So Much Berlin

So I have been super busy and internet was crappy in Berlin. I have no idea how I am going to manage to get all of this in one post without getting to sidetracked. 

So let's see, we had a free day, a post communism day, and a day with some awesome lectures and a 14 hour long train ride. As I sit here typing this on my phone because I am too lazy to get my computer, it makes perfect sense that for the class blog we have to do it every day. 

I went to the German Technology Museum with some other people on the free day and I didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be really cool cause we got to see things from the German point of view. Not all Germans are scary, contrary to many peoples beliefs. The main part of the museum was five stories with boats and planes and lots of cool stuff in between. The only problem... Our tour guide was wrong and the museum was not in English. So we got to look at all the pretty pictures and had no idea what was happening half of the time. There also were sections on film and photography which was really cool to see from a German perspective. Funny to go to a museum and have no mention of Kodak or any other American companies for the most part. But they had the brewery closed. All we managed to get out of the sign on the door was 'sorry for the inconvenience' but either way, apology not accepted. Hot chocolate from Fassbender and Rausch made things better though after we walked through Berlin for a long time. It was some fantastic stuff. They give you a shot of water with it because it is so chocolate. And you get an option of milk or dark chocolate. 

We walked past Checkpoint Charlie on our way there but also went back with the group the next day. It was a break in the Berlin Wall were people could pass back and forth. War almost broke out between the USA and East Germany when the East Germans demanded an American diplomat show his work papers and it escalated to tanks on either side being deployed until the tension eventually faded away and thankfully no more fighting happened. I don't think Berlin could have taken any more of it. The checkpoint is still there with Germans dressed in American soldier uniforms that a bunch of us got picture with. It cost 2 euro but it was worth it. I can disprove all the non-believers. Shun the non-believers. We got to see the Easy Side Gallery which is probably any artists heaven. A mile long stretch of the remaining Berlin Wall that was painted in lots of little sections by so many different artists. It's a shame so many people had the same sense of humor I had in middle school becuase penis's were drawn all of the place, especially on people's faces. There was one building on the side that was abandoned but penis was written in massive letters under each broken window and it made most of us giggle a little. Maturity at it's finest. 

We had a tour of a soviet prison where people were out when they were viewed as enemies of the state aka they tried to escape East Berlin. Our tour guide was born in East Berlin and swam across the river to the American sector. He then knew that he had to help others escape and helped 33 people escape before the Stasi found him and imprisoned him. He was in jail for 5 years until he was ransomed by the German government. 

One of the coolest parts was the lectures that we went to on Monday morning before peacing out of Berlin. We went to the Free University of Berlin and had two lectures, one by Jan C. Berhends (a professor at Humboldt Uni) and Hans Ulricht-Kolse (member of the Reichstag for 31 years and former head of the foreign affairs committee). Both of the lectures were incredibly interesting but here are some notes from the second one just becuase his opinions were very well established and with 30+ years of experience, they had so much going into them:

Germany gave Israel they second strike capabilities by giving them 6 nuclear subs

Of all the countries in Europe, he thinks Bosnia is going to face the most trouble in the future 

He hopes for a united Europe, which he doesn't think will occur for 50 years when bring very optimisticand considers the EU to be a success

Iran is the key to solving the Middle East problem 

These are what I can remember now but there is so much more and I have about 4 pages of notes if people want to know more. 

Since I wasn't able to go to the Pergamon Museum which had classical antiquities. There was an exhibit on Islamic art, Mesopotamia, and roman stuff. They had the gate of Ishtar. Amazing. The only problem was that Jess and I went to the roman section first which is the most impressive by far, so while the rest of it was really cool, it kind of paled in comparison so the Roman Market that was constructed in the museum. 

I'm getting lazy so this is gonna wrap up shortly but we got to Busapest by way of an overnight train that took 14 hours. There ended up being 5 of us in a train at that was probably 6x6 with three beds on either side. Thankfully we stocked up on beer becuase we had 14 hours to kill and it made the night go so much faster. We ended up with 12 people in this little tiny room and went to sleep when we made it to Prague around 11:45pm. Those of us who were drinking slept great and everyone else slept pretty poorly so we were able to run that in their faces. And so now I sit here in the Budapest hotel after a quick day of touring. We are going out tonight with the professor and walking around the city.