We arrived in Berlin at approximately noon, which would be 6:00 a.m. Washington time, now feeling the effects of jetlag.
We met our wonderful guide and translator Katrina whose quick smile and extremely pleasant personality made us feel very welcome in Berlin.
Our group leader, Dan, told us when we arrived at the Esplanade Grand Hotel, that we should unpack, shower, change clothes but NOT TO SLEEP. He guaranteed us that if we did not sleep now and would go to bed early tonight, by tomorrow morning we would almost be over our jetlag.
We boarded our bus and were taken to the Reichstag Building (German Federal Government Building) where we had a very interesting tour of the Deutscher Bundestag (German parliamentary system). Our guide also showed us some of the graffiti left on the walls of the Bundestag by the Russian soldiers during the Second World War.
We were also able to go up in the dome of the Reichstag Building were we had an amazing view of Berlin.
After this tour we were able to get a bite to eat and something to drink to tide us over until dinner. Most of us were already experiencing light headedness from lack of sleep and food.
We went on a guided tour of Berlin. We walked to the Brandenburg Gate and were able to see the lines where the Berlin Wall existed. We were also able to visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe before boarding the bus for the continued tour of Berlin.
We worked very hard at being attentive and not falling asleep on the bus as Katrina explained the sites of Berlin. She did an amazing job of keeping the tour interesting and having us get off the bus every so often to keep us awake.
We visited one of the last remnants of the Berlin Wall and saw was able to learn more of the history about the wall. The so called "Dead Zone" was the area between the two walls.
We ate dinner at the hotel and went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment