Berlin!

First Day:

Had breakfast before the Free Berlin Tour. Ice white chocolate mocha and Rostwurst Sausage. Yummy!


Sights visited for the Free Berlin Tour:

*Brandanburger Tor (gate) - Statue of the Goddess of peace turned Goddess of victory on top of it. Royal member would formerly leave through the gate.


*Reichsdag (parliament) - Power was given to Hitler here but he was suspected of setting it on fire -_-

*Holocaust Memorial - Very interesting architecture, according to the guide, you feel like a ghost amongst the towering blocks.


*Site of Hitler's Bunkers - Where he committed suicide with his mistress.


*The old ministry of ministries - Now ministry of taxation. People demonstrated here and were killed.


*Wall of berlin! - Doesn't look very impressive eh. We also saw the distinction between East and West Germany.


*Charlie Check point - The pictures hanging on top indicate that war is a matter of human conflict. Cheem eh.


*The Gendarmenmarkt Square: German church Deutshcher Dom, French church Franzosischer Dom, Konzerthaus by famous architect Schinkel and the Schiller statue!


*Bebelplatz: Humbold Universitaet, the Staatsope Unter Den Linden theatre and the dom shaped St Hedwig Kathedrael.


*Neue Wache - Memorial in victims of war and tyranny.


*Berlin Cathedral, Schinkel's last building (the one with the big bowl) and the pointy television thing lol. That's the end of the Berlin tour!


Returned to Gendarmenmarkt Square and Bebelplatz to take more photos! Whee!


We saw the recently built Sony Center before having dinner at a german restaurant recommended by lonely planet. Had Wine pork with rice dumplings! Drank the red Berliner Weisse at a pub near our hostel =D



Second Day:

Dunkin Donuts breakfast! Oooo cravings.


We actually saw dead whales and dolphins displayed in front of Brandanburger Tor. It was some exhibition by Green Peace.


Visited the Judiches Museum (Jewish). The architecture was simply great and interesting.


Went to the Zitadelle in Spandau. Climbed up this tower... great view =D The rest of the place was pretty boring though... but it provided us with a brief respite.


Finally visited the Reischdag! Went up to the dom...


Dinner at a quaint german restaurant... recommended by lonely planet too. The pickled pork knuckles was fantastic =D Had the green Berline Weisse this time! The dinner was cheap too... 9.90 euros for the pork. Mmm.


Last Day:

We went to Potsdam, Sanssouci Park. We did so muuuuch walking it was so exhausting. It was a beautiful park though... really worth going.

Had a 40 minutes tour around Sanssouci palace.


Visited the Neues Palais. Had to walk around ourselves... I really liked the statues outside though.


We saw the Orangerieschloss. Was too tired to climb up so we just took photos!


Then to the Historische Windmuhle! (windmill)


The Pergamonmuseum was really good but I think I was a bit too tired to appreciate it lol. Well at least I saw one of the wonders of the ancient world.


Ended up chilling in front of the Berline Catheral... just sitting on the grass and taking the whole atmoshphere in.


German food yet again! Plus some very unglam photo shots.

Uncertainty

*listening to 'You were always on my mind' by Michael buble*

It's just one of those days... on which you just don't really feel like doing anything. I thought about going out to shop but it's a public holiday so the shops will be closed. I entertained the idea of packing my room... then I think about how sad I'll become doing that.

My lund friends have gone away again. This time they went to Norway. I won't be seeing them until the 26th... when they come back from spain. I wonder what's gonna happen when we go back to Singapore. Will we be as close? Or will we just go our separate ways... treating this whole exchange like a dream. I fear that will happen. And yet... I don't want to cling onto something that can't stand up to the test of time.

Whatever it is... I'm going to miss them all. Really really.

Krakow

On our first day in Krakow, we visited Auschwitz, the infamous concentration and extermination camp. It had such a gloomy atmosphere... your heart feels heavy just walking through its barracks. We saw tonnes of shoes and hair owned by its previous prisoners. We could even see cyclone B... the weapon that was used to kill so many people in the gas chambers. There were a myriad of other torture chambers as well... including the suffocation, starvation and standing chambers.

Day two in Krakow was spent at the main square... it wa really crowded with young people. The Cloth hall had stalls selling different sorts of things. St Mary's church was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! One of the best churches I've seen so far. We actually sat in there doing accounts... felt rather guilty after that (for spending so much money on exchange). The irony heh. We saw the Town hall tower and the Floriaska gate too.

That's it for now... I'm gonna be uploading photos in my posts so they'll be colourful =D

More still on Vienna & Prague

Went to the market in the morning... it was bustling. There was so much second hand stuff + fruits, fresh meat, snacks etc. There was this store that sold maggi mee, kimchi and other stuff found in Singapore. We bought some kimchi to eat! =D


Visited Karl's church... really liked the exterior. We didn't go in cause it was kinda ex. Saw the Augustine church... where the imperial wedding (that was 5 days long) was held. Wasn't very fantastic though...


Then there was Prague! (or Praha) Had to take a four hour bus ride there. Saw huge fields of yellow flowers along the way.


On the third day in Prague, we visited the Prague castle... the nicest attraction was the St Vitus cathedra. We were too tired to appreciate its true beauty though... it had very high ceilings and the stained glass was magnificent. We walked along the golden lane... which was lined with quaint shops and it led us to a tower.



We took photos outside the old royal palace... went to St George church (really nothing fascintating). Went into the Tyn church in the Old Town Square... the interior was really extravagant. Most of the statues were covered with gold... We could hear someone playing some melancholic tunes on the old piano.