Author: Benjamin Trotter

Toward the big television tower at Alexander Platz we headed, and once we maneuvered our way through the streets to this huge tower, we went inside to view from the top at the observatory. Here you can see an amazing view of the city. What’s so amazing about this view is the way you can really see the sides of East Germany and West Germany. Why this is so noticeable is simply by the architecture of the buildings. On the right side, all the buildings were slabs of white concrete, and reminded me of my time in Russia. On the left were huge mansions of red tiled roofs, and more colorful interesting architecture. It was really unbelievable to see this sight. We then went back down the tower to SUBWAYS for a snack. Then we started feeling raindrops. Raindrops=trouble for biking.

We finished our snack and tried to haul it back to the rental place. We were actually thinking of keeping our bikes for the 24hour deal, but since it started raining, we thought we should go ahead and return it by 6:00pm for a cheaper rate, but it was 5:25 now. So, as we were peddling as fast as we could through the traffic of Berlin, we were getting soaked and worried because of the storm, and that if we missed the 6:00 deadline, we would have done all this in vain. So, as lightning crashed, and we were getting drenched, we finally found our way back to the rental place at 5:56pm. We were cracking up with how close it was and how wet we were. It was really a funny site to see us trying to cross the streets in front of traffic and such!

After leaving the police mess, we headed for Checkpoint Charlie. This is where the American Sector began, and the Crossing of the Berlin Wall was required. Along the streets, still remaining is the line for the wall. You can see it throughout the entire city where the wall actually was. After leaving Checkpoint Charlie, we rode toward the Jewish Museum. This looks like the Louvre in the fact that it is impossible to see all of it in one lifetime.

Nina and Benedict are so nice. Nina is one of Judith’s best friends, and we are staying with them during our time in Berlin. Benedict works for Bloomberg like my friend Jason. Their apartment is awesome. I can’t believe how big and cheap housing is here!! This place has ceilings that are probably 15ft high, and it is sooo nice! I feel really lucky to stay at these places! Because of staying at friends, my money is holding up nicely, but if

you feel and urge to donate to this cause, please send it here!

We went to a place called April for dinner, which was a nice Austrian restaurant. It was so nice and the food was excellent. I had some type of vegetable enchilada with roast turkey wrapped inside. It was too much of course size wise, but I was proud that I finished as much as I had. Biking must have given me a bigger appetite for the night.

We then went toward a park and found a bike rental place. So, we rented bikes!

Biking through Berlin is really cool actually. It is very flat, and there are nice large bike lanes. It makes it a lot easier than walking around. So, we started biking in a nice park, and came out at the Siegessäule, where lines and lines of police were. I mean, this is more police I have ever seen before, and I later found out that there were 10,000 police on guard for one little man, none other than GW. Due to his visit, a lot of streets were closed and the Brandenburg Gate is under construction!! I was so mad to see that, because it has a sheet draped over it!!

This morning, Judith and I went to the station and said our goodbyes to Galya. We hopped on the train and after a couple of hours we were in Berlin. Berlin is awesome! Once we got out of the station we went for some lunch in front of Memorial Church that is a church still kept in ruin from the disasters of WWII. It was really quite an interesting sight. After lunch we just walked along the streets and looked at the shops.