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An early morning start and we found ourselves on the same train heading back to Prague. Matt and I hopped off an hour earlier to reach our next connecting train. Leaving Andy to navigate himself back to Prague airport and head home. We are now able to tell you he made it safely home after what must have been an exhausting trip. We have loved having people join us, it makes the experience much more interesting when you can share it with more people and hopefully both Fiona, who joined us in Rome and Andy have enjoyed their time with us too.
Berlin was a next stop and Matthew was looking forward to it, there was lots for us to see and do in the German capital. Our hostel was huge and seemed to be quiet set up for visitors with a cafe, luggage hold, fancy reception and a lift. But sadly they lacked one basic but major necessity I this modern age....the WIFI! After two days they did get it up and running again but it was the worst connection we've had in all of Europe. Bit annoying when your paying a hefty fee to stop the night. We also notice that our hostel was housing young male migrants, which was no problem to us and these boys didn't bother anyone and got on with their day like normal. It's been interesting to see how Germany is dealing with the crisis, especially as they have made it clear they will look after them and they defienely seem to be.
When you think of Germany most of you will immediately think of WW2, who can blame you its drilled into us throughout school and through remembrance ceremonies, we'd like to think we knew alot about it all. However, Matt and I didn't really know much about what happened after the war to Germany. So our first stop was the Berlin Wall at Check Point Charlie, an American check point attached to the wall that separated east and west Germany. We learnt alot about the involvement of Russia and America in the building and use of the wall. With the Russians building the wall to keep the westerners out and eventually America guarding the wall to keep the Russians out. Many people were split from families, jobs and education. People on the east side were governed by the communist German government associated with Russia. In the DDR Museum we learnt about how the Eastern German citizens lived their lives, with a low variety of food, clothes and other goods. Children were trained to fight and protect their country from a young age in youth groups and playing with wooden hand grenades. Later these children joined the army and trained as soldiers during weekends and other free time. But like many other commuist governments, 10,000 people lived a more privileged lifestyle with more items for sale and holiday resorts. But with so many people trying to cross the Berlin wall to reach the west we knew that this museum left out alot of the hard stuff, it was a more positive look at the lives of the Eastern Germans.
After educating ourselves on the divide of Germany, we decided to stop at another historic location at the other end of the city. The Brandenburg Tor, the large stone gateway in which Napoleon marched his victorious army through after defeating Prussian soilders. This was a more positive activity to undertake and it was beautiful to see. Just around the corner is the Reichstag governmental building, which is another focal point of the city.
The mixture of freezing cold winds and Nicoles desperate need for the toilet led us to the Berlin Shopping Mall. Where we could sample the free WiFi, while looking into some very expensive shops and Nicole could finally go for a wee! Another bonus to this four floored two block mall, was its huge food court. That we ended up eatting in for lunch and dinner due to its cheap prices and our lack of enthusiasm for bread, cheese, fruit and crisps again for the hundredth time. Nicole sampled the disappointing Curry wurst and Matthew tucked into his delicious falafel wrap. We also sampled a Hallumoi wrap, vegetable jalfrezi and a mashed potatoes with spinach and scrambled egg concoction.
Having explored lots of prewar history and postwar history we decided to make a finally visit to the topography of terror. A free museum located on the previous site of the Nazi parties SS headquarters, that was bombed during the second world war, and also became a boundary or the Berlin Wall that ran next to it and remains there to this day. It details the history of repression under the Nazi regime and the attrosities they committed against alienated members of the German society and other invaded countries. Although we have learnt alot previously about the persecution of the Jews, it was interesting to see how many other people were discriminated towards. We found ourselves noting similarities to Cambodia's genocide to wipe the slate clean to build a "better" place. Poll pott killed off millions of educated professionals so he could start the country again from the bottom and make everyone equal. Hitler killed off people he deemed useless to his perfect society, such as disabled, homosexual's, travellers and more. It's appalling how many people throughout history and in modern day find it acceptable to deem another persons life unworthy.
On a positive note we really enjoyed our time in Berlin, with so much to do and learn from without breaking the bank. Plus we also spotted John Bishop having a sneaky holiday away. Off for a quick visit to Hamburg, our last German destination, next.
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