May 22, 2009- Berlin Day 2

Today started off with a bus tour. We had a very informative tour guide and we got off the bus at the Jewish Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie. The Jewish Memorial was very interesting. There were over 200 giant, hollow cement blocks of various heights. The number has no significance nor do the blocks. The memorial spans over the whole block and there is an underground museum as well. The museum consists of facts about the Holocaust and stories of several family's experience. Checkpoint Charlie was pretty small and was pretty much a tourist trap. There were men in uniforms in front pretending to be officers from the time and numerous souvenir stands on every corner. The museum was really interesting. It showed different ways people snuck from one half of Berlin to the other and gave a history of the wall. The only problem was that the building was very stuffy and crowded so I got light-headed and almost passed out. While we all went our separate ways for free time, Joy and I rushed to starbucks to sit and get water. After I regained my strength, we meandered around Berlin with the locals and tourists. While walking, we happened upon the memorial for homosexuals who died in the Holocaust. The memorial was a big, hollow cement block similar to the ones in the Jewish memorial but there is a square hole in one of the sides. When you look in the hole, you see something that you wouldn't expect to see in a memorial. It was really cool because it made the statement that they were a part of the Jewish Holocaust but separate at the same time. When we were done sight seeing and wanted to rest our feet, Joy and I went to lunch at a tiny pizzeria. After lunch, whilst walking aimlessly through Berlin, we came across Dr. Kovalcik and some others from the trip. We all went to the stop light guy store and got some suvenirs. The pedestrian stop lights are unique in Berlin. They are different in the East and West still and in the East, they have a happy looking man with a hat telling you to walk or not. After that, we went to dinner, reconnected with everyone and went out for the night.