Turkey: Istanbul Day 1

Arriving so late in Turkey made it a bit of a problem trying to get to the hostel. We knew we had to buy tickets to Izmir immediately, so we headed straight to the bus station from the airport on the subway. When we got to the depot, I had written down all the names of the companies of busses that Aysegul takes to Izmir and it was easy to find their ticket offices lined up along the front of the bus station. We priced out two and found that they were the same, so we just decided to buy them and take a cab to the hostel. Luckily, before we had left, I had printed out directions to the hostel, written them down in Turkish and everything to prepare us for when we arrived. In Turkey, the cab to the hostel was supposed to be around 35TL (Turkish Lira) which is about $22. We took a cab, which ended up taking us on a spin around the winding and disconnected streets of Istanbul. If Istanbul is known for anything besides being the capital of three ancient empires (Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman Empires) it's known for bad traffic. At 11 PM it wasn't the traffic, but our nicely hidden hostel that prevented the driver from finding the place. I showed him the Turkish directions, which got us to the general area, where he then had to ask regular people where our hostel was. Some knew where it was, some just pointed in a direction, and others had no idea what he was looking for. Eventually, we parked in a lot, and he walked us to the hostel, which was located down a small sidestreet's sidestreet. We checked in, showered (because it was still somewhere in the low 80s) and headed to bed. No sheets needed here, it was so hot. We laughed because we were sharing a room with 8 other people, and it was so hot that everyone was sleeping in their underwear, despite the lack of privacy. I didn't blame them.

The next morning we woke up early and begin our trip around Istanbul. I had talked to the guy at the front desk the last night to find out what to do today, and he had told me the Palace was closed today and so we would have to see that on Saturday when we came back. We headed down to the tram to head to Old City, where we began the day at the magnificent Blue Mosque. Also called the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, the Blue Mosque was completed in 1616 in the Late Classical Ottoman style. It is called the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles on the inside of the mosque and it was built by Sultan Ahmed I to placate Allah in a time of war and violence. It was built immediately next to the Hagia Sophia (the most venerated mosque in Istanbul) and the hippodrome. It is one of the most impressive mosques in the world and its interior is amazing. It is still an active place of worship, and being a mosque, we all had to remove our shoes and everyone had to cover up in respect.

After the Blue Mosque, we crossed the street to see the Hagia Sophia. It wasn't even noon and the sun was already scorching the earth. We had to buy waters (the big ones) and wait in line to enter the Hagia Sophia. I was most excited to see the Hagia Sophia, it is probably one of the most famous places of worship in the world, know throughout time and can even be considered a Wonder of the World (depending who you talk to). The edifice of the building was clearly old, with exposed brick, red and crumbly, and its importance as a monument of Istanbul was more than apparent by its massive size and towering minarets. Built in 537 AD, the Hagia Sophia was originally an Eastern Orthodox Church, the Romans converted it to a Roman Catholic Cathedral and the Turks converted it to an Imperial Mosque. From its date of dedication in 360 AD until 1453 it was the cathedral of Constantinople. It became a mosque in 1453. As a church it was dedicated to the Logos, or the second person of the Holy Trinity.

The greatest thing about the Hagia Sophia, is not its colorful history as a place of worship for two major religions, but really its massive size and scale. This monument was built nearly 1,500 years ago. One thousand years ago, life was so utterly different it is almost unimaginable. The massive dome, is considered to be the epitome of Byzantine architecture, and it changed the history architecture. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly 1,000 years, and it contained a large collection of holy relics. It is the location of the excommunication of Michael I Cerularius, which is considered the start of the Great Schism in 1054. In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II, leader of the Ottoman Turks, conquered Constantinople and ordered the Hagia Sophia to become a mosque. The holy relics were removed and the mosaics were plastered over. The minarets and the Islamic features on the interior were added shortly after as the strength of the Ottoman Empire grew. For 500 years, the Hagia Sophia was the principle mosque of Istanbul, and all other mosques were modeled after it not only for the city but for the entire empire.

The inside was awesome. There was marble imported from all over the Roman Empire, from Turkey, Italy, Greece, and Europe. There are columns not only surrounding the first floor but the second as well and the dome towers high above your head. There were hundreds of people in the mosque, but still it felt empty. Although they were renovating one half of the structure, it was still awesome to see the original paintings and frescoes of the Holy Trinity on the wall, painted in gold. There were pictures of the 12 disciples along the walls of the highest ceiling, but were so faded by time you could barely recognize a face. Juxtaposed with the Catholic pictures were beautiful Arabic writings with the many names of Allah written and placed around the ceiling. The altar was replaced by the minbar and other Islamic icons.

