Big and Cold

Last time I went to Berlin was in Chicago. =) If you are from Chicago you'll know what I'm talking about.

The city was big and the weather is cold. The city is bigger than most cities we've visited so it was harder to wander around especially in the cold weather!

Anyway, I think any city that comes after Amsterdam won't even compare. =) I think we should have done more research on the Berlin nightlife because it was "bleh." Unfortunately I don't think we hit the "hot spots" of Berlin. We drank a lot of beer as usual. And we did see a lot and learned a lot. Especially about the wall. What was interesting is that there are parts of the wall that still stand in the city. And in some streets, bricks embedded on the road would trace out where it use to be.

What thing I did notice was this picture:



I remember this picture while watching the Amazing Race! (Which happens to start tonight in the States!) This is the Berlin Sculpture which represents the reunification of East and West Berlin. Underneath it is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. If you look closely only part of it exists. It was damaged during World War II bombings, and it serves as a symbol of the destruction of war.

The Checkpoint Charlie museum was very interesting as it revealed how many different way people tried to escape East Berlin. People would hide in suitcases, speakers, take hot balloons, dig tunnels, etc. to get to the West Berlin side!

Why was the Berlin wall built?

Its estimated that over more than 2.6 mil East Germans escaped to West Berlin or West Germany from 1949 to 1961. Many people had to suffer under repressions of the Communist system and they wanted to live a better life in the West. The East German government saw no other way to prevent from escaping to the West via Berlin than closing the border between East and West Berlin on August 13, 1961.

And if you wanted to know why East and West Berlin were divided in the first place, then google it because you should know your history. =)

Scammed
I was watching a guy on the street move a little ball under these three boxes. I had to pick out which box the ball was under. Before I knew it I lost 50 Euros. That was really dumb on my part. Story is better told face to face. =/