BERLIN! (Day 3 & 4)

Days 3 & 4 in Berlin found me in many a museum. Seriously. I haven't been to so many museums in such a short time, ever! The museums were a good choice because, as you can see from some later pictures, the weather was terrible (it was cold and rainy for 50+ straight hours). The museums were also a bad choice because of the weather. It was a pain to walk around the city in the terrible weather, and many, many other people had the same idea to spend the days in museums. It was crowded everywhere I went! 

Pictures weren't allowed in all the museums, like the Bauhaus Museum from my first day exploring the city, but I took many pictures at museums that allowed it! My favorite museum was the DDR Museum. It was all about life in the former Deutsche Demokratische Republik. It was a very interactive museum that encourages you to touch and really explore its exhibits so you could really try to experience life in the DDR. It. Was. Amesome. 

I also went to the Neues Museum, the Berliner Dom (not technically a museum, but included in my museum pass), Ägyptisches Museum, Altes Museum, Pergamon Museum, Jüdisches Museum, and Deutsche Technikmuseum. I learned a lot. And saw a lot. Some of it was a blur, but I took pictures of everything I could until my camera died!! 

Once I was all museum-ed out I would end my evenings with a coffee or snack at Starbucks so I could shamelessly use their internet for a few hours! There was no internet and no television in the flat (probably the only negative part of the whole trip) so I had to bum on Starbucks wifi! It was actually great because I started to get a bit homesick and by getting on Facebook I was able to chat with friends/family and feel better! :)

Enjoy the pictures from the museums :)

a model of the wall at the ddr museum

trabant - the official car of the ddr

it was so tiny inside!

anarchy! anarchy! anarchy!

nude beach! hahahaha

i plugged my birthday into the ddr calender.

what a great day to celebrate hitler's defeat!

berliner dom!

this place was crazy ornate

altar. what's that you say? your church doesn't have a gold altar?

well you are certainly missing out!

stained glass paintings

the dome of the dom

this painting in in the chapel for marriages and baptisms

this was actually a scale model of the dom with a mirror inside 

so you can see all the detail from the dome

then i began my trip up many a staircase to get to the top

made it!

i totally wish the weather had been better, if just for the sake of my photos!

so many clouds!

and...i wasn't even at the top yet. more stairs!

i endured the wind and rain for the sake of these photos. 

you are welcome.

pretty statue

berlin!

more of berlin!

berlin again! and a river.

there were so many statues like this, all around the main dome

mini dome

the courtyard

i like this one because it doesn't even look like the weather was that bad

paris. just kidding. it's still berlin.

fog.

these pictures totally look like one big one, right?!

from a balcony

the church was built as the personal church for the royal family. 

it is now a public church, but the family is all entombed in the crypt beneath the church.

coffins!

the tomb of the unnamed princess

guardian angel

those are some seriously old wreaths. just saying.

marble reliefs on the wall

altes museum

it was a lot of greek and roman art

i give it a 5 out of 10

i have no idea what that says.

it's all greek to me.

hunk-ules

right, erin?

i was totally going to get this to wear out on my pub crawl, but it didn't match my shoes..

gold angel on a ball

(not the actual name of this)

an old, old wooden ship used during the civil war era

courtyard

i think i need some of these for jewelry boxes

and one of these for my room

rudy in a past life?

the roman gods of love and desire

ancient mural

these next photos were from the neues museum

it was all ancient egyptian stuff. super cool.

old temple drawings

more temple artwork

this dog guarded a temple from evil spirits

sacred jars!

mummies!

sacred jars

more sacred jars

mummified cat, falcon, and alligator!

really cool sarcophagus

i took pictures of any lion i saw in berlin.

in zoos, museums, etc. i'm kinda obsessed.

ancient scrolls

So on the third night, in addition to my budding social life with the German baristas at Starbucks, I also branched out socially. I went on a pub crawl. I was a little nervous about doing it alone, but I had a great time. I ended up being a few minutes late (not my fault, the subway was late) but I was able to catch up with the group before the first pub. It was a great deal - for 12 Euro you get into 5 bars and get some free drinks and some free shot with a purchase of a drink, just depending on the bar. It is an English tour, so everyone spoke english, which was nice. But I was surprisingly the only American. Most of the people were British or Australian. It was a great night and I got to experience a small taste of Berlin nightlife! There aren't too many pictures, because I was too busy having fun!

i love this photo because of the guy photo-bombing in the background!

he does it again in the next one too.

these brits were photo-bombing everything!

pub crawl friends

yay for pub crawls!

