Berlin Marathon, History Museum and a Long Ride Home

No wonder there was no vacancies last night at the hotel!  Today happened to be the day of the Berlin Marathon - we managed to see the runners pass by a street about a block away from the hotel.  Afterwards, we decided to go see the Story of Berlin Museum, an interesting interactive museum that traces the turbulent history of Germany's capital from the time it was founded to the present.  After a leisurely morning in Berlin, we headed off to the Central Bus Station to catch a bus from Berlin to London.  Although the bus takes 19 hours to get to London, we figured this was the best choice because the Berlin trip was coming out to be more expensive than we initially anticipated and this was the least expensive option.  Given the reputation of these kind of buses in the US, I was a little worried about what I was getting myself into, but things turned out better than I expected.  There were only about 15 people on the bus so there was plenty of room, the passengers all seemed like friendly budget travelers, and the bus had a bathroom (always a plus on a long ride).  Here's to hoping the bus ride goes well...

Berlin Zoo and... Crap, We Missed Our Flight!

The Berlin Zoo's Oriental Elephant Gate

http://www.bargaintraveleurope.com/07/Germany_Berlin_Zoo.htm

 

Today was supposed to be a nice relaxing day at the Berlin Zoo in the morning and then we were supposed to catch our flight to Paris.  The Berlin Zoo was nice - it houses the world's broadest variety of species and the set up of the Zoo Garden is nice.  The problem is, we had the time of the flight l wrong (had the ticket for a different flight on top) and ended up spending too much time at the zoo and missed our flight!  From there it was a nightmare - trying to figure out how to get back to London (our original plans were to fly from Paris) and where to spend the night (or the next few nights if we could not find a way to get out of Berlin).  We went back to the hotel we were staying at to see if we could stay another night, but they were fully booked.  We asked around several other surrounding hotels, but they happened to be fully booked as well.  We did manage to find a vacancy at Hotel Berlin Berlin - this was a lifesaver.   Now to try and figure out how to get back to London....

Potsdam

The New Palace

Having seen a lot of the can't miss attractions in Berlin, we decided to do a day-trip to nearby Potsdam today.  After a little over an hour on the train, we arrived and set out to explore Potsdam on foot.  We managed to see quite a few interesting sites, with the highlights being the Sanssouci and the New Palace.  This was a lot of walking though - the two palaces are opposite ends of Sanssouci Park, and since there is a clear path to the other palace it looked a lot closer than it actually was! We probably walked over 2 miles just to get to the other palace.  All in all, another good day of sightseeing.

Museum Island and Schloss Charlottenberg

My friend Jared in front of the reconstructed Pergamon Altar

Yesterday, we briefly walked around Museum Island, a museum complex literally located on an island in East Berlin.  Museum Island is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site and contains 5 internationally significant museums.  Today, we bought a Museum Island pass and decided to spend time exploring what these museums had to offer.  My favorite museum here was the Pergamon Museum, which holds an enormous reconstructed ancient Greek temple (The Pergamon Altar) in the main room.  After spending time at Museum Island, we tried currywursts from a market (basically a hot dog with curry powder - quite popular in Berlin for some reason) and then headed to Schloss Charlottenberg, a Prussian royal palace on the West side of Berlin.  It was quite an impressive building, but we did not have much time to take it in.  We did manage to have another great German dinner - the best roast pork I have ever eaten smothered in - you guessed it - beer gravy.  

Walking Tour of the City

Checkpoint Charlie - one sight on a memorable walking tour!

Today we went on a walking tour of the city with Original Walking Tours.  I would definitely recommend doing one if you are visiting Berlin!  There is so much recent history here (Cold War and the Berlin Wall) in which some narration goes along way towards understanding what Berlin is all about.  Our Walking tour was truly a memorable experience - we learned about destruction to the city during WWII, the events leading up to the construction of the Berlin Wall, escape stories from East Berlin to West Berlin, and a lot more fascinating things all while walking from one interesting sight to another.

 For dinner, we had a very good German meal -  veal meatloaf, with mashed potatoes and beer gravy to go with beer on tap!  I am generally health conscious when it comes to eating, but I do admit that it feels good to eat manly food like this once in a while!  

Hallo, Berlin!

Today, my friend and I arrived in Berlin bright and early after a sleepless night.  It took us a little while to find our hotel, and when we did, we took a power nap and then set out to sightseeing.  We stuck around West Berlin near our hotel today and managed to see the Victory Column and we also were able to orient ourselves a little bit in our area (in relation to the nearby attractions Europa Center, Zoo Station, Berlin Zoo, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, etc.)  Ready to see a lot more tomorrow!

Sigh of Relief

In a previous entry, I mentioned how all the classes I take this year will be factored in towards my GPA and that I may fail one course because I did not get a course approval from the appropriate department back at Emory.  This was something that really scared me and I was prepared to accept the fact that I may fail a class that I did really well in due to my misunderstanding of my school's study abroad program.  However, I was saved by the Emory Economics Department, who granted credit as an exception for the class in question, AC100.  This was great news right before my Euro-trip.  My word of advice - while you are abroad, you feel like you are a whole different world with new rules - but make sure you know the rules of your home university well - especially about the courses you take while abroad!  I was very lucky - but the outcome would have been very different if the Emory Economics Department had not acted exceptionally.  

The LSE Problem Part One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovmHfMKHuY8

Above is a screenshot of a video on YouTube that is making its rounds among LSE students.  The video pokes fun at ambitious students who come to LSE to get on the fast track to a job in the financial world. Obviously, the video is an exaggeration (for comedic effect) of what goes on at LSE - I have met many people at LSE who have a lot more on their mind than getting an internship and are genuinely interested in studying and learning "the causes of the things" (the LSE motto).  Also, many of the people I have met are active members in the LSE community and know how to have a good time.  Yet, there is also some truth to the video.  For instance, many students at LSE tend to go on the path described below :

 Acceptance into LSE -> Spring Week ->  Summer Internship -> Job Offer -> Graduation -> Job in Finance  

 Also, the depiction of the teaching style here and the difficulty of the classes is largely true.  Definitely worth a watch if you are considering a year at LSE...

Selfridges

Today, I went farther along Oxford Street than I normally do and visited Selfridges, a high end department store.  As a student, this place felt a little out of my price range - I was surrounded by (very) expensive suits, purses, and dresses, among other things on the ground floor, but it was a good experience.  Later, I went to the food court and got some of Pierre Herme's famous macarons (this is the only place they are sold in the UK).  They have some very interesting flavor combinations and are affordable in small quantities - definitely worth a try.    

Chinese New Years Celebration on Clare Market Street

Last week, there were parades and festivals in London (the biggest celebrations near Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square) to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  I felt a little disappointed that I missed out on these celebrations, but as a consolation prize, I did manage to see an LSE group doing its own Chinese New Year Celebration on campus today.  The celebration consisted mostly of a couple people in a dragon costume and another banging a gong.  The gong was awfully loud - I wonder what it was like for people in class at the time...