When we were ready to leave the mosque, we stopped to get some Turkish food for lunch. I was prepared for this, because I had looked at WikiTravel and wrote down all the things to try when I was in Turkey. We headed to grab some dönör meat and after we got some dondurma, which is Turkish ice cream. It was really good and it's not quite like regular ice cream, it's more stringy and pully in texture, but nonetheless delicious. When we finished eating, we made our way through the twisting and winding streets in an attempt to navigate ourselves to the aqueduct of Valens. These are ancient aqueducts from the Roman Empire. It is also called the Aqueduct to Constantinople, and it was the major water system of Constantinople completed in the late 4^th century. Now, it has streets and cars that pass through the arches on the ground, but it was really cool to see. We wandered by Süleymaniye Mosque on the way to the aqueduct, but didn't stop inside because of the heat and we were already "Mosqued" out.

After the aqueduct, it was just too hot to be walking around. We made our way to the tram and headed back across the Golden Horn. The Golden Horn is the water that breaks the European side of Istanbul into two parts. The Golden Horn leads into the Bosphorus Straight, which separates Istanbul onto the European and Asian continents. When we arrived to the other side of the Golden Horn, we made our way to Galta Tower after taking some spectacular pictures of the Old City of Istanbul. It's a picturesque scene, with the afternoon sun shining on the mosques and reflecting off the water. It was beautiful. From the top of Galata Tower, which is one of the oldest towers in the world, we enjoyed spectacular scenes of all Istanbul. From the Beyoglu and New City (with modern skyscrapers) to the Old City mosques and Fatih areas and across the Bosphorus Straight to the Asian side of Istanbul, which is where the Üsküdar area is located. Originally built in 528 as a lighthouse, the Galata Tower was reconstructed by the Romans as Christ Tower.

After the tower, it was time to head to the hostel and take a break. We had done so much for the day. Luckily, on our way back to the hostel, we walked down the famous Istiklal Street, which is a pedestrian walkway that has the best shopping and restaurants of Istanbul. I enjoyed a freshly squeezed juice, with kiwi, banana, apple, orange, pineapple, and some other fruits I'm forgetting. It was great! We showered and rested for a while at the hostel, but we had to eat and get ready to leave for Izmir. Our bus was overnight (8 hours) and so we didn't want to miss this one. We went to a great dinner near our hostel, which was really funny. The waiter thought that Ana and I were a couple, so he placed us on the top floor with all the other couples. The restaurant itself was really nice. Sitting on pillows on the floor, with rich red colors and dark wood paneling, it was quite a romantic setting. The food was delicious and they played Turkish music to set the mood. When we finished, we walked down Istiklal Street in search for some Turkish nargile, or shisha (hookah). We found a nice café, had a mint nargile and played checkers. It was Ana's first time playing checkers in her life, but I taught her well. The waiter however, didn't like that I wasn't letting her win, and on our second game, he made a few moves for me, which let her win. He literally reached over and grabbed my pieces and moved them to a spot I told him I didn't want! He also told Ana where to go too. It was really fun and the weather was nicer now that it had dropped into the 80s. When it was 9:30 PM, we headed to the hostel to grab our luggage and go to the bus station.

We made our way to the station, and boarded our bus after a little confusion (because our bus was late, I had to ask multiple times where it was and people –eager to help—made a big scene and everyone was looking at Ana and I at one point). We were on our way to Izmir to see Aysegul!

Turkey: Where East Meets West

So, I'm heading home tomorrow and I have yet to tell about my past week spent in Turkey. When we arrived in Prague Sunday morning, Ana and I literally had 24 hours before we needed to leave for Istanbul. We went to the apartment and slept, and all of us kind of just relaxed. This was the last time I'd see Ekta and Tete, so we were planning to go out on Sunday night, for one last hoorah, but we didn't even make it for a drink! Ana and I had some rearranging to do luggage wise, whereas Tete and Ekta had a few days to pack. We ended up going to sleep relatively early and on Monday morning, Ana and I woke up around 8 AM to head to the airport. Now, remember how I always have the most outrageous things happen to me when I'm travelling? This is certainly a first.

Ana and I woke up at 8 AM, showered, packed, and were ready to go by 8:30 AM. Our flight left at 11:35 AM, so we were giving ourselves plenty of time to reach the airport. We were saying our finals goodbyes to Tete and Ekta, wishing them the best and telling them that we'd see them soon. As we were saying our goodbyes, Ana begins to leave the apartment and opens the door. Well, the only problem was that the door was locked. Yes, that's right, the door was locked. Now, I'm saying goodbye to Tete, and I hear Ana say from the other room, "Oh My God! The door is locked!" This moment seems to last forever in my head, because I knew right away, we were really screwed.

