The Berlin Wall -- Part Two

Our second full day in Berlin was spent walking down the River Spree to see more of the Berlin Wall! It was a gorgeous day out and the walk was great.

Rose and I wandered behind a huge abandoned apartment building and found part of the wall.

We walked further down the road and practically stumbled upon the rest of the wall. This section was huge! There were no signs and hardly any people around.
And the fervent picture-taking begins...

The Berlin Wall -- Part One

The Berlin Wall divided East and West Berlin, was built in August of 1961 and stretched for over a hundred miles.

"Just past midnight on the night of August 12-13, 1961, trucks with soldiers and construction workers rumbled through East Berlin. While most Berliners were sleeping, these crews began tearing up streets that entered into West Berlin, dug holes to put up concrete posts, and strung barbed wire all across the border between East and West Berlin.

Berliners were shocked when they woke up that morning. What had once been a very fluid border was now rigid. No longer could East Berliners cross the border for operas, plays, or soccer games. No longer could the approximately 60,000 commuters head to West Berlin for well-paying jobs. No longer could families, friends and lovers cross the border to meet their loved ones. Whichever side of the border one went to sleep on during the night of August 12, they were stuck on that side for decades."

[Taken from About.com]

This is what the wall looked like in 1961.

And in the 1970's

The wall was built three times, each time bigger and stronger. It essentially trapped people in their own country.

The fall of the Berlin Wall happened on November 9, 1989.

"People were in shock. Were the borders really open? East Germans tentatively approached the border and indeed found that the border guards were letting people cross. Very quickly, the Berlin Wall was inundated with people from both sides. Some began chipping at the Berlin Wall with hammers and chisels. There was an impromptu huge celebration along the Berlin Wall, with people hugging, kissing, singing, cheering, and crying.

The Berlin Wall was eventually chipped away into smaller pieces, some the size of a coin and others in big slabs (This is true. On some of the postcards we saw in Berlin there were small parts of the wall attached)."

Only a few parts of the wall are still standing in the city and Rose and I went to the wall north of the River Spree.

This is the Commemorative Cross of the Sophien Parish. The sign by it reads "Approximately a thousand graves had to be moved when the border strip was developed. It is, however, possible that the graves of World War II bomb victims were not exhumed and that the border grounds were built over the graves. This cross commemorates them."

Berlin, Germany -- Part Two

On Monday we woke up bright an early, had an amazing free breakfast at the hostel, which consisted of cereal, rolls with Nutella, yogurt, slices of salami and cheese, and coffee! It's so rare that I drink coffee here. I've had coffee only a handful of times since I've been in Ireland, so having free coffee every morning in Berlin was so great.
I'm stealing another one of Rose's pictures. I have to remember to take pictures of these kinds of things!

We remembered to bring a map along this time and set off to see a part of the Berlin Wall! On our way, we found this really neat courtyard and stairwell filled with beautiful graffiti and we explored it for a while.

The graffiti in Berlin was ah-mazing. I thought the graffiti in Belfast was cool, but Berlin was way more impressive. Here are some more pictures of the graffiti in Berlin.

Berlin, Germany -- Part One

On Sunday, Rose and I packed up and went on another trip... this time to Berlin! Classes have been out for a few weeks, we only have a couple of final exams and a few papers to write, but the rest of May we have off... and what better way to spend that than to travel around Europe?!
We stayed in the Heart of Gold Hostel right in the city. I didn't take any pictures of the hostel so credit goes to Rose.
Also check out her blogs! http://thegrasshoppersmermaid.blogspot.com/ and her photography blog http://the-broken-compass.blogspot.com/

Our hostel was located by Friedrichstrasse, which is on the left part of the map. The red line going through the city is the train line. We took that to get from the airport to our stop and back again.

We got in late on Sunday and after we dropped off our bags, we went for dinner at a cute Italian restaurant down the street from our hostel. The lasagna was amazing.

Look at some of the things I bought in Berlin!

These beautiful purple and orange flowered flats from H&M.

A lovely scarf from H&M!

The Fossil Stella watch that I have been eyeing up FOREVER. I finally caved and bought it at a Fossil store in Berlin.

And presents for my friends and family! Ha ha. You didn't think I was going to show you them now, did you?!