51 DAYS: Tourist Sunday Stroll Pt. 1

Noted this as 'Part 1' cause I'm sure there'll be many more following.

So last Sunday, Berlin was in a good mood. The sun was out, and that's enough reason to go out. I was planning to just have a stroll by myself (with high potential of getting lost), but Toby, my friend who is the AIESEC TU VP Reception (woohoo!), was being awesome and took me around. That day, we walked for almost 5 hours non-stop. No kidding, it was my exercise for the day with a hint of German culture.

Marco was also being awesome, gave us a ride to the closest bus stop (and a mini tour around the old Berlin).

We were really playing that music in the car. Notice that 'Jessica' is also in the lyric (Ha!). And did you notice the buildings are at the same height? Their height is approximately 20 meters while the street's width is 20 meter as well; the idea is that in case of disaster and the buildings collapse, they won't hit the buildings on the other side. That I know from future German architect, Haike! - a picture of her is on the last 2 posts before this.

Toby and I basically went to all the touristic places. My iPhone died in the middle of our tour so I'm missing some pictures.

FYI, there's a Starbucks not far from this fountain. So Neptune is the God of the Sea and Starbucks' logo is a two-tailed mermaid - is that why they wanna stay close? 

Well this guy is something. He's Prussian (that is now Germany/Poland/Denmark/Belgium/etc) and his name is all over the world. There are at least 11 cities in the USA named after him (also streets, school and species!)- no kidding, this guy is like uber famous. There's also Humboldt State University in California while this statue right here is at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - FYI, there's an opera house next to this university.

Love, love this bridge view. There's the Pergamon Museum across this bridge but it was closed. Well, next time then. 

In front of Alte National Gallery. This couple was dancing and there's an old man playing a classical piece. This is definitely my favorite place. I could just sit and read and enjoy my afternoon here. 

And that's a part of Berlin Wall. The colorful part is the 'West' Side, which was the American side - we saw the other side and it's clean, no graffiti. We also went to the Berlin Wall Memorial where you can read the entire story from 1930s 'till present time. Didn't take picture cause phone was dead. Will be back for sure though - haven't finished reading. 

 20 years ago, you can't just cross East & West easily.

 This memorial is heartbreaking. It's a statue of a mom holding her dead son. The statue is placed in a huge empty building with just a hole on the roof created for room lighting. We couldn't even enter the building - there are bars like from the prison cells.

 Finally a shopping district - but ALL stores are closed on Sunday. Major disappointment! By the way, Toby spotted Christian Bale wandering around this street last year. Where is he now!

Well that's a lot of pictures. That's not even everything (plus my phone died in the middle of the trip). Oh we also went to the Fuhrer Bunker - where Hitler killed himself. Apparently that place was completely destroyed by the Russian and there's nothing there now except signs and a huge board explaining the history of the place.

Now, ending this post with cute cars/vespa! Isn't the pink vespa cute?? I want to steal it and bring it home!

Stay tune for part 2!

Cheers!