Berlin Day 1

June 18,  2012

Today, I woke up at 8 and got ready to drive to the train station.

All my friends were there so we hugged. And I took a picture of them.

 Yay!

They counted us by having each pair walk past teachers. Lisa and I were first, then came the others.

Then, we got on the train. It was bigger than I thought and you had to walk up stairs in the train to get to our seats. It was very clean.

Student from Indianapolis is amazed by windows on train.

So when we had the cookout, there were radishes and I said they were my favorite vegetable. Mutti took that very seriously and prepared me for the trip. You can't go to Berlin without radishes.

Baby seat!

Madi finally brought Libby. So I fed her a radish.

Libby and Lisa:)

Shelbi and I used the toilet on the train but the flush button was broken so that was awkward.

Arrived in Berlin.

First sights of Berlin.

It was super hot in Berlin. More than 30 degrees Celsius, I think. In Neukloster, the weather was like late fall, early spring in Fishers but in Berlin it was really hot. And we had to drag our huge suitcase for 20 minutes or so. We packed together so we took turns pulling the suitcase. Libby helped too. And we named our suitcase.

We finally arrived at the youth hostel!! 

Then, we left to go to our first event: Bundestag. 

Giraffe!!

Sony center!

Twinsies! They are adorable!

More Berlin!

We visited the Deutscher Bundestag or Parliament.

We heard a speech about Bundestag of which I understood nothing except that the Left Party people sit on the left. We also got presents! But they're from a political party so I guess I'm supporting them by wearing/using the presents. Oh well. The necklace thing that holds keys was good for holding my hostel keys.

Walking to the Bundestag buliding.

Das Brandenburger Tor.

Building for parliament

We had to go through security first.

They vote three ways. 1) Raise hand if for and if against and take majority. If the vote is close 2) walk through a "ja" or "nein" door and count. 3) with paper that has barcodes

They have a part that after the Soviets won WWII the soldiers wrote their names, where they were from, and cuss words (but those were removed). It was hidden under plaster for a while but then it was found and they decided after debate to preserve it as part of history. One of the soldiers even came back in the early 2000s to find his name.

Angela Merkel's office!

We went up to a viewing area to look down at parliament which was not in session today.

Looking down. Herr G's reflection photobomb.

 

Lisa took a better picture.

Looking down.

They have the secret meetings for each party in these rooms.

We went in the FDP room.

In the room, we had fun speaking into the microphones that they use during the meetings.

Spokesperson Emily got to try out where the party makes official TV announcements.

The chairs.

The eagle that is nicknamed Fat Hen is the symbol of Bundestag.

Viewing galleries where people can view the room during tourist days or sign up to view the Bundestag when it is in session.

Me!!

The dome/ceiling of the room. People come and look down from there to remind the members of parliament that the people put them there and they must never forget.

Lisa is going to work here as a member of Bundestag so I'm going to come and watch her in the viewing gallery:) She was really cute being all excited. And she was disappointed that we saw no politicians.

Then we went on the roof. It was so cool and beautiful!!

The sky was breathtaking. And the view was amazing. This was my favorite part of the trip. 

The dome from the outside.

:)

Tourists!

The center of the dome as we're walking up.

Walking up.

The sky was gorgeous!! The orange was so gorgeous!!

Looking down from the top.

 

My view laying down at the top. The top is open.

Walking down.

So. Pretty!!

Waiting for instructions and then free time.

Then it started to rain. And I really like this picture.

Then it stopped. So I got a better picture of the building.

German protestors against war in Syria.

Back to Sony Center.

We went to some Australian restaurant. Kangaroo was on the menu.

My water.

Us.

Food. Caesar salad.

The other two girls in our group: Juliane and Lisa.

APOTHEKE!! Libby was excited too.

I love this picture!! So perfect!!

It was windy so I was awkwardly walking back holding my skirt. And I tripped in this picture.

Random cool old door.

Our room.

There are four people to a room with two bunk beds (there is also an extra trundle bed that some people used but we didn't.) Each person gets a room key and a locker key. There is a sink in the room but we take showers in the bathroom.

For breakfast, there is a dining room on the main floor but no other meals.

We got back to the hostel at a little after 10. We hung out out front and planned what we wanted to do during free time. Then we took showers and went to bed.

And that was my first day in Berlin. The youth hostel is very nice even though you run into some awkward situations. I'm in a room with Lisa, Jessica and her partner, Lisa.