Berlin (the sequel)

There have been a lot of exciting things going on in Germany this past week. As Audry and I were lounging about in her flat on Tuesday we heard a knock at her door. It was Christian, Audry’s neighbor from above. He introduced us to his friend, Pablo, from Las Angeles. Pablo is staying in Halle for the summer, and hopes to find a job. He has citizenship here because his father is from Austria, so he finds a job he may decide to stay in Germany for good. Christian and Pablo invited us to go to dinner with them, we had already eaten, but we went along anyway to get to know them a little better. Christian had a lot to show us in Halle that Audry and I hadn’t yet seen. He showed us the House that Handel was born and grew up in, and the oldest building in Halle. It was built during the Renaissance but was a very different style for its time period because it had such large windows in a time when it was very expensive to heat buildings.





After an intense "flat-cleaning" session on Thursday, my roommates and I decided that it was time that we all have a nice meal together. Friday evening, Audry, Sebastian and I cooked a delicious lasagna. My three roommates, Sebastian, Christian, and Anna were there as well as Christian's girlfriend Maria and a few of their friends. It was great to enjoy a nice meal and drink some wine together.


Audry and I took the train to Berlin with Pablo, Christian and his girlfriend the next morning. We had to pick up Audry’s friends from the airport there, and the others just wanted to get out of Halle for a day or two. The 2 and 1/2 hour train ride was filled with post card writing and games of MASH that brought back memories of elementary school!! When we got to Berlin we saw many of the same things we had seen on our previous trip, but Christian was able to tell us a lot of things that we didn't learn the first time we were in Berlin.

We got to see the Holocaust Memorial this time, which was incredible. It was slab after slab of concrete stretched over an entire city block in the middle of Berlin. It was very interesting to walk through the memorial, the ground rolled like waves, so as you walked through it you would go up and down and the
large concrete slabs got taller as you got to the center. I really enjoyed how all of your different senses were utilized in the piece. As I walked through, I ran my hands along the pieces, and depending on the where the sun was, some parts were very hot and some parts were very cold. I thought this was a very interesting contrast. For me, this was an interesting metaphor for the lives of the victims of the Holocaust whose lives were taken so quickly.



On a lighter note, we hopped a train to pick up Audry’s friends from the airport. Robby and Mark are Audry’s friends from Tennessee. They were in London and France for a week and a half before they arrived in Berlin. After we got them from the airport we took them back through Berlin so they could see some of the city. We took our time walking back through the city so the boys could take in the sights. As we got to the train station we discovered that the most recent train had just left and we had to wait until after midnight to catch the last train of the night. We ended up not getting back to Halle until 2:30 am. Robby and Mark are going to be staying at Audry’s flat for the next 10 days. We are trying to plan a trip for the upcoming weekend so we can all go somewhere we haven’t been yet, but before we do that we are going to show them a good time in Halle! We have begun by taking them for a paddleboat ride on the Saale, and making them try the amazing hot schokolade in the Marketplace.

Sunset from my roof


The top of the Brandenburg Gate

A PINK TRABI!!!

Jump on it....


The diagonal line through the road is where the Berlin wall used to be

SOOO Big