin!

It's very much city like here, and has a large metro system that I've almost already got down. I want to visit all these cities again just to see if I'll remember how together around each without a map! Bet I could do it too! Hostel Generator is pretty sweet with all the right hook ups, including free tours:

-We were facing a huge gate with columns and a lady reigning 4 horses at the top. This is the Brandenburg Tor, or Gate, where the
Lady Irene was the goddess of peace but was changed to Victoria of victory. Across the gate is the popular & pricy Hotel Adlon where MJ held the baby.
-Berlin originated from Slavic fishing villages.
-Most of the Berlin Wall was crushed in 1989, but some has been preserved. It was known as the "death strip" due to the official shoot policy for those who tried to climb over. I saw the remains in East side. Behind it was the headquarters for the SS.
-Reichstag, home of the parliament, is surrounded by 4 towers. After the fire and remake, now it's out of Glass Stone for transparency of new German.
-Holocaust Memorial, or the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. There is no certain significance, only the one you get from it. I see the stacks of dead bodies or the bland, limitless personalities of the soldiers that acted so harshly. It's a maze of dark, concrete blocks of various sizes on sloping tiles, of clashing ideals and actions; you step on some without even realizing it.
-Fuhrer bunker complex where Hitler committed suicide. Before taking the pills & gunfire, he was apparently very upset about the death of his dog Blondie...how ironic.
-Checkpoint Charlie, the only place the USA & SSR met on land.
-Das Concert House
-French cathedral & twin
-Humboldt library & university where Einstein attended and the area of the burning of books, or Kristallnacht; there is a quote I found powerful by Heinrich Heine: "Where they burn books, they will also burn people" ...he said this 99 years before the Holocaust.
-St. Hedwig's Cathedral
-German Armory

The group began tapping the wall for some reason, but I was too busy listening to the jazz saxophonist playing in the park. After the tour I listened to another player in the Lust Harden, near the Neo-Baroque Cathedral, that reminded me a lot of Landis!

n the area around Humboldt, there has been an open air festival! One night they had the well-known opera Don Giovani by Mozart playing on a large screen; like a drive in for opera- it was so cool! The next night there was a fantastic live orchestra, again magnified on the gigantic screen, and enjoyed by hundreds of people in the park. It was a concert by the Staatskapelle Berlin in Bebelplatz playing the music of Tcchaikowsky. Other than the history and fashion and tourism, I love how artsy it is here. Video on YT!

Departed from Praha, Hlavní Mesto Praha, Czech Republic on Jun 29, 2012 9:03pm CEST. Arrived at Berlin, Germany on Jul 1, 2012 11:39pm CEST.