A few days in Berlin!

Tonight, I am finishing my stay in Berlin. On Monday, after a delayed flight from Venice, I arrived in Berlin and found my hostel...

Generator Hostel in Berlin as viewed from the S-Bahn
station at Landsberger Allee

The Generator Hostel in Berlin was HUGE. I later found out that the building is a former East German government building which had been heavily remodeled. Now, the interior is very "industrial chic" in blue and green.

On Tuesday morning, I went on a 3 hour walking tour of Berlin. The one of the tour guides picked up a large group of us at the hostel and we met the rest of the tour guides and participants at the Brandenburg Gate in Mitte.

My tour guide, Simon. A British student in Berlin with a witty
attitude...he worked on  tips only... and well I might add.

The tour started at the Pariser Platz, the plaza behind the gate which is the location of the US and French Embassies as well as the Hotel Adlon, made famous as the location of the Michael Jackson baby-dangle...
From there, the tour took us under the gate and up the road to the Holocaust Memorial, formally named, The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

The snow-covered blocks of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

After the memorial, the tour continued to a small section of the Berlin wall and Checkpoint Charlie before a short break for lunch. After the lunch break, we checked out Museum Island and the State Opera House, which was under construction.

Overall, the tour was amazing, especially for a free tour! Simon did great and I found out that the same company offers a Paris free tour...I'm totally there!

After the tour, a few of the other people from my Hostel and I went back to the Holocaust Memorial to tour the museum attached. The place was very different from any museum I have been to before. I couldnt take pictures, but I'm not sure I would have anyways, the place was very solemn.

After the museum, I grabbed some dinner with a few people I met on the tour at an Indonesian restaurant. The food was ok, but the German lessons were great!


On Wednesday, I checked out another, more prominent section of the Berlin Wall, known as the East Side Gallery. The section is roughly 1,000 yards long and is covered with art painted directly on the wall! Most of the pieces deal with peace and freedom in some way.

Tomorrow, I am due to catch a flight out at 9:00am, but with the freak snow in the west, we will see!

Auf Wiedersehen,
Kyle