Berlin

It appears that I've gotten a little behind on my blogging. We're in Berlin now and have been for the last three days. And, rather than do seperate posts for each day,  I'm going to put them all into one so this could get a little lengthy.  My apologies in advance. :)

Berlin Day 1: This day started at 4:00am when the overnight train conductor gave us our wake up call. At least we think that's what it was. He was speaking German so we weren't 100% certain, but I mumbled a sleepy "thank you" and he moved on to the next car.  We all gathered our things and moved out into the train station. Our first stop was the restroom. I haven't mentioned the pay toilets yet, but it seems that, in many places, you have to pay to use the facilities. It's been anywhere from 30 cents to 1 euro. Sometimes it simply won't let you into the bathroom without paying. Other times, they just set a plate or cup outside the bathroom, and it's on the honor system. 

(some of the students in line for an outdoor pay toilet)

(plate/sign outside of a bathroom...you just leave your money on the plate when you're finished)

So we all freshened up and then went in search of some food. Since it was 4:30am, our options were a bit limited, but we found a nice little shop with coffee, muffins, and sandwiches. While we ate, we were serenaded by a shoeless, drunk (??) man. From there we made our way to our hotel (getting a little lost along the way) to see if we could check in early. Unfortunately, the answer was "nein", but they did allow us to store our bags until we were able to check in. So back out we went. We were all pretty tired at this point, and it was beginning to rain. The prospect of spending ALL day walking around the city was not terribly appealing to anyone. Fortunately, we stumbled upon a sight-seeing bus that would take us on a tour of the city. Awesome! We hopped aboard and off we went. After the bus tour, we had a bit of a transit challenge. The students had to get us back to the Hard Rock Cafe via the metro system without any help from the leaders so that we could eat lunch. There was some friendly dissension within the group so we ended up with three sub-groups, but somehow we all ended up on the same train in end. We had a fantastic lunch, celebrated Chelsea Clayton's birthday with a sing-along, and then made our way to the hotel to finally check in. Everyone retired to their rooms for the afternoon, showered, napped, and then most made their way back out to the city for a late dinner. Neal and I were still eating dinner at midnight! 

Berlin Day 2: Today was Museum Day. We spent most of the day at Museum Island. However, this was after another transit challenge. The students broke up into three groups and had a race to see who could get to the Bode Museum first. Neal, Matt, and I each tagged along with a different group just in case they got lost, but I can confidently say that our students have conquered the Berlin train system (congrats to Matt's group for arriving first!). After spending nearly all day at the museums (see Neal's and Meg's blogs for more details on the museums), the students had free time to do a little more exploring, while Matt, Neal, and I went out for dinner. In an effort to challenge my taste buds a bit, I ordered the goulash, dumplings, and red cabbage. The goulash and dumplings were good, but I was/am not a fan of red cabbage. 

Berlin Day 3: Concentration Camp Day. We got up bright and early this morning so that we could spend plenty of time at Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum. It was cold, rainy, and windy, and it really made me think about what the conditions might have been like for the prisoners. We had the luxury of gloves, scarfs, hats, and boots, and we were still miserably cold. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the prisoners. And we've all read about the atroscities of the camps, but to see the execution trenches and the remains of the gas chamber was quite heart wrenching. 

After the concentration camp, we went back to the hotel for a little rest. Later, Neal, Matt, and I went out for Chinese food while the students enjoyed a little more free time. 

Berlin Final Morning: We had an 8:45am train to catch so it was an early morning, but we're all quite excited about getting to our next city....Prague. For now, we're just enjoying a scenic train ride through the European countryside.