I 100% knew that there was no way to unlock the door without the key. Now, here's why we didn't have a key. Somewhere in Krakow and Berlin, Ana, and her hoards of clothes, souvenirs, and personal items, seems to have misplaced the key to the apartment. Well how did we get in the apartment you ask? Simply by calling the two people that lived there, Chuey and Elvira (an Argentinian and a Russian). The only problem was, even though Tete, Ekta and Ana have cell phones, only Tete and Ana had credit. After calling the people to let us into the apartment, Tete ran out of credit and only had her Portuguese phone to use. So, anyway, we're locked in the apartment.

I totally blame Ekta for this situation because not only was this her THIRD time being locked in somewhere (AIESEC office, Jenny's house in Roztoky, and now this apartment), her bad luck seemed to have come back to haunt us at the worst of possible times. Ana and I had a flight to catch! In three hours! So we thought, what could we do? Chuey and Elvira were at work, because it was a Monday morning. Someone says that they told one of them not to lock the door on their way out, but I'm not sure they got the message. Either way, I could see how they would naturally lock it because most houses, when you lock the front door, don't lock the people inside. I had a few thoughts jump through my mind, like throwing my suitcase out the window and scuffling down the side of the building like Spiderman, but I knew that Ana wouldn't be able to do follow. Tete's phone was with no credit, Ekta's phone was with no credit, but Ana! Ana had one last phone call to make. So she called Chuey.

It was a desperate attempt to cry for help, but he picked up and we tried our best to explain the situation. Poor Chuey, he was always letting us in when we didn't have a key, but this time he couldn't help. He said he was going to call a few people, because someone was supposed to be dropping off an extra key sometime during the day. Luckily, Ana can receive calls without using credit, so when he called back, he just said that he couldn't get a hold of anyone and we would just have to wait. Great…

By this time, I was just completely frustrated and angry. I was doing nothing to help the situation, because I had no phone and no internet and nothing else, so I laid down in bed and just fell back asleep. I took about an hour nap and woke up to Ana telling everyone that she got a hold of one of the other Brazilian interns and he was doing his best to call everyone and try and get us out of the apartment. Eventually at 10:30 AM (2 hours later) we received word that Lessya was coming to drop the keys off. At this point, we were really confused because Lessya was supposed to be back in Kazakhstan, but we figured it was a different Lessya.

Turns out, around 11:00 AM, Lessya shows up at the front door, and in comes our favorite group leader from Kazakhstan! In all the excitement, Ana and I barely had any time to say hello to Lessya or goodbye to Ekta and Tete and we were out the door within 2 minutes. The fresh air couldn't have seemed more refreshing. I knew we were definitely going to miss our flight, and we arrived at the airport around 11:45 AM. Knowing that we are broke college students (I guess college grad for me), the airlines charged us a €50 rebooking fee and our flight left at 18:30. Great. Not only did we have to wait 6 hours at the airport, but we had to pay $60 to change our flight, just because someone locked us in, we had no keys out, and Ekta was with us.

We eventually caught our next flight, arrived in Turkey around 10 PM and began our next journey in a whole other world.

Berlin: The Last Day

Going on the pub crawl the previous night was a great idea. It was one of our first nights to have a lot of fun in a while and it was a great way to meet some new people (and not bug each other all night!). When we woke up the next morning, we had only a few things planned for our last day. The first was to head to the Berlin television tower, which is one of the most iconic and monumental structures of Berlin. It is the tallest structure in Germany at 365 m (1198 feet) and is beautiful to look at. You can see it many of my pictures, peeking out into the sky in the distance. We made our way over to Alexanderplatz, where the TV tower is located and when we arrive we noticed a lot of people and a lot of green. Green balloons, green banners, green trucks, and other green things. It only took us a few minutes to realize we walked into the 2010 Hanfparade—a.k.a. the Berlin Marijuana Parade for the legalization of the marijuana. We took a few pictures and went ahead and bought our tickets for the TV tower, but unfortunately the tickets were timestamped, so we had to wait an hour until we were able to ascend the tower. So we hung out in the middle of the demonstration. We got ourselves some balloons, received a plethora of pamphlets for a variety of topics. There were some about bongs and vaporizers and other smoking instruments, there were some about the medical benefits of marijuana, there were some about economic benefits, and so on and so on. We were given posters and everything, but most of all we just enjoyed the music and people watching. +Reason I like Berlin: Excellent people watching!+

We even ran into one of our buddies from the pub crawl the night before, but no more than 10 minutes after running into him, we had to go inside the tower and go to the observation deck. When we got to the top, I can't help but say we were all utterly disappointed. Berlin doesn't have anything to see from above! We were looking at crowded streets and low buildings, sprawled out but ending before the horizon. We forced ourselves to look around and take pictures, but the only good thing we saw was the Berlin Dome and the river that runs through the city center. We spent about 15 minutes at the deck and then headed down.