BERLIN! (Day 1 & 2)

My weeklong adventure to Berlin began because my host family was planning to go to Turkey for two weeks, and since I couldn't join them, they found an alternative for me! So I got a train ticket and away I went to explore the beautiful city of Berlin with suggestions and tips from friends and family and my own curiosity. B arranged for her colleague, N, to pick me up from the train station and take me to the flat I would be staying at. N and his girlfriend were very kind and not only did they give me a ride to the flat and show me around, but they invited me to join them for dinner. I had a bit of time to pack and then I called N when I left my flat and headed to his. For some strange reason, his cell phone was off, so I did what any resourceful American would. I still went to his apartment and I just searched the list for his name. Not creepy at all, right? Luckily he wasn't awkward about it at all, he just apologized for the phone mishap and that was that. Dinner was delicious and I was glad to not be on my own for my first night in Berlin. I even got an invite to join them at some museums the next day!

this funny little gallery is in the bottom floor of the apartment building i was staying in

journaling out on the rooftop balcony

(thanks grandma and papa joe)

berlin wall

east side gallery

some of my favorite murals from the wall

graffiti!

this one was so cool because it was giant!

me!

my absolute favorite mural

chick on a stick (siegessäule)

brandenburg tor

    

close-up of brandenburg tor

berlin is home of currywurst

i was surprised how much i enjoyed it!

one of the many, many street preformers

humboldt university

a museum about berlin's history

berliner dom

former site of a prussian palace

now it's a 'park'

bürgermeister, meisterbürger

st. mary's church

east berlin tv tower

really pretty mosaic in st. mary's

alter at st. mary's

view from the balcony of the apartment

So as you can see I explored a lot of Berlin on Sunday. I ended up going to the East Side Gallery, the Bauhaus Museum, the Tiergarten, Siegessäule, Brandenburg Gate, and pretty much every where in between. It was great to spend the first half of the day with N and his friends because they showed me around and I saw things I wouldn't have been able to find myself. But I also enjoyed walking around later in the day by myself and just doing my own thing.

So that sums up day 1 & 2 in Berlin. I'll keep posting the recaps until I get caught up, but for now I am going to watch One Tree Hill in German. Tschüs!

My First German Beer: A Day Of Adventure

Last Sunday I went to Frankfurt with a fellow au pair that I met in Mainz; A. A is from Russia, but she also speaks some English and German, of course. Between my German and her English, we are able to communicate pretty well :) We met at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof at noon and wandered around the city for about 7 hours! Even though we didn't really do anything super exciting, it was still so much fun. We took lots of pictures, wandered up and down the Rhine River, ate Eis (ice cream), window shopped, drank German beer (my first one in Germany!!), and talked about our homes, families, and friends both in Germany and in Russia/USA. Enjoy my picture journey:

who accidentally sat in first class? me.

who didn't get caught? me.

#winning

made it to frankfurt!

if you read my blog, you know i'm obsessed with churches in europe.

frankfurt was no exception.

coolest organ ever.

love. love. love.

a mini-carshow in the middle of frankfurt.

all cars were american!!

i couldn't help but think of my grandparents. 

they had three cars from the 50s and one was a mustang. 

and my dad. he drove an old mustang.

and my brother. while growing up, i was always amazed at his knowledge of cars.

a walking street in frankfurt

i love this picture because it shows old germany and new germany :)

so texan. even in germany.

after i took this picture, A sat up here to take one and 

this man came over and yelled at us in german. 

we don't know what he said, but it didn't sound good, so we quickly ran away!

the dom

cool indoor walkway

so if you google 'frankfurt, germany' most pictures that come up are of this platz. 

it's pretty touristy and most places are pricey, 

but there is an ice cream shop that has the best ice cream!

if this picture had been taken .5 seconds later, 

you would have seen this street performer kissing me. hahaha 

the main river

and again.

this is the same bridge with all of the locks 

from my previous post about frankfurt.

and again.

so. much. walking.

downtown frankfurt

this bridge was so skinny!

at the end of a great day!

and of course, me with my first of what will be many german beers :)