Parlez-vous Paris?
So I have totally got you excited to read all about my adventures in Paris, but in fact I just got here this morning so don't have anything to report yet...but I do have a LOT to share about the last week or so!!!
It was almost a week ago and Lisa and I took the bus out to Auschwitz. Our adventure actually started quite early because we couldn't figure out where the heck the bus station was, then where to get tickets, and where the actual bus came. We finally made it on and were off. Out visit started with a video about the liberation of the camp by the allies, and then we joined a group for a tour. It was a very emotional day, seeing the barracks where the prisoners slept, and see the ehibits displaying all the belongings of the prisoners found after the liberation, including bags of hair that were being sold to make materials, suitcases, clothes, shoes, and tooth brushes and combs. Nothing was wasted. I found it incredibly difficult to see all the childrens clothes and shoes.
One of the hardest things to comprehend was how cold we were all bundled up in layers of clothes and proper foot wear, and realizing that the people living in these camps had little more than cotton pants and a top, and if they were lucky, wooden shoes. It really was a very emotional day.
On Friday, Lisa and I said goodbye to Rich and Josh and jumped on a plane to Berlin. Our first night there we just chilled, had a few beers, and then crashed. On Saturday we got up and decided to do a city walking tour that took 8hours. Best idea we ever had! Our tour guide was named Victoria and she just oozed Berlin information. we went to see the 2nd largest piece of the Berlin Wall still standing, the Former Death Strip, the site of Hitler's Bunker (now a car park), Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag Parliament, Brandenburg Gate, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, the Ruins of the Gestapo & SS Headquarters, Bebelplatz (where the Nazis burned books), Humbolt University, the Hotel where Wacko Jacko held the baby over the balcony, a Soviet Memorial, Berlin Cathedrale, the best Chocolate store ever, and SO much more! I learned about how Hitler came to power, the creation of the Berlin Wall (ps did you know it was WAY more than just a cement wall? It actally started with barbed wire on the soviet side, then there was a trench, another wall, a line of lights, some land mines, sand, and then the outer wall that we all know. That's why you couldn't just climb over it with a ladder), and how people in the East were finally able to go to the West (basically a screw up on live TV). It was the most amazing tour ever!
A really rando, thing that happened at the beginning was that as we were joining the group, I looked up and recognized someone in the group. It was Victoria (not the guide) who I had met in Naples and then again in Venice. Such a small world over here!
After our big day of touring a bunch of us (Lisa; Victoria, 2 Englishmen, 2 Aussie Guys, 2 American guys, and me) decided to go out and have some fun. We first had a few drinks at the hostel, then went to this bar in a building that was once the largest shopping centre in Europe, owned by a prominent jewish family, that was destroyed during the war. Now a bunch of artists rent the building for 1€ a month. There are a few bars, some galleries, a cinema, and some work shop...very cool. We then wandered around for a little bit looking for somewhere else to go and ended up in an Indian restaurant with a HUGE drink order. The night ended back at the same art buliding. So fun.
The next day Lisa and I went to an exhibit called 'Topography of Terror' all about the war and trials afterwards, then we went to Potsdam Platz and went up a building to get a view of the city. On Monday we went to the Jewish Museum and learned all about the history of the Jewish community in Germany. Yesterday ze had a chill day and just zent and saw a movie in the afternoon then caught our night train, me to Paris and Lisa to Bruge, Belgium.
So right now I am sitting in my hostel in Paris and very soon I am going to go out and head to the Tourist Office to get a map and plan the next few days because there is WAY too much I want to see!!!
If anyone has any suggestions just send me an email! I want to make the most of my time here!
Love to everyone!!!
It was almost a week ago and Lisa and I took the bus out to Auschwitz. Our adventure actually started quite early because we couldn't figure out where the heck the bus station was, then where to get tickets, and where the actual bus came. We finally made it on and were off. Out visit started with a video about the liberation of the camp by the allies, and then we joined a group for a tour. It was a very emotional day, seeing the barracks where the prisoners slept, and see the ehibits displaying all the belongings of the prisoners found after the liberation, including bags of hair that were being sold to make materials, suitcases, clothes, shoes, and tooth brushes and combs. Nothing was wasted. I found it incredibly difficult to see all the childrens clothes and shoes.
One of the hardest things to comprehend was how cold we were all bundled up in layers of clothes and proper foot wear, and realizing that the people living in these camps had little more than cotton pants and a top, and if they were lucky, wooden shoes. It really was a very emotional day.
On Friday, Lisa and I said goodbye to Rich and Josh and jumped on a plane to Berlin. Our first night there we just chilled, had a few beers, and then crashed. On Saturday we got up and decided to do a city walking tour that took 8hours. Best idea we ever had! Our tour guide was named Victoria and she just oozed Berlin information. we went to see the 2nd largest piece of the Berlin Wall still standing, the Former Death Strip, the site of Hitler's Bunker (now a car park), Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag Parliament, Brandenburg Gate, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, the Ruins of the Gestapo & SS Headquarters, Bebelplatz (where the Nazis burned books), Humbolt University, the Hotel where Wacko Jacko held the baby over the balcony, a Soviet Memorial, Berlin Cathedrale, the best Chocolate store ever, and SO much more! I learned about how Hitler came to power, the creation of the Berlin Wall (ps did you know it was WAY more than just a cement wall? It actally started with barbed wire on the soviet side, then there was a trench, another wall, a line of lights, some land mines, sand, and then the outer wall that we all know. That's why you couldn't just climb over it with a ladder), and how people in the East were finally able to go to the West (basically a screw up on live TV). It was the most amazing tour ever!
A really rando, thing that happened at the beginning was that as we were joining the group, I looked up and recognized someone in the group. It was Victoria (not the guide) who I had met in Naples and then again in Venice. Such a small world over here!
After our big day of touring a bunch of us (Lisa; Victoria, 2 Englishmen, 2 Aussie Guys, 2 American guys, and me) decided to go out and have some fun. We first had a few drinks at the hostel, then went to this bar in a building that was once the largest shopping centre in Europe, owned by a prominent jewish family, that was destroyed during the war. Now a bunch of artists rent the building for 1€ a month. There are a few bars, some galleries, a cinema, and some work shop...very cool. We then wandered around for a little bit looking for somewhere else to go and ended up in an Indian restaurant with a HUGE drink order. The night ended back at the same art buliding. So fun.
The next day Lisa and I went to an exhibit called 'Topography of Terror' all about the war and trials afterwards, then we went to Potsdam Platz and went up a building to get a view of the city. On Monday we went to the Jewish Museum and learned all about the history of the Jewish community in Germany. Yesterday ze had a chill day and just zent and saw a movie in the afternoon then caught our night train, me to Paris and Lisa to Bruge, Belgium.
So right now I am sitting in my hostel in Paris and very soon I am going to go out and head to the Tourist Office to get a map and plan the next few days because there is WAY too much I want to see!!!
If anyone has any suggestions just send me an email! I want to make the most of my time here!
Love to everyone!!!
posted by Traveling Amanda @ 2:32 AM
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