BERLIN!

Berlin is awesome. Everything is so different. First day we got here we saw some drunk dudes just fighting on the street and people were just walking by like nothing was wrong. It was pretty hilarious. Just two dudes kicking each others boots and not landing any punches. There's also tons of places with vegetarian and vegan options. The hostel has a bar below it and they have a bunch of vegan and vegetarian options. The hostel is pretty cool. Its just run by some punk kids but its actually very clean to my surprise. Today we got free breakfast which was really cool because everything here is so expensive...atleast for us. Everywhere you look you see signs and menus that say vegetarian (in german obviously, but the word is easily recognizable) which is good because I can't actually read the menus. Except for this place down the street called yellow sunshine which is vegetarian dining. It is awesome. I got the "Double Chicken Burger" and the "Double Chicken Hawaii Burger" which are both around 4€. Which is kind of expensive for me but it is delicious.

Another thing that is cool around the city is the recycling program. For one, they have these big mound looking things on the sidewalk every so often where you can throw your recyclables. Then for the redemption program you get .15€ for the smaller bottles and .25€ for larger liter bottles as long as they have a certain symbol on them. Instead of having to bring them to a redemption center or one of those machines at a grocery store (which they do have also) you can bring it to any store as long sa they have the same product and the cashier will give you the deposit back. It is awesome and very easy. The US should have a program like that. Way more people would recycle then since it is ridiculously easy but the businesses would HATTEEE it.

The train and bus system here is awesome too. We paid 4€ each for a bus and train pass for the day which isn't too bad seeing that one train ride in Boston is $2 which is ridiculous. They kind of have a system like the Charlie card with the ticket but you get this ticket and then when you get to the station or bus they have these machines that stamp it with the date and time. Then, supposidly, someone on the train will come and check the ticket but so far we haven't seen one person check tickets. The system is kind of confusing for us but I think it would be a lot easier if we were here a little longer. the U-bahn is the underground train, the S-bahn is the above ground train and the bus is...the bus. At every station and bus stop they have little signs that tell the bus number and when it is arriving. It will say U1 arriving in 2 minutes and they are very accurate which is awesome.

Yesterday was our day to actually explore the city and see alot of historic Germany. First we took the train to Alexanderplatz which kind of reminds me of a larger Government Center in Boston. From there we saw the huge TV tower and a fountain of Poseidon. I can't remember the actual names of things but we saw a very old cathedral which was amazing and then we walked down this long street that reminded me of Newbury or Boylston. At the end is where part of the Berlin wall was. Right on the other side in West Germany is the REichstag which was beautiful. You could walk right up the front steps of it. It was awesome. From there we walked over to the part of the Berlin wall that is still up. You couldn't touch it or go near it because it was fenced off but you could see it from the other side of the street. On the other side was the Topography of Terror which told the history of the Gestapo I belive. It was so messed up. We were wicked tired so I didn't get to read all the poster because there were soooo many of them but the pictures pretty much told the story kind of. They crazy pictures of just a hold in the ground with dead bodies and the gestapo would take people to the edge and just shoot them then they would just fall into the hole. After that we walked over to the Holocaust memorial which was just a bunch of rectangular blocks of stones scattered around this piece of land. I didn't get the significance but it was really cool. Well as cool as a Holocaust Memorial could be I guess.

The others are itching to get out of here so I think I am going to end it for now. Today we are going to the Zoologica Gartens (sp?) which is across town. I've picked up a little German since I've been here so I can have a little conversation when I get back. I don't know how to write it though. Well, Im off.