Ok:::: where to start, I last left you all in Munich I believe with the saddness of losing my dear friend the water bottle. I am still a little bitter about that whole thing but I quickly got over it because my thoughts were distracted by numerous museums and history. I decided after Munich to head to Leipzig because of the book I read about the STASI…. the “security” for the old GDR (DDR). Anyway, I arrived in Leipzig at around 8:30 in the morning….. I was tired to put it lightly… but I knew I wanted to see this Stasi Museum and it just so happen to be right around the corner from my sleepy lion hostel. More good news followed when I discovered that the entrance was free… this particular museum is not very developed and has a very raw feeling to it… it looks like a glorified book report with papers just stapled to boards running along the hallway. Everything is of course in German, there was however a typed paper in english that hit all the highlights. I still dont know what some of the boards were trying to say, but that is what added to the authenticity of this place….this museum is there strictly to inform the people, mainly the German people. They had all this survellance equipment and jars of scents that the Stasi used to find the “enemy” in its own people. It is crazy that not very long ago these people went through mail, tapped phones, and took pictures of all its citizens for “security” measures. OK, now that you guys are paying attention I will tell you about the people I ran into at the hostel.
We have Brian the Southern Gentleman from Mississippi, Sebastian from Germany and Anneliese from Germany aswell. They all snatched me up and dragged me out to an Art Gallery in town that housed 15-present century, art including Claude Monet. I spent a good 2 hours or so wandering around, the thing was four stories of art. Next, we headed off to eat some pretty good asian food::: I was surprised because we went to the mall to eat, apparently those are some the best places to eat on a budget, I have to agree the food was really good. After the faest we were headed for the memorial that is famous to Leipzig; I had never heard of it and I assumed it was just your average joeschmo memorial….. I couldnt have been more wrong!!! This thing was enormous::::: it was built in 1913, 100 years after Napolean called retreat:::: the Germans are very proud of this memorial because for them it represents strength and victory (over the French). So, we of course had to climb to the top to get the nice view…. it was nice; I nearly got sick coming down though because of the spiral staircase… After that we took ourselves to a little bar to refresh ourselves…. Brian actually found a Mississippi Julip on the menu…. as a true Mississippi gent does he ordered one. The rest of the night was talking about our cultures and the large differences between the two. We also had a big discussion about the true nature of the Southern Gent, brought to you by Brian and Katie… Sebastian is an honorary Southern Gent because he shared his umbrella with me!!!
Th next day I left for Berlin with plans to meet Anneliese on Tuesday, since she lives in the area. BERLIN is a place that I recommend everyone visit. The city is still building and recovering from all of its history and has so much to see. I went to several museums that would take to long to explain. but lets just say I am a smarter person before you. My favorite thing was meeting the people in my room, Henrike (Germany), Jose and Elyka (Venezuela). We all stayed up the first night talking until about three::: Watch out for Deer eaters in S. America!!! The next day I went met Anneliese and learned more than I will ever need to know about Jewish history, then I got the grand tour of Berlin. Saw so much… you will just have to wait for the pictures! BUT for those who cannot bare to wait here is the list:
Potsdamer Platz, the Holocaust Memorial, the Sony Center, Brandenberg Gate, the Reichstag, Check point Charlie, the Pergamon, Berlin Cathedral, the Jewish Museum, The Wall Memorial, Alexander Platz, Tiergarten, and everything in between.
My last night in Berlin I went out with Henrike to meet her friends at a place that I dont normally picture myself going. It was this barren wasteland in the middle of this high class area for kids to do the grafitti thing and hangout::::: this building we went in seemed so run down but it was full of art work and the artists that created it. it was so much fun and it felt like I had stepped back into time. hard to explain but it was an experience!!
I left Berlin last night at 9:30 or so:::: I was in one of the Harry Potter cars with 4 other people so not much room to spread your wings:::: I didnt sleep very much but when I got into Bruges I ate some free breakfast and hit the hay, I was kaput (not sure how to spell it in German, Henrike knows what I mean!) Anyway, I didnt manage to wake up and stroll around this great city….. the streets are great and the buildings are so cute!! I leave for Paris tomorrow, at least that is the plan for now!
So that should catch everyone up on the past 4 days….. my brain hurts from all the information I crammed in there but I will get over it:::::Pictures to come soon!!!
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