This morning we did a Fat Tire bike tour of Berlin. It is called Fat Tire just because the tires are wider than typical bikes. The seats are also really wide and comfortable, and with great shocks. I really think I would like to buy a bike to ride around Abilene, especially one of these fat tire bikes...they are so comfortable and easy to ride! If anything I want to walk to school on days that I don't need to carry a bunch of stuff. With the amount of walking I've been doing here, walking from my house to school will be easy!
To be honest I probably won't have that great of explanations on some of these pictures. I was listening when the tour guide said it, but I definitely can't remember too much of it. But what I do know about this building is that this is where the Mayor of Berlin is. Apparently when he was running a few years ago, he wasn't doing too well in the polls. He then announced that he was gay, and that's ok. After this his rating skyrocketed and he won the election. The tour guide says that seems to be the trend in Europe. I can say it sure seems like it from what I have seen on the streets...
This was the church of the Prussians when they were in power. The Communists turned it into a museum, and now it is a church again although I can't remember the name.
Radio tower. The Soviets built this tower in the East during communist times. It is interesting because when the sun shines on these shiny windows it makes a cross. On the West side, the only thing they could see would be this tower, and the huge cross on the side of it. The soviets tried to get rid of this unintentional event by painting and doing other things but couldn't do it, so they just called it a cross for communist.
As we rode around, some of the boys did some interesting things on the bikes. Here, Adam is riding behind the actual seat.
This is one of the most prestigious universities in Europe, the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Many great minds have come from this university, including Einstein. Einstein came from this university to America when he realized things were changing in Germany. Einstein was a Jew. Interestingly, Hitler did not use any of Einsteins theory of relativity in trying to build the atomic bomb because he felt it was not German, and therefore could not be right.
This is a monument in front of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in honor of all the books that were burned during Hitlers reign. I don't how well you can see from this picture, but under the glass are bunch of empty book shelves, symbolizing all the books that were burned because of tyranny. This monument is to help people remember the importance of freedom of speech, and so that something like this will never happen in Germany again.
Me with my good ol' bike in the Berlin square.
Checkpoint Charlie. One of the most famous Berlin border crossings of the Berlin wall.
The actual Berlin Wall. The crazy thing is that there was this wall, and then another wall about 90 to the right of this one. In between there were dogs, trip wires that set off machine guns, barbed wire, and watch towers everywhere. The tops of the walls were even rounded to make it harder to grip and climb over. So basically there was no way to make it through alive. Apparently one family made their own hot air balloon with nylon pieces they sewed together. After this, the East Germans were limited on how much nylon they could have. Some people would even zip-line across. The day the wall went up, in the middle of the night, 16,000 marriages were split. The people of Berlin went to sleep in an open city, and then woke up in a divided city, changed forever. I asked our tour guide from KaDeWe where she was when the wall fell, and she said that she was at work at KaDeWe. She said she grew up in the West and didn't have any family over there so it didn't effect her much except for that traveling East would be easier now. She said that many of her friends were so happy because they did have family members on the other side and had been sending them packages regularly from the West. She also said she visited East Berlin shortly after, and that it was so foreign, like being on the moon. How strange, for the other half of a city, divided only by a wall and a government could be so different.
Another one of the guys having fun on the bikes.
This is the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. Our guide said that 5.7 million Jews were killed. In the museum there is a recording of all the names, and occupations of those killed. It runs 24/7, and takes 6.5 years before it starts over. The museum has only been open for 6 years.
A look inside the memorial.
Brandenburg bridge.
The United States Embassy.
Hotel Adlon. The hotel that Michael Jackson hung his baby out from over the balcony.
More tricks.
I can't remember what this is, but it was one of the prettier buildings we saw. Berlin is really pretty ugly. This was actually not harmed from the bombings of WWII. Most things in Berlin were damaged, and many old things have been rebuilt. So much of Berlin is in construction still. It makes it look like Berlin is on the rise, but really they are in a lot of debt, and it has looked that way for 20 years....according to our tour guide.
This is the President's house. Interesting to know that the President of Germany is really nothing more than a figurehead. The chancellor is actually the one with the power.
And this is where the Chancellor works.
The front view, with the lawn.
This is where the German Parliament meets.
We tried to form a pyramid here. It was going really well..
Until the top person tried to get on. She took way too long, and it just tumbled down..
I'm not sure you can read it, but this is the Ernst and Young office of Berlin. Preeettttyyyy fancy :)
After our tour we went to go look at some high-priced luxury cars. This one shouldn't even be called a car...it's a supercar really. It's a Bugatti Veyron 16.4. First of all it is worth 1.7 Million dollars.
Top speed: 407 km/hr
A Bentley.
Another Bentley.
And then there was this Volkswagen van. That weird thing on the top is a sleeper! This van is basically a mini RV. Inside the van there is a mini fridge and stove top, and table. After we went and looked at cars we went to eat at an Italian food restaurant. We wanted to eat some German food for our last meal but everything was so expensive! Tomorrow we leave Berlin, and Germany for England!
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