Medley of Germany

Beautiful church next to our hostel.
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This weekend marked our first trip outside of Heidelberg on our own.  I traveled to Berlin with my friends Skyler, Jimmy, Harry & Sean.  We left at 5:30 Friday morning to catch a 6:05 AM train.  Leaving proved to be a story all it's own.  We planned to catch a bus to the train station.  However, the boys decided that it would be a good idea to head down to the bus stop without Skyler & I, thinking (I guess) that we were going to take a cab.  After looking all over the house for the boys, Skyler & I ran down to the bus stop only to see the bus we needed pulling away from the curb.  We banged on the windows for the driver to let us in but he absolutely would not.  Meanwhile all the boys sat on the bus just laughing at us.  Unwilling to miss our train Skyler & I then decided, luggage and all, to run to the train station at 5:40 in the morning.  We made a 45 minute walk in 20 minutes-it was unbelieveable!

The National Institute of Art
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We arrived in Berlin around noon and after attempting to figure out the bus system, we spent the afternoon with five of our other friends touring the city.  We visited both Checkpoint Charlie, the museum of the Berlin Wall, as well as the Jewish Museum, which was more like an insane maze if anything.

Berliner Dome, and the National Art Institue, the Brandenberg Gate

Saturday we got a fairly early start and again spent the day touring the city.  We visited the church that was bombed during one of the world wars, the Berliner Dome, and the National Art Institue, the Brandenberg Gate, as well as many other statues and city sites.  Late in the afternoon we also toured the Holocaust Museum.  The outisde is the most interesting, engaging memorial I have ever seen, while the inside tour was both moving and informational.

The church that was bombed during one of the World Wars.
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Finally, Saturday night while Harry & Skyler went on the Pub Crawl, Sean, Jimmy & I went to a local restaurant for food and drinks.  In all, while somewhat hectic, the weekend was SO much fun!  It is still unbelieveable that I am here!