And The Wall Came Tumbling Down

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  Berlin, Germany
Friday, March 23, 2007

Despite the fact that it rained and snowed almost the entire time we were in Germany's capital we managed to have a great time there.

My new favorite organization is NewBerlin. You see, I love them because they organize free walking tours of the city. And as backpackers, we're all about free stuff. So our first day in Berlin, Gwen and I set out in the pouring rain with our tour guide, Andrew from Australia. Three and a half hours later our entire group was soaking wet but we had been to all the main sights in the city. Not to mention I just felt so much smarter! Berlin is chalk full of history. So many major events took place there: WWs I and II, the Berlin wall, (the time Michael Jackson held his baby over the edge of his hotel balcony...) Now that I've been to all these places it all is so much more real. When I learn dates and names they might actually stick in my head for a reason other then an exam.

Also during our stay in Berlin we took a tour of a nearby concentration camp, Sachsenhausen. It was supposed to be so perfect that it was the model camp that all the other camps were based off of. I've heard the holocaust stories and read the prisoners of war books but nothing sinks in like standing where they stood. Even then, however, it's still hard to imagine that people actually went though this. Our guide Dave, knew everything you'd ever want to know about the camp. He took us around for four hours telling us story after story of daily life there. It was a hard tour but so incredibly worth it.

Berlin is also famous for it's night life. We met a couple of Irish girls on one of our tours and they took us on the NewBerlin pub-crawl. That night they were shooting a documentary for German TV so we had a camera crew following us around all night. We met lots of cool people from around the world, listened to some great live music and danced late into the night.

Then this morning we had a good nap on the train (despite the horrendous singing of the soccer fans in the next compartment over.) Now was are in Prague. I can't wait to explore this new city and see what it has in store for us.

I am officially addicted to travel. If I didn't love Whitehorse so very much I'd never go home.

Love you all,

Jennifer (and Gwendolen)