November 2nd 2012

We woke up today in the hotel, had breakfast then got back on the bus, again. I am so tired of sitting on that bus, it is nearly unbearable. Anyway, we began a bus tour of Berlin, again with a local tour guide who joined us on the bus. We saw opera houses, performance halls, the Brandenburg Tor, the Hauptbahnhof, multiple government buildings, and countless other monuments. At the Brandenburg Tor (where I was last night), we stopped to have a break ad look around. The arches are unbelievable, and people were there with American and U.S.S.R. flags, I think to show the end of the cold war and peace between the countries after 1989 (?). Anyway, after checking it out, photo bombing some tourists, and visiting Dunkin' Donuts we got on the bus and continued on our way through Berlin. Finally, we got to the place I really wanted to see: The Berlin Wall. I am sure that the wall is the single most profound monument I have seen. I am going to make a special post dedicated to it, so I won't spoil it. You can see it here: http://jacksoncrawford218-2.blogspot.co.at/2012/11/the-most-profound-monument-berlin-wall_5.html We drove on to Checkpoint Charlie, the main checkpoint between east and west during the time of the Iron Curtain. There we got to see an unaltered piece of the wall, and without the art on it, I began to understand the ugly truth the wall represents. We drove into the center of town with the largest buildings I have ever seen, but according to Juliet (who visits Boston often) they weren't Sky Scrapers. Hmm, I wonder what a real Sky Scraper is, because I was overwhelmed by the building I saw here. Being on a lunch budget on the trip we went to McDonalds again, I feel bad, but it is the only thing I can afford. Juliet, Mark, Austin, Izze, Clio and I went through the main part of the city together. We visited a large church (only the bottom floor), saw a cool brass band performing on the street, and even got a lesson about Scientology. They had a table set up selling L. Ron Hubbard's book, and offering stress tests to measure Thetan levels... Afterward an older man came up to us and informed us that it was not trustworthy and we should not listen to the people there, we thanked him, and continued on to some tourist shops. We took the U-Bahn to Checkpoint Charlie and walked around and looked at some pictures before heading onward. We also saw some murals called "More Walls to Tear Down" and was regarding current day oppression and oppressors, and depicting them on similar walls as the Berlin Wall. Kim Jong-Il, Mugabe, Al-Bashir, and Gaddafi all made the list. Next we went to a Euro Shop (like the dollar store) and to a coffee shop to take a quick break. We decided to get on the U-Bahn again and get off at a random stop, and we ended up on Französische Straße. Once there we saw a major library, church and TV tower before stopping again at Balzac coffee (it was a rather cold day). It was time to return, so we got back on the U-Bahn, went to the Hauptbahnhof and made our way back to the hotel. After dinner we went out again, walked through the city, took a break at an Indian restaurant, went to Burger King, then returned home for much needed rest.