So. Germany! Starting with Berlin!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I haven't actually been on my own computer to upload any blogs or photos since Berlin.

I'll give a quick overview of Berlin because, even though the city is amazing, I was ready to go after a couple days. Not because of something I didn't like, but because I didn't really have anybody to wander the city with. I've come to realize that the amount of enjoyment I get out of the cities late in this trip has everything to do with how social I am (or am able to be). When you travel solo, you are never really alone. But sometimes you get hostels with groups of people rather than soloers and they aren't very open. This is how Berlin was: a cool city with tons of history, but nobody to really hang out with.

Anyways, I stayed downtown right of of Freidrichstrasse, the main drag of the city. There were lots of expensive shops and I even got to see my Bugatti Veyron within the first hour in the city. (Yeah, I pretty much melted. I've been waiting to see one of those cars since I got to Europe.) After I found my hostel I took a two hour walk around the city for the evening. I realized the next day that I seen many of the major monuments that night, which was interesting to me. Downtown Berlin wasn't as big as I expected. The second day I took one of the free tours to make sure I'd see everything important and visited the Holocaust Memorial.

The memorial is an interesting work of art. It's right in the middle of the city and uses NO symbolism. None. It has no “meaning” except to be a monument in honor of the Jews killed. This lack of symbolism creates a lot of controversy about it, but I like it. It really allows people to apply their own interpretations. I learned a lesson back at Boys' State: things only have meaning because WE give them meaning. It's a very powerful experience to walk through the Monument the Murdered Jews (yes, through, this thing is huge) and determine your own personal feelings on the monument, holocaust and whatever else may cross your mind. It's thought provoking.

The last day in Berlin I visited the East Side Gallery. The Wall. Or, what of the wall remains standing, covered in art. It stands for about a mile in a...part of town with a lot of character, to say the least. Walking along the Berlin wall was one of the coolest things I've done in a while. The art has meaning, it conveys hope, love, peace and acceptance all along the way. More than that it is modern history. People only one generation ago built and destroyed this wall and the entire world watched, waited. It created a ripple in history that I can feel. Nearly everything I'd seen up until then was, well, old. Which is still great, but maybe not as close.

And that was it for Berlin. Like I said, a very cool city. Lots of history that changed the world. I needed more time. I just need to go back with someone!