When we arrived at the bottom, the Hanfparade was getting bigger and better. By this time there were many more people, all different sorts of people, and they were getting everyone ready for the parade. Naturally, what are four 20-somethings to do when offered the chance to parade down the streets of Berlin with hippies? Of course, we are going to go with them! I mean, we already had our balloons, we were practically a part of the movement, right? We were all laughing at the irony of the situation. Four non-Germans, who don't really care about what happens with the legalization of marijuana, who don't really have anything better to do on a Saturday then walk through the streets and who really have no serious business being in the parade. But, enjoy it we did. We marched with them all, walking down the streets of Berlin. We passed by crowds of bewildered tourists (just like us, but on the other side of the parade!) and observant Germans. The reggae van was in front, and we were behind it, jammin' to the music. Behind us was a more crazy van, with a giant joint on top and this one played booming dance music. For us, it was just an excuse to have some fun.

We eventually got tired of the parade, because every so often they would stop and speak in German and the crowd would cheer and we'd be confused and cheer too, but our legs can only do so much walking, especially the day after a pub crawl. We broke off from the parade, and headed toward the center to find something new to do. We made our way to Potsdamer Platz. This is more the "new" Berlin, with tall skyscrapers and sleek office buildings. We ate dinner at a great restaurant, that was self-service but half-restaurant at the same time. The menu had a variety of items, mostly pasta, pizza, and other delicious items, but the innovative idea was you went up to a chef, told them what you wanted, and they cooked it in front of you! They put your order on a card, and you pay after you eat on your way out! Genious! The food was decently priced and delicious too. Remember, we still have our balloons with us, so along the way, people are looking at us a little funny, but for me, I had the best reaction. When I went up to order, I told my chef what I wanted and she started cooking. The chef next to her however, saw my balloon, and started talking excitedly and loudly to me in German. He got so excited he told a passing busboy something and pointed at my balloon and they both smiled and asked me something in German. Of course, I had no idea what's going on, so I just smiled stupidly until my chef told him to stop because I'm sure he was saying things he wasn't supposed to be saying while at work. Oh boy.

When we were done eating lunch, we stopped at Hӓagen Dazs and did a little shopping. Once again, the lady in the store asked to see my balloon, and after reading it, she just smiled and laughed. I smiled because she spoke a little English and I was able to explain what happened. By this time, we were kaputz. We did what we always do, and found a park to sleep in. Luckily, we were right by the Holocaust Memorial and across the street was a park. The park itself was terrible. The grass was dead and there was rabbit poop everywhere, but luckily we found four benches and each one of us took a nice little nap in the middle of the park.

When we woke up, it was starting to sprinkle. We had a lot of time to kill before our bus left for Prague, so we decided to go to Starbucks and just hang out. Sometimes, you just can't find something to do, even when you're in a great city like Berlin. We were tired and mentally exhausted from all the travelling, so hanging out was just what we wanted to do. We went to Pariser Platz and enjoyed ourselves at Starbucks, where we watched the people in the square and the many bachelor and bachelorette parties that passed through. (It must be a popular place to have them) When it was time to go, we headed to the hostel, where we hung out some more on the couches, and then made our way to the bus station across town. We got to the bus station just in time for our bus to arrive and for us to settle in. Finally going back to Prague!

Berlin: Day 2

The second day in Berlin, we woke up early and once again had breakfast at our bagel spot. I had the exact same pesto bagel with tomato and mozzarella and a cup of coffee. It was like being in civilization again! We went directly to the East Side Gallery after breakfast and spent a long time there. The ESG is one remaining section of the Berlin Wall and it is dedicated to arts, graffiti, and murals from artists all over the world. I was able to scribble "Freedom for All" somewhere along the bottom of one section, as well as sign my name and leave my mark from the USA. I'm forever a part of Berlin history now!

From the ESG, we went further into the center and went to Museum Island to go to one of the internationally renowned museums. When we arrived, we were really hungry and ready to eat, but we decided to buy our tickets first before going to eat. Well, we arrived at the museum,
just to see a wonderful line coming from the entrance, out the gate and down the street. We got our spots in line and I went immediately to the front to ask the people how long they've been waiting. +Reason I like Berlin: Everyone speakens ze Englisch!+ A one and a half hour wait? Really? This better be the best damn museum I've ever been too! After getting our tickets, we were dying of starvation, so we left and went to find something to eat. Nearby, along one of the main squares, was a bratwurst and currywurst stand. I had one of the "must try" Berlin currywurst and it was quite delicious. We finished our delicious meal with an even more delicious Nutella crepe, fresh and hot from the stove! The chocolate crepe was so great and since I'm only in Europe every so often, it was one of those treats I'll have to remember until the next time I return.

