September 15

Day 4: September 15 

Culture

Memorial of Murdered Jews- History

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

I woke up to the smell of Ellie's foot in my face. I rolled over to see that Laurel had been up and dressed for a while. As soon as Laurel saw my eyes open she ran over and jumped on me and Ellie. Ellie and I slowly rolled out of bed while Laurel woke up Grace and Ella. As we shoved some of the things we had in our pantry down we talked about what we would do today. Ella told us that we needed to make it downstairs in ten minutes in order to make it to the metro to take us to the Memorial of Murdered Jews. We made it on the Metro and it was only a four mile drive.  The memorial is also called the "Holocaust Memorial" as it is a reminder of the Jewish Victims of the Holocaust, who should never be forgotten. It was designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It's located where the death strip of the Berlin Wall used to be to serve as a focal point, connecting all memorials of the city. The abstract design leaves room for interpretation, but many believes the memorial resembles a cemetery. Although we didn't go, you can go to the information center that will give you information on the victims and 'Rooms' that will give you details on each individual. Millions of Jews who died deserved to be honored, hence the purpose of this memorial.
As we pulled up to the Memorial Site we saw 19,000 square meters of 2711 slabs of concrete all different heights.The memorial is on a slopped ground, meaning no matter where you stand it always looks different. As we walked through the beautiful concrete tabs we all felt how powerful this memorial was. It honored all those who had passed in that cruel time. Our emotions ran wild and we took a moment at many slabs to give a moment of our time to those who suffered. We finished walking by the last few concrete slabs and then we looked back and marveled as the memorial looked completely different. We walked back to the side-walk and then finally decided we would go to the Gendarmenmarkt.

Gendarmenmarkt- Culture

The Gendaremenmarkt

We figured out what metro to get on and then we saw it pull up a block away so we all took off running so we could catch the Metro. Everyone on the Metro was laughing at the American girls but it's totally fine because we made it. So out of breath we all sat on the Metro thinking it would be a long ride it only took five minutes to get there. As we pulled up to the Gendarmenmarkt we saw a magnificent square. I was so focused on the square and how many people just buzzed through it I almost missed Grace pointing at these three huge cathedrals. Ellie took off running towards the sign that read "The Gendarmenmarkt is best known for the architectural trio composed of the German and French cathedrals (Deutscher und Französischer Dom) and Schinkel's Konzerthaus (concert hall) which together form one of the most stunning ensembles in Berlin. The "domes" refer to the domed tower structures erected in 1785 by architect Carl von Gontard. They were mainly intended to add stature and grandeur to the two buildings". We all visited each cathedral and marveled at how big and detailed the cathedrals were. My favorite cathedral was the Deutscher und Französischer Dom, I personally loved the way the building looked and the contrast of blue and white.  We spent a few hours at the cathedrals and by this time it was lunch and we stopped at a hot dog cart that just happen to be passing by.

Fernsehturm 

Fernsehturm

We wanted to stop by the Fernsehturm before it got dark so we could see all the beautiful towns so that where we headed next. We boarded the closest metro and went straight to the Fernsehturm tower. We got to the tower and saw that there was a huge line waiting to get up in to the viewing center. We contemplating leaving but Ella said she wasn't leaving until we saw the amazing view. So we decided to wait and found a spot in line. As we moved along the lines we all read the signs that told us more interesting facts on the Fernsehturm tower. The signs that we read told us about how the idea for the tower was launched in 1958 when the government of East Germany wanted to erect an iconic office tower at Alexanderplatz. The next signs were pretty boring and they just described how the tower was built and what the viewing center looks like. We had been in line for about an hour when we finally made it to the main elevator that would take us to the viewing station. The elevator ride was so slow but it was probably just because of how excited we were to see this amazing view. We started to near the top and i looked over at Ellie and saw that she had begun to show signs of her fear of heights. When the Elevator doors opened my jaw dropped it was a beautiful view of the city of Berlin. Ellie didn't even look out the window. I could have stayed there all day looking at that view. But what felt like a few short minutes the manager told us our time was up and we had to go back down. We all packed in to the tinny elevator and I saw the last glimpse of the view and the elevator closed right in front of my nose. We walked pass the lines and lines of annoyed people that had to wait. Seeing that it was almost dark we wanted to get the most out of our day to we decided to go to the Berlin Cathedral.

Berlin Cathedral- History

Berlin Cathedral

We all walked to the next cathedral seeing it was only a few blocks away. This cathedral look a lot like the cathedrals we had seen earlier today but yet I still wanted to explore every corner of it. Grace had done a project on the Berlin Cathedral so she filled us in on facts. Grace said "The cathedral was Berlins largest church and it served as a vital center for the Protestant church of Germany.  The Cathedral was gold under the lights due to how dark it was becoming. We had all decided that we didn't need to take a tour of the inside of the cathedral so we walked around the exterior and took gorgeous pictures. As it fell dark we caught the closes metro home to out Air bnb and as soon as we got home we all crashed out on the couches and beds, our feel aching from just one of our very many great days.