Berlin is the coolest place ever - May 19, 2013

Today was absolutely amazing. It didn’t start off well, because once my alarm went off at 8:13 this morning it took me about an hour to actually get out of bed. That’s what I get for staying up until 3AM. We were scheduled to do a walking tour today, and it was the perfect day for it because it was 75 degrees and sunny all day.

We met our guide Alex and he took us all over Berlin to places like Museum Island, the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. He was really good at explaining this history of Berlin, and the whole thing really excited the history nerd in me. I also got a much better understanding of the layout of the city. I really enjoyed the walking tour.

Lunch was at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Lauren and I decided to be freaks and go to McDonald’s because the only other options were Turkish or Asian food and we just felt like being those people. We waited for everyone to meet up after lunch because we all wanted to head to the Carnival of Cultures, but most of the group wasn’t showing up and me, both Katies, Andrea, Lauren, Megan and Sarah decided to just venture off on our own to the carnival. 

When we arrived at the carnival it was a bit overwhelming because it was SO crowded. I’ve literally never been anywhere so crowded. The only thing I can compare the mass of the crowds to is after an exciting home football game where everyone stays until the end and you have to walk out of the stadium in one giant sea of people. That’s what it was like. We looked at the vendor stalls and grabbed some drinks. There was a patch of grass that a bunch of people were hanging out in so we sat down and talked. The seven of us had a lot of fun there for about 5 hours. It was my favorite part of the trip so far, hands down. I’m really glad we happened to be in Berlin for it.

After the Carnival of Cultures we wanted to go watch the sunset at a park because we thought that the rest of the group would be there. Getting to the park was a bit dramatic due to us not being able to find a bathroom and getting separated at one point, but we quickly recovered and found our way to the park by asking half a dozen people for directions. The park was really pretty and it had an awesome playground. There was a zip line and a four person see-saw which we thoroughly enjoyed until actual children came to play on them. 

After that we made the long journey back home. We took the U-bahn for the first time today and we couldn’t find where to get on the S-bahn so we walked back to Alexanderplatz and got the tram back to the hotel. Sarah and I were starving so we stopped at the Princess restaurant and got a pizza. Now everyone is chilling at the hotel editing pictures and working on blog posts. It has been an exhausting but fun and eventful day. I can wholeheartedly say I fell in love with Berlin today. Our bike tour guide, Sophie, said it best when she told us you have to “get” Berlin to love it, and I definitely get it.