When we go to the museum, it was in fact amazing, but not so incredibly great I have to rant and rave about it. Inside were ruins taken from none-other-than Turkey! Huge colossal column structures and pavilions of altars and statues and columns dedicated to the Greek gods. It was incredible. Also, they had stolen treasures from around the world, mostly Turkey, but towards the end it was just a lot of plates and cups and pots and boring things that weren't so interesting. One thing I did like was their current work on restoring the original colors of the ancient Byzantine statues. They were quite interesting in color, something I'd never seen before. Lions were painted blue and green and all the statues had brown hair, blue, red and yellow clothing, accents of green and black touched and highlighted significant spots. The statues were always carved naked and had their clothing painted on, in a seemingly skin-tight depiction.

When we were finished with the museum, we were tired (as always) but still trucked on. We went to the Berlin Dome, where we were able to go inside and see photographs of the construction, the war damage and reconstruction and we were able to ascend to the top of the dome to see the great views of Berlin. By this time, it had started to sprinkle, and the city was grey and cloudy. We left the dome and headed to the French and German domes. The French dome was not open to the public and the German dome was some outrageous price to climb to the top of the dome, which we had just done at a bigger and better dome, so we decided to skip that and go to another church. The church of St. Hedwig is a church in Berlin that looks very similar to the Parthenon, a simple round building. We entered to see that a small mass was being held, so we only got to take a few pictures (the inside was very modern anyway—not too much to see there) and leave.

By now, we needed to make our way to the hostel, because we needed to catch some bites to eat before going on the infamous Berlin Pub Crawl. We picked up some—you guessed it!—McDonalds on the way to the hostel, changed quickly once we got there and then headed out for the evening. It was a great night. We went to several places, met a lot of people. Americans, Spanish, Germans, Scottish, Irish and even a couple that had just moved to beautiful Denver, Colorado! I tell you, the world is too small and Denver is still one of the best cities ever! We partied the night away and returned at the wee hours of the morning to catch some sleep before our last day in the German capital.

Berlin: Day 1

Here's the picture that didn't show up last blog on our Journey to Berlin:

Arriving in Berlin, we headed to the hostel and arrived there shortly after 9. It wasn't hard to find (thanks to my excellent navigation skills of course!) and we were able to drop our bags off but unable to check in until 3 PM. This meant we had the whole day to entertain ourselves before we would be able to come back and get our things together. We decided to grab a bite to eat and then head to the center of Berlin to go on the "Berlin Free Tour."

Breakfast was amazing at this small cafe across the street from our hostel. +Reason I like Berlin: Small cafes with pesto bagels that remind me of New York+ We had an amazing breakfast, for only €5 it seems like a good deal, but with the currency rates, it was actually an $8 breakfast. Just to preface the following blog posts, my complaints about budget will begin to rise due to Berlin. We made our way to the center and again, €2 for the subway is more like $2.75 to ride one way, one time, maybe for 15 minutes. Ouch. The tour started in Pariser Platz. Since Berlin was nearly completely destroyed during WWII, many of the historic landmarks have been erased, however that doesn't mean Berlin is full of a rich and colorful history. Pariser Platz has a funny history because the French and US embassies are located here. The US embassy was a source of controversy when they rebuilt it in 2006, facing criticism from nearly every international architect in the European Union, however after 2008 and the election of Mr. Obama, it's funny how many architects changed their opinions and do not think it's so bad after all. It is here in Pariser Platz that one thing hasn't changed in nearly 200 years, and that is Brandenburg Gate. It was here that Napoleon Bonaparte marched through after his conquests and it is here that the quadriga (horse-drawn chariot with the goddess of peace) looks down upon Berlin. Well, after Napoleon's defeat, the quadriga was changed, and the goddess of peace was changed to the goddess of victory and now the goddess of victory stares down at the French embassy in Pariser Platz, as a special message from Germany to France.  +Reason I like Berlin: They make fun of French people.+


The free tour then continued through the Brandenberg Gate to go past the Reichstag Building, the seat of Germany's government, and the same place where Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power during the 1930s and 40s. We continued down the road to a spectacular Holocaust Memorial, which is officially called, "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe." It is nearly 5 acres and has 2,711 concrete blocks, of various heights, in rows and rows. Some say it looks like a cemetery, some say it looks like a city skyline, and others think it looks like something totally different. It is a very interactive memorial, that gets people to think--which any memorial should do. The pillars are deceiving, because the elevation of the ground is not completely flat, so although the pillars seem to be nearly the same height when looking across the memorial, in fact the ground undulates beneath like waves. At the memorial, you can find groups enjoying lunch sitting atop some of the smaller pillars. You can hear the screams of children, running and playing hide-and-seek through the maze of columns. You can see tour groups taking photographs and capturing memories of Berlin. And you can also see somber faces, there to reflect and think about what the memorial means and remember those who have died.

