Berlin Part One!

I can officially announce that I've been to mainland Europe and its amazing! Nothing like I imagined of course, much better. Monday Morning we landed in Berlin around 10 o'clock, and trekked to our hotel. It's a gorgeous old building, and I get to share a room with Emily, Kellie, and Mary, three of my favorite people on the trip.
Monday afternoon we had a short tour walking around some important parts of the city. We saw Brandenburg Gate (and some great street performers), then walked from East Berlin to West Berlin and saw the Reichstag. It's the site of the German Parliament, and is really impressive in terms of architecture. Eventually we ended up in the Hackescher Market area, and our whole group had dinner together. It was very relaxing after a full day, and felt pretty authentic too! After taking the train back to the neighborhood where our hotel is located, it was great to actually feel oriented. Myself and my roommates did a bit of exploring, and ended up getting some sangria and tapas! Not exactly traditional German food, but very cultural and definitely delicious.

Today (Tuesday) was a long day as well. We got to see part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing, and hit up a bunch of different museums and historical sites. It was really amazing to learn so much about the city's history in a single day. We covered everything from the Nazi regime's rise to power to Checkpoint Charlie- a gate in the Berlin Wall where hundreds of people escaped from Communist East Berlin to Ally-controlled West Berlin. We also saw the Holocaust Memorial, and the site of what is going to be a new multicultural museum! (It was a bit weird to go into a museum about a museum that's still in the process of being built, but the exhibits were really cool!)
One part of our day that I particularly enjoyed was the time we had to explore on our own, at our own pace. It let us prioritize our afternoon, and travel in smaller groups. Myself and a few friends ended up taking a river boat cruise of the city, which was another first for me, and definitely a cool experience. Overall it was a quiet evening, but I certainly don't mind being able to rest up and plan for tomorrow!