Thankfully, we started off our day today on an especially good note, because after having gotten back to the hostel late last night, we were allowed to sleep in for 15 more minutes this morning. We ate breakfast at the hostel– lots of meat, cheese and Nutella.:) After breakfast, we made our way on the tram to the Alexanderplatz to visit the Fernsehturm (television tower). Public transit comes in handy when traveling in a large group! The elevator to the observation deck on the tower took us 203 meters high in only 40 seconds… sehr schnell! Although it was built as an architectural communist symbol, the views that the Fernsehturm offers tourists today are unbelievable. We found everything we had seen in the preceding days from the 360 degree view. We then traveled by subway to West Berlin. On the square around the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, a church that had been bombed during WWII, there was a shrine dedicated to the people who were killed in a terrorist attack in a Christmas market this past year. Having seen this story on the news, it was beyond satisfying to join others passing by and paying respects. On a happier note, the group was set free for lunch at the biggest department store in Europe, KaDeWe. Most of the girls ate ravenously to start shopping as fast as possible, while most of the boys stayed in the buffet area almost the entire time. Otherwise, the rest of the group wandered around and got in lots of steps. We then made our way back to the US sector that divided East from West Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie. The museum at Checkpoint Charlie was nice because it introduced information about escapes from East Berlin in different forms: pictures, videos, text, and artifacts. The text was definitely helpful because it was introduced in both English and German, so if we didn’t understand a word in German, it was easy to check the meaning in English. The pictures helped towards the end when some of us fell a little behind from trying to read everything. Additionally, the videos were beloved amongst all because they offered a break from reading and standing. The Ampelmann shop was a quick next stop during the day, which is one of the few things kept from the GDR. It is named after the little man on the traffic light that shows when you need to stop and go at crosswalks. We then went to my favorite activity of the day. Berlin is, of course, full of monuments and museums, but this was the first time we explored WWII history as opposed to the norm of GDR history. We explored one of the few air raid bunkers left in Berlin. All of the others were destroyed, but this bunker was made from previously carved space right above public transit and couldn’t be destroyed. Although we couldn’t take pictures, none of us will forget the outline of Haley H. from the 70-year-old light retaining paint on the walls. After a very full day, we ate dinner as a group in a restaurant in the Nikolaiviertel, and some had Currywurst for the third meal in a row. It was a very busy day, ending in 20,000 steps again! Good night! ~Olivia H.
