Berleen

Today was our first official day in Berlin! Probably the most action-packed day of this entire trip. We started off the morning with a wake-up call at seven. Buffet breakfast was at eight. After some general announcements and such, we took the U-Bahn (the subway) to Alexanderplatz. I'm forgetting the exact order of what we did today. Highlights included the Brandenburg Tor, American embassy, Holocaust memorial, Homosexual memorial, Victory Column, the Reichstag, and the East Side Gallery. Berlin has such an underground feel to it. At the same time, there is this consciousness of walking the streets of a scar. Berlin has been through so much and it shows in the small details. It's also, very much, a down-to-earth place. There is an absence of the flamboyance that presents itself in lots of American cities. Compared to Trier, Berlin is much more influenced by America. I have a lot of pictures today, so rather than describe in great detail everything we did, I'll post pics.

Side note-- not sure if I've mentioned this already or not but the Wifi here is terrible so I wasn't able to get most of my pics up today, sorry!