Hey everybody! So I've created this blog to share some of my favorite pictures from my trip with you. I'm not much for journaling, so I figured a photo-blog was the next best thing. Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Germany Adventure, Part 1: Berlin!

This past weekend, my friend Shannon and I went to Germany! This post features the highlights of Berlin, and Part 2 will cover Gransee and Hannover.

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This was just chillin in the middle of Alexanderplatz. We think it's part of the city's Christmas decor.

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At Alexanderplatz, we also ran into a...toilet protest? It was very strange.

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This is the Fernsehturm (television tower), the tallest structure in Germany.

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A random Ferris Wheel.

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The US Embassy! Note the Statue of Liberty bear on the left.

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A memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. According to Wikipedia, the monument is "designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason."

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The Brandenburg Gate, one of Germany's most famous landmarks.

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The German White House! The President lives here, although, according to the tour guide, the German President has no real official power; they are more of a representative of state, like the Queen of England.

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Apparently Germans have a thing for Legos. We had several Lego sightings throughout our trip, and I took a picture of all of them! =)

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Our tour guide referred to this sculpture as the "Dancing Spaghetti".

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Likewise, he referred to this as the "Titanic Building". It does kind of look like a cruise ship.

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The Mexican Embassy was really cool-looking.

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Lego giraffe!

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Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous border crossing between East and West Berlin.

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The creepiest street art I have ever seen.

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The largest remaining section of the Berlin Wall.

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There was an exhibit next to it, and I thought this was particularly amazing. These people literally zip-lined themselves into West Berlin. Crazy.
 
The following is a pretty good summary of the post-war history of Berlin.

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Shannon and I were SO EXCITED to be seeing Harry Potter in Germany! (Note: the posters were in German, but we saw the movie in English)

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The fanciest car dealership I have EVER seen!

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The Reichstag building, where Germany's parliament sits.

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These birds decided to come keep us company as we waited to get inside to go up to the roof and see the dome.

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The view from the roof.

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The tent-like structure is the Sony Center, where we saw Harry Potter!

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The awesome dome that sits over where Parliament holds its sessions.

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Inside the dome!

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Shannon and I taking pictures of our reflections.

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You could walk to the top!

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A hot air balloon?

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The seats of parliament!

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The top of the dome.

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On our way to the Sony Center!

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It was right next to Potsdamer Platz.

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A snowy hill you could pay to tube down.

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The Sony Center! So cool!

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Where we saw Harry Potter! Fun facts about German cinemas: They have assigned seating and an intermission! We were confused.

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He was sassy.

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We walked back by the super fancy Mercedes store. It had a bar inside and everything.

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DAMN.

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The Berlin Cathedral.

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It shares some lawn space with the museum we saw earlier.

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A strange combination of lighting made this picture AWESOME.

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We kept seeing bears like these all over the city. A quick Google search revealed that they are "Buddy Bears", and that they act as "cheerful ambassadors for Berlin".  http://www.buddy-baer.com/

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The church lined up perfectly with the tower.

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Authentic Birkenstocks!

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Operation See Harry Potter in Germany: Accomplished!

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The last night in the awesome hostel that we stayed in.


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