Final Days!

The last two days we were allowed to go off in our groups and see the sights by ourselves. Sunday morning Elizabeth and I made an American Breakfast for our host family. I woke up around 6 trying to pull together supplies for pancakes before the 4 year old woke up. After about 45 minutes I had only succeeded in finding flour, sugar, and milk. Not only are their baking supplies labeled differently, but they also measure things by grams. It was a rocky start with conversions, but it ended well! It was made even more fun because the boys helped with the pancakes while Elizabeth made eggs.

After this we all met up with Stefano one more time to learn a little bit more about the Wall. The area we were in had a wall reconstruction to show what "No-Mans-Land" would have looked like.

A time line on the construction of the wall leading into a reconstructed part of the wall.

Looking at No Man's Land from above

A crack in the reconstructed wall looking into No Man's Land.

 There were also pictures showing the construction of the wall, including pictures of it finished with signs asking guards on the East Side not to shoot at people who were looking over from the West.

One of the most moving things that I saw there was a statue that had been put up in all of the places the wall had done the most damage. It was a way of remembrance for those who had died, families that had been torn apart, and the general destruction the wall had caused.

We got a chance to go up into this tower which allowed us too look over all Berlin, and even though it was a kind of gray day, the sight was really something.

Apparently the weather that we had the last two days in Berlin was more spot on for how it should of been during this time of year. I was a much bigger fan of the sunny mid 50s, but the city was still pretty non the less. 

After we split up we walked around the Berliner Dom again and ate a bakery around there. We really didn't stay out too much that day because the wind was strong enough to blow someone over.

The next day we met up with some different people from the group and went from Hermanplatz too the KaDeWe which is one of the largest department stores in Germany. It was 7 stories tall with everything from Tiffany and Co and the bottom to an entire floor dedicated too books and toys, with restaurants on top. On one floor they had it divided up by countries and what food they were known for. In case you're wondering American's are known for Oreos, Angry Bird Fruit Snacks, and Poptarts. 

We got food after this, (even in Berlin sketchy Chinese food is still sketchy Chinese food-lesson learned) and then went to the Pergamon Museum on Museum Island. Students get discounts and so I showed the woman my Student I.D. but she was still really skeptical on if I was a student or not. I wouldn't really think there would be a market for fake college ID's, but the world is full of surprises. My favorite part of the museum was going through the Greek History. The Pergamon has some of the largest reconstructions of Greek buildings in the world. It was really interesting to hear how they were able to find and reconstruct them, and even now they still move pieces if they realize they misinterpreted a section. 

When we got home that night I went to the Kardstat, which is the grocery store across the street which isn't as big as the KeDeWe, but still pretty large. I wanted to get some stuff to bring home, except this time I didn't have someone with me whose German level was higher than mine. I was looking for Schnitzel mix but wasn't quite sure where to look. When I asked for help they verbed in ways I didn't even know existed. When I got back I learned that I had picked up Schnitzel Sauce, but that you can make your own Schnitzel breading and it's not too hard. Is there a German version of Pinterest where I could find that?

We went to a really fantastic Indian restaurant for dinner that night. I don't quite know what I got, but it was really good. The restaurant was too far away for us to walk, so we used one of the rent a car systems to get there.

Don't ever let a German tell you their car is big.

First we took a mini cooper, then getting home it was a 4 door, and that one wasn't nearly as tight. I spent the rest of the night pulling my stuff together for plane ride. The next morning we had a really nice breakfast with our entire host family before setting off!