Berlin Day 1

Today was a successful first day in Berlin. After a little bit of a delay flying out of Amsterdam, we Panthers arrived at the Berlin airport and took public transportation to our hotel. We didn't linger long at the hotel but quickly made our way into the sunshine, hoping to stave off jet lag. Our first stop was the Berlin Wall Memorial, where we took our time looking at the remaining parts of the infamous wall alongside multiple monuments and a moving memorial to the people who lost their lives at the wall. We walked along the former East side; idyllic stretches of grass and trees now resides and abuts where the wall once stood. 

Children played pick up soccer games while adults and teenagers lounged in the sun, some picnicking, others reading, some enjoying a late afternoon nap. I found it both strange and weirdly comforting to see such a pleasant, almost bucolic scene in a place that was once a heavily fortified area, symbolic of a city's and a world's division. 

After we finished walking through the wall memorial, we ate dinner at a restaurant owned and operated by Syrian refugees.  As Mariel said, "the food was delicious," with generous servings too. We dined al fresco, enjoying the food, each other's company, and the long lasting daylight in Germany (the sun didn't set until past 9:30). 

After dinner, we continued walking, stopping to see two memorials to the Jewish people evicted and murdered under the Nazi regime. After some somber reflection on these memorials, we culminated our long day with ice cream and another back on public transportation to our hotel.  

Given that this chaperone has been up for more than 30 hours at this point, this blog post is a bit short and may contain some grammar errors and typos. The students will begin posting tomorrow once we've all rested and had a second day in this fascinating city! 

-Ms. Pringle, on behalf of all the Berlin Panthers