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Journey to the Heart of Germany: Part 4
Our last destination, Berlin, was
filled with more music and history than we could ever imagine. After a three
hour drive from Leipzig, we walked around the part of the Berlin wall where it
was first broken. You could see the thick metal rods that were left over from
the original wall that was broken up and you just felt the pain and the
suffering just walking around there. It was really quiet; everyone was being
respectful; it was chilly but the giant, yellow leaves that were scattered
everywhere just made everything so peaceful and beautiful. We then boarded the
bus to go to our hotel for a lunch of chicken cutlets and a jelly donut (not
the best jelly donut, just saying). I wish I can find the name of the hotel;
the hotel was really beautiful, with a classy-safari theme in the lobby and
large spacious rooms. In this hotel, we were allowed to have 3 roommates, so I ended
up rooming with two other friends and my previous friend/roommate roomed with
two other friends. Our room was really nice too, but the views from the hotel
in general weren’t comparable to those in Dresden and Leipzig. We had some
problems with leaky bathtubs (every room had the same problem), but I think the
nicest part about the hotel that we all really enjoyed was the buffet. We ate
at the buffet for breakfast both mornings and also dinner the night after arriving
in Berlin; the food at both buffets were varied and I think we all appreciated
the fact that we got to choose what we ate as opposed to having to eat a
pre-ordered meal of sausage and potatoes as usual.
those fall leaves
Berlin Day 1 OOTD: Coat from TJ Maxx, V-Neck from F21, Jeans (I DIY'd them) from F21, shoes by Converse, Bag (gift from my brother <3) by Olsenboye
Chicken Cutlets for lunch (sorry for the blurry iPod photo, the camera ran out of batteries)
Berlin wall Day 1
Berlin was the only city that I saw graffiti in
see those bars?
That day, we had another concert,
so after settling down and exploring the hotel, we made our way to Funkhaus
Berlin, a professional recording studio that lots of professional bands and
orchestras record at. We performed with a local high school choir, band, and
orchestra, and afterwards, we had a little cocktail hour (which served as our
dinner) with the local German students and got to know some of them. They were
all super sweet and it was really interesting to compare our lives with theirs;
they heard so much about Superstorm Sandy and were really interested in knowing
how we dealt with everything, and we also just talked about everything under
the sun, from Leipzig, to New York City, to the languages we learn, to our
school curriculums, to our hopes and dreams ;). One thing that I found
particularly interesting is that the schools in Germany don’t offer orchestra
class or any extracurriculars really; all of these students that we met in
Berlin and the ones at the Leipzig Schule of Musik had to join these programs
outside of school, which made me appreciate the fact that we have these
activities offered to us in school here in the states.
our hotel room for 3 people was actually smaller than the regular 3 people rooms that other people slept in since we had a rollaway bed
Funkhaus Berlin
The next and last full day in
Germany was packed with sightseeing. We took a bus tour all around Berlin. Our
first stop was at another part of the Berlin wall, where hundreds of
professional artists were hired to paint murals. We took photos with soldiers
at Checkpoint Charlie, walked under the Brandenburg gate, and paid our respects
at two Holocaust memorials. After the tour, we were dropped off at Museum Island.
We walked around one museum, but after realizing that it was solely about
ancient Mesopotamian artifacts and had zero history about Germany, we left and
stopped by a souvenir shop to buy some matching Berlin hats ;)
the most famous mural on the Berlin wall
my favorite; i love anything tribal
Checkpoint Charlie
Berlin Holocaust Memorial
Brandenburg Gate
"Mother and Her Dead Son" ; Holocaust memorial
Berlin Cathedral
museum that we visited on Museum Island
It was raining and freezing by that
point, so we ran into a small coffee shop, which epitomizes the classic
European café. Brick walls, dim lighting (glowing yellow lights), all of the
customers looked super urban and refined. Ah. I ordered the Miss Chocoholic
muffin and I still think fondly of it to this day.
There wasn’t much to do in Berlin
since it was a Sunday and most of the stores are closed on Sundays, so we
wandered around on the streets, listening to street musician and watching
people gamble (with very little skill too). I bought a hot dog from a street vendor,
and it was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. I know, I don’t eat meat
anymore, but I think I might revert back if I went back to Germany this second
(it’s THAT good). We kept wandering the streets; walking past the Berlin
Cathedral and window shopping in the only tourist-y stores open that day. Our
last activity downtown was strolling through an art flea market, where I bought
this beautiful painting of a piano; the artist used mixed media and it wasn’t
the typical piano “portrait”; it was modern and quirky and I love it.
awesome street musicians
the best hot dog ever
art flea market (looks better at night)
That night, after dinner at the
hotel, we went upstairs to a ballroom to watch a German “opera”/comedy. We
stayed up until 3 am that night, talking and reminiscing about our favorite
memories and having little “parties” in each others’ rooms before curfew ;)
The
next morning, after embracing some more issues with our passports (same issue
that occurred on our way to Berlin; I definitely do not recommend Air Berlin),
we boarded our plane and headed home. Home sweet home. I was distracted for
most of the flight; I had taken such good care of my family’s DSLR camera the
entire trip, and at the airport, when I rested my messenger bag on top of my
suitcase, the metal handles of my suitcase probably bumped up against my bag
without me realizing until I opened my bag to take a photo and realized there
was a minor crack on the viewfinder of my camera L
The crack is so slight and it doesn’t really affect anything; right now, it’s
been over 1.5 years since that happened and I use that camera every day without
really noticing that crack, but I was just bummed out about it for a while. I
came home and my parents couldn’t have cared less about the crack, and I was
just so happy to be reunited with my little brother. I surprised them with
gummy bears from Dresden and German truffles from Leipzig, and they ate every
single bite J
Home sweet home. But we were definitely in a post-Germany depression for a
while ;)
All in all, our trip to Germany was
truly packed with lots of events and sightseeing; not only did we experience
the history and culture of Germany, but the music as well. Music was right in
front of us, from street performers at every corner to monuments of famous
composers. To be honest, I’ve never really been that inspired or motivated by
anything to enjoy playing classical music, but being in Germany and seeing how
much the people love the music made me catch their contagious passion for
music.
I hope you all enjoyed reading my “Journey
to the Heart of Germany” series of posts, and I hope I’ve inspired you to want
to visit Germany some time in the future! It’s such a beautiful country, and I
promise you that you will enjoy this country!
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xoxo, Hannah
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