Eastern Europe 2007 - Berlin

The first part of our journey was in Berlin, Germany. After Maggie took me to the hotel and showed me main bus routes on the map, I decided to have my own little adventure since I had about 6 hours to kill and I wasn't about to spend the entire time in my hotel room. I took a two-deck bus and went to the German Film History museum on Potsdamer Straße, one of the main streets in what I would call downtown tourist Berlin. Next door to the museum was a Dunkin' Donuts cyber cafe.
Next door to the museum was a Dunkin' Donuts cyber cafe. Gross.

I explored the museum with an English language audio tour. It was a pretty small museum, but they had some really good things. There were lots of things about pre-WW2 German film makers like Lubistch, von Stroheim, Murnau. There were sections for post-WW2 directors like Wyler, Wilder and more. One of the most exciting sections for me was the part about Fritz Lang, who directed Metropolis. There was a large section dedicated to Marlene Dietrich, which included costumes and love letters from her various Hollywood romances. It was a great way for me to pass the time. I know I wouldn't have been able to do that with the tour group.


Before heading back to the hotel, I explored the courtyard behind the museum and ate lunch. The courtyard was filled with different kinds of shops and a movie theater. I was excited to see that Harry Potter was opening there though I doubted I would be able to see it.


Then I popped back on the bus and met up with our group at the hotel. It was sure great to see Dad and Bob. I had seen Bob in February, but not Dad since the fall of 2006. We went out to dinner at a classic German restaurant. My friend Michelle's husband had taken the same trip with his school and warned me of bland food. He was right. It was great experiencing another culture, but boy the food at the first restaurant with the group was so bland.We still had a great time and I met so many of the group. Asela was my roomate. Her son was one of Bob's students and she was coming as a chaperone. I also met Lindsay and Mindy who taught with Bob and were on the trip as chaperones too. Lindsay had already been in Germany on another trip. There were about 20 kids and a few other chaperones. The students were all at least 18 years old, which meant the chaparones were really more of a formality and to let the parents who didn't go feel secure in knowing there were mature adults around should anything happen. Plus it made it easier on my brother to have a few extra adults as you will soon learn.







On the way back to the hotel, we passed by this sign (<<). Throughout Berlin, we saw similar condom-with-fruit safe sex signs. I really wish we'd do that in the USA! These were great!










One of the tourist trip things we did the first night was to go to the TV tower also known as the Fernsehturm. The tower was built in the mid-to-late 60s in Soviet occupied East Germany. The tower is hundreds of feet above the plaza and the view is 360 degrees. At the top of the tower, there was a bar and what looked like a private room or two. I am not sure if they do dinner there, but it would be a terrific place to dine. The view from the top was so spectacular. We got there just as the sun was finishing it's day. Our hotel was just a few blocks from it. It was an excellent way to start off our trip.