The memorial was great. I loved it. Modern and refreshing and totally unlike anything I've ever seen before. +Reason I like Berlin: modern and interesting urban spaces.+ We followed the brick path that lies where the Berlin Wall used to stand, and we moved along to see the spot where Hitler died. The bunker still lies beneath the ground in East Berlin, the same bunker where Hitler and his wife committed suicide together, as our tour guide puts it, "a romantic Hitler Honeymoon." Berlin is actually trying to figure out what to do with the bunker, whether to fill it in, or to just let it be as it is. The walls are nearly 3m thick and it is a massive structure, but I think most of it has already been destroyed. I don't know what I think about the bunker, but it is very interesting.

Also, the buildings that are around Hitler's bunker, are in fact from the 1970s and 80s when Berlin was separated by the Berlin Wall. After WWII, Germany was divided into two parts, East and West. East was given to the Soviets, and West Berlin was divided between the US and England. Since Germany was divided in two, the capital, which was in East Germany completely, needed to be divided as well. East Berlin, was essentially unrestricted, but West Berlin, the democratic part of the city, was like an island of freedom in a sea of communism. The Berlin Wall was erected to keep the communist citizens from fleeing to West Berlin, and West Berlin was given one railway and one airport to connect themselves with the rest of West Germany. The buildings around Hitler's bunker were particularly nice for communist buildings, because they could be seen from West Berlin and East Berlin wanted to make a point saying that "life over here in communism isn't so bad, it's great, just look at our houses!" In fact, one person describes East and West Berlin like that of going from a black and white TV (East Berlin) to a color TV (West Berlin). I couldn't imagine living in a city, which was in fact two cities. +Reason I like Berlin: Interesting history that is so recent that my grandparents and parents can remember. It is living history.+

When we moved from Hitler's bunker, we followed the Berlin Wall more to one of the points of entry commonly known as “Checkpoint Charlie.” It was here that Soviet and US military would nearly begin another war. The US, sick and tired of communist rule in Germany, would constantly test the German government by sending people through the gate to East Berlin with improper documents and missing papers. They would also arm the citizens with treaties and international agreements that would force the soviets to oblige and let them into East Berlin. Once they had wasted the soviet’s time and were allowed entry into East Berlin, they would take one step in, turn around and say, “Thank you!” This would irritate the Soviet’s so much, that they would line their military tanks up to Check-Point Charlie to try and intimidate the West Berliners. However, the US was not so easily intimidated and they too, lined up their tankers. Had one shot been fired by either side, WWIII would have surely commenced. +Reason I like Berlin: US history is involved! Go USA!+ Check-Point Charlie was our break point too, so we all had time to rest. We were all exhausted by now. Two hours of walking with nearly no sleep the night before, what were we thinking!?

From Check-Point Charlie, we moved along to more historical and boring sites of Berlin. There were the French and German Domes, built by the French themselves and we then made our way to Museum Island, where Berlin has five internationally recognized musuems on the northern part of the island in the middle of the Spree River. We ended the tour with Lust Garden and the Berlin Dome, which was built in the late 19th century as a symbol that Berlin, can have some illustrious architecture like it's older counterparts. Built in neo-classical style, the Berlin Dome is a beautiful church with magnificent views of Berlin. It looks really old, but is in fact no more than 100 years old, especially after the major reconstruction done after WWII bombings caved in parts of the dome and destroyed some of the outside.

The tour ended just near the Berlin Dome and our guide told the passionate and awe inspiring story of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. To put it shortly, the wall only fell because Germany was unprepared for an international press conference, they gave the speaker an old draft of the speech, and left him high and dry to deal with questions. When he announced the opening of travel between East and West Berlin, he was questioned: when, how long, and why? He had no other thing to say, immediately, indefinitely, and for the sake of Germany. It was that night that the Wall Fell and 30,000 East Berliners flooded the streets of West Berlin for a three-day celebration. And on Monday morning, they went back to work, for a new day and a new country.

When the tour ended, we made our way back to the hostel, checked into our room, where we had some Serbian people with us, and we got ready for dinner. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, which wasn't too bad, and then headed to bed for the night. We were exhausted. Berlin was a great city, and after the tour, we had our plans set for the next day--full of sight-seeing. +Reason I like Berlin: International food, international people, big city to give us things to do for three days, and good beer!+

Berlin: The Journey to Germany

Well, after getting on the train in Krakow, we were really happy to have seen Jolin one last time. We had a nice trip to Warsaw, and slept conveniently for two hours, but we were all ready to get on the 6 hour train to Szczecin, where we would transfer to our final train to take us to Berlin. When we got off at Warsaw, we were all extremely tired. Not only because it was 11:00 PM, but also because we hadn't eaten dinner, it was quite cold outside, and we had spent all day waiting around walking around the castle and going to the salt mine (and everything in between). Luckily, it was only a 15 minute layover in Warsaw, but the station we were at was really barren. There wasn't even a stand open to buy water. We didn't want to wander too far from the station either, because with only 10 minutes to catch our next train, we wouldn't want to do any running this night either. So we sat on the platform and waited. When the train finally came, we saw that the inside was very crowded. We had noticed our tickets didn't say anything about assigned seating so I knew it was going to be a free-for-all when we boarded. We were about to get on the train, with our luggage and everything, when I noticed that the train was a little early. That meant it couldn't possibly be our trains, because trains never run early. We asked the conductor, and sure enough, it wasn't our train.

So we waited for five more minutes and our next train came. This was also crowded, with people standing in the isles outside their cabins. Great. We boarded the train and it began to move before we could even move halfway down the aisle. If you know anything about European trains, the cars have one aisle, that is very narrow so only two people can stand at a time. This means with luggage and people, it becomes a one way traffic jam trying to get from one end to another. We began looking in the cabins and noticed that almost every cabin is full, except maybe one or two seats. We managed our way all the way down the aisle and couldn't find anything. Then I realized, it's either smush in or stand—and I was not standing. I explained to the girls that it was unfortunate, but we're going to have to go back down the same aisle and find places to sleep. They're going to need to watch their stuff, and be aware of wierdos, but it's the only way to be as comfortable as possible so we weren't completely exhausted the next day.

We made our way down the aisle, and Ekta was the first to go into a cabin. There was no room in the cabin because the people in the cabin had way too much luggage and were using the leg space for baggage as well. We dropped her off and headed down some more. Many of the cabins had their curtains closed, so we were unable to see inside, and by this point, my frustration told me it doesn't matter if they don't want to be disturbed or not, we need a place to sit! The next one we got to had closed curtains, and I told Tete (who was in front) to open the door and look inside (it was the only way to see if there was room). She opened the door and of course everyone was sleeping, and by everyone I meant all four people. It was unfortunate of us to choose this cabin and wake up four very comfortably sleeping strangers, but when there are four empty spaces available to sit in, we didn't really care too much.

We woke them up and told them that four people needed to sleep in their cabin. They weren't too happy, but we were. Ekta found us and moved her stuff in with ours and then we began to sleep. Well, we tried to sleep, because the train was so uncomfortable. Ana had a window seat, me and Tete sat between Ana and a lady by the aisle. Across from us, a couple sat near the window, Ekta sat in between them and the woman next to me's husband. Basically, we tried to get as comfortable as possible, so Tete leaned on me, and I didn't lean on anyone but put my feet in between Ekta's feet. Ana was leaning on the window and poor Ekta was in the middle of two strangers, with no one to lean on. This was going to be a long night.

We were all dozing off sporadically, being woken up by the conductor three times to check tickets. The couple left sometime around 3 AM, which opened up some space, but Ekta, somehow in the middle of the night decided to take up the entire seat when the man next to her went to the bathroom. I woke up sometime around 4 AM, freezing cold because our aisle door was open, and the woman next to me was trying to convince her husband to come back in the cabin. I yelled at Ekta to wake up and stop taking up the whole seat, in which she moved, but the man, angry and tired, refused to come in. At this point, it wasn't my problem, and the train was beginning to empty, so the remaining couple found a new cabin, and we were able to be semi-comfortable for the last two hours of the ride. When we arrived in Szczecin, we got off and were greeted by the cold morning air of northern Poland. We switched tracks, found our train, and got on.

The last train was a dream. It was kind of like the Metro North of Berlin, because it was empty when we got on, but soon filled with businessmen and women heading into the city. All of us were able to completely pass out for two hours before we arrived in Berlin.

Now, it wasn't until after this journey that we realized how completely out of the way we really went to go from Krakow to Berlin. From Krakow, in Poland's southwest, to Warsaw, in Poland's northeast, to Szczecin in Poland's northwest down Berlin, in Germany's central east. In all, we made a giant circle around Poland, overshot Berlin to the north, and came back down again. What a wonderful way to go.

