Praha and Berlin In 8 Days

I got to Europe a week and a half ago and am already absolutely in love. My mom, my aunt, and I flew to Frankfurt, then on to Prague. Everyone, given the opportunity, should visit Prague at least once in their lifetime. It's a gorgeously old city. The streets are cobblestone and there are 900 year old houses under the streets. Need I say more?? We went on a tour of Prague castle, and we got to see the catacombs where past Czech kings are buried. Some of the churches and cathedrals are the most beautiful and ornate buildings I have ever seen. It was absolutely stunning. We also went through the old Jewish sector of the city. The Czech republic was one of the first countries 'invaded' by the Nazis. I'm not sure 'invaded' is really the right word, as there wasn't really much of a fight. The Sudetenland willingly became a part of the new Third Reich. In the memorial (in one of the synagogs) to those victims of the Nazis, thousands and thousands of Hebrew names are written on the walls to commemorate the Czech Jews who died during the Holocaust. Upstairs were pictures drawn by children in Theresienstadt, images of the dreams of innocent children to return home to a life uninterrupted.

In Berlin we walked to the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charley, and afterwards we found the parts of the wall that are still standing. The graffiti on the wall was a sight to see, on one section is written the word "Tacheles". I read that it is a German phrase with Hebrew origins meaning to be open, to speak one's mind, or to speak openly about one's opinion.

We also went to see the national memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. The memorial is comprised of nothing but huge (granite?) blocks that vary in height from very small to very high. The ground of the memorial sloped downwards as you walked through the maze of blank blocks, and underneath there was a museum. There is just something about the way the memorial is designed that takes your breath away, it makes you stop and think. And you could get lost in it, you feel so small...

We also visited the Jüdisches Museum. The museum is in a tall, thin grey building that zigzags its  way back away from the street. There are very few windows and the only way to get into the building is to go in the building next door and walk down through a tunnel and up into the building. The first floor was about the Holocaust, while the upper two floors where about the history and origins of Judaism and about Jewish religion and life before and after the war. I learned a lot, and the Holocaust portion was sombering. There was the "Holocaust Tower", a room with only one very slim window in the ceiling that let in very little light, otherwise it would have been pitch black. The tower extended through all the floors of the building. Like in the memorial, you just feel very small, and in the dark it's difficult to see, in certain corners (the tower wasn't a square) a person could stand in and not be seen. It was eery and almost frightening. Like you felt powerless. There was also an area, called a 'Memory Void' that had thousands of heavy, metal faces on the ground representing the absence of the Jewish community from European society. 

And of course we went to the Egyptian museum to see the famous bust of Nefertiti. It was amazing, she had her own room and was so well preserved it was like you were actually looking at the person, like any moment she would open her mouth and start talking to you. 

And then there is the Berlin Zoo, located in the Tiergarten. The zoo was very nice, out of all the zoos I've been to this one has to be my favorite. The enclosures were a lot closer, well you could get closer to the animals. I was closer to a tiger than I ever have been before, and my god are those animals beautiful. I have a whole new appreciation for the magnificence of tigers. 

Isn't she just gorgeous?? And this picture is no zoom, we were up close and personal with these animals.

So that was basically my first week here in Europe (Czech Republic and Germany). I'm living with my host family and have some other things to say about coming and living here, but that will have to wait for another time :) 

Goodnight!