Krakow: Day 3

The last and final day in Krakow was spent seeing a few of the major tourist things we didn't catch on our first day in Krakow. We began the day a little slow, because after Auschwitz we wanted to have a lot of fun to get our moods up. We ended up meeting one of Tete's friends from AIESEC the previous night. I have Polish friends from Fordham, and one of them recommended to me a few places to go at night, so we met there and ended up going to a few places afterwards. It was a long night, but a lot of fun. We headed first to the Wawel Castle. When we arrived, we were met with a large line and a blinking red sign that said the tickets to the Royal State Rooms were sold out. We decided to wait in line for the Dragon's Den and other castle tickets. The tickets were time stamped and so we were forced to wait until 1 PM to begin our tour of the inside rooms. This was a terrible time because it was already 11:30 AM, which meant we didn't have enough time to eat, but couldn't really leave the castle grounds either. We walked around and found that the Wawel Cathedral tickets were not included in our tickets we bought for the castle, so we bought tickets and walked around the cathedral.

I hate doing things without a tour guide anymore because it's extremely hard to figure out the significance of everything I'm seeing when all the signs are in another language or even if they are translated, it just says what it is and not why it's important. The inside of the cathedral was beautiful though and there were many things to see inside. It was founded in 1650 and holds the tombs to many important people, including Frederick Chopin. Sigismund's Chapel was amazing, and according to Wikipedia, "is one of the most notable pieces of architecture in Krakow and perhaps, 'the purist example of Renaissance architecture outside Italy.'" Also, Pope John Paul II offered his first mass as a priest in this cathedral in 1946. Wawel Cathedral also has two bell towers, with eight smaller bells and five larger bells. The most famous of these bells is Sigismund Bell. This bell, created in 1520, has the following inscription on it, "FOR GOD, THE BEST, THE GREATEST, FOR THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD AND FOR HIS PATRON SAINTS, THE ILLUSTRIOUS KING ZYGMUNT OF POLAND HAD THIS BELL MADE TO BE WORTHY OF THE GREATNESS OF HIS MIND AND DEEDS IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1520." The total weight of the bell is 12,600 kg and it is 242 cm wide and 241 cm tall! It's a huge bell.

After ascending and descending the bell towers, we continued to the crypts to see the burial sites of many royal Polish people and of course Frederick Chopin and moved along to the rest of the castle grounds. The Wawel Castle served as the royal residence for 500 years and is small, but beautiful. The inside wasn't as immaculate as other places, but we still enjoyed our tour around. When we were finished, we were tired, hungry and in need of some new energy. We still had to see the final thing, the Dragon's Den of Wawel Castle. The Wawel Dragon is a famous dragon of Polish folklore. He was said to live in the cave underneath the Wawel Castle. The dragon would pillage and destroy the village every day and would only be appeased if he was given a young maiden once a month as sacrifice outside his cave. All the kings and all the king's men couldn't stop this perilous dragon, and so out of desperation, the king offered his daughter's hand in marriage to anyone who could defeat the dragon. The only one to outsmart the dragon was a young cobbler's son, who placed a sheep, stuffed with sulfur, outside the dragon's lair. The dragon ate the poison, and couldn't quench his thirst. The dragon was said to explode after drinking half the Vistula River and the cobbler's son married the king. The Dragon's Den was a totally pointless and stupid thing, but for $1, we didn't feel cheated.

After eating, we decided that almost our entire day was wasted at the castle and we still wanted to go to the famous salt mine about 30-40 minutes outside of Krakow. We decided to take our chances and try and see the mine before our train to Berlin left at 8 PM. We arrived at the salt mine to find out that the tour lasted 2 hours and was about $25—it was a no go. But that didn't stop us from wasting a bus ride outside the city. We walked around the salt mine grounds and took a few pictures and bought a few things. When we went back to Krakow, it was time to grab a bite to eat and head to the train station. When we were near our hostel, quite close to the Wawel Castle, Ana shouts out, "Jolin! Jolin!" I looked out of the window and who do I see? Jolin! In her bright pink pants and her boyfriend Chen Zhen! And we were trapped on the bus! Great! We waited as the bus drove away from where we saw Jolin and we could do nothing. As soon as the bus stopped, we ran out in the direction of Jolin. I knew that she couldn't be too far because she was walking slowly and Krakow really isn't too big of a city. We walked down the main street I thought she was on and arrived at the castle…too far. We headed back, thinking she might be shopping in a store or inside a church. Still nothing. And then we found her, sitting on a bench with Chen Zhen and we all ran up and gave her a big hug. Who would have thought we'd meet up in Poland, after a month in the Czech Republic.

We spent our last few hours in Poland with Jolin shopping around the main square. She walked with us to get our luggage from the hostel and took us to the train station. Poor Jolin! Apparently on her way to the train station in Prague, her backpack was opened and missing from inside was her wallet, money, external hard drive, and some miscellaneous items. Our train ride to Berlin is certainly one for the books, so stay tuned for more stories.