Hallo, Berlin!

Hello all!

Our last day of the American 3 week Summer Programme consisted only of traveling. Our journey home started around 3:00 a. m, and we arrived next day evening to Budapest. First, we traveled from Rochester to Manhattan by train. From Manhattan to JFK (New York City’s main airport) by subway and airtrain, then by plane to Berlin. And last, a little 2 hour long Berlin-Budapest journey. Several times we had to wait for connection, and also the check-in process took us a long time. Our plane was 2 hours late. But the worst part was at Berlin. There we had to wait 6 hours for our connection to the Budapest plane. But, wait a minute! Did I just say ‘the worst part’? I didn’t mean it actually. The result of this long journey in normal cases would result in having jetleg, being exhausted, tired, moody and sleepy. But not in our case! Those 6 hours at Berlin airport were absolutely fantastic! We had spent quality time! Regardless of our tiredness. God, just give us time, and we’re going to conquer the World!

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When we arrived after more than 16 hours of traveling to Berlin, we left our suitcases in the luggage office and started a Berlin-sightseeing trip. For all of us it was the first visit at Berlin in our lives. None of us knew in which direction should we go, but thanks to the tourist office at the airport, we got a map and bought bus-tickets and headed to the city centre.

I can’t really give a detailed image about the capital of Germany, because we had only 6 hours at disposal to spend there. In 6 hours we ate, we traveled by bus, and we’ve lost some time while we wanted to go back earlier to the airport, to be sure that we arrive in time for checking-in. Still, 4 hours remained, and the 4 hours spent in the centre were absolutely great!

We only saw a slice of Berlin, but we are proud that we could gain inside Germany’s biggest city. Berlin is the city of lakes and rivers. By the bus-route from the airport to the city-centre we passed by many bridges, saw nice river banks and small lakes. The peripheria of Berlin is very green, and there are many places where people can go hiking or wandering.

The city-centre was a combination of old, valuable, majestic buildings and modern steel-glass flats and business-centres. On one hand its old town proves dignity and its cultural and historical past is undoubtedly gorgeous. On the other hand, it reminded me a bit of London. Its modern and classy architecture, and the high buildings made us feel a bit like at the ‘concrete jungle’ we left behind on the previous night. However, there are a bit more older buildings though. Unfortunately the little time we had at our disposal was not enough for experiencing the old town very detailed, nor the business-district. However, we could enjoy a small and tasty bite of the city.

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Of course, by our walk in the city-centre we stopped at monuments, churches, famous sculptures and houses we have been impressed by. Berlin’s architecture is classicist, and romantic-classicist. Berlin is an academic city with many university and faculty buildings, which create a sublime atmosphere. Near faculty buildings we had the opportunity to see many other monumental buildings. One of the most attractive and special locale, was the Brandenburger Tor (gate). This in fact looks like the Akropolis in Athens with a particular ornament on its top. It consists of columns, and actually it’s one of the main symbols of Berlin. Close to Brandenburg gate we walked by the rococo-styled German National Opera. To be honest, the peripherial region of Berlin didn’t impress me very much at the, nor its public transportation, but after seeing these two monumental buildings, I absolutely understood why is Berlin such a famous place, what is its character like. Through these grandiose buildings Berlin emanates power, strength and confidence. German architecture is unique in the World. The two most characteristing words to describe architecture would be: simmetry and precision.

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We continued our journey and arrived at Reichstag (The German Parliament). The previously mentioned theory is true in Reichstag’s case as well. A great, giant and almost scary building suggesting that it is stonewall. Visiting the town hall was a must, we couldn’t go home without taking a photo of the Rotes Rathaus (the Red Town Hall), made of red bricks. Again, a majestic building. I think the architecture of Berlin illustrates perfectly how strong and serious is in fact the whole country. German industry, health care system, education and standards in general work good. Architecture is systemized and precise, Germans as well...

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Time passed extremely fast in Berlin, and we had only half an hour left till our check-in, so we couldn’t visit the TV tower, but of course, we saw it from the city-centre. Obviously it can be seen from almost everywhere, because it is almost 400 m high. We decided to buy something to eat. Currywurst vendors are like mushrooms after rain, so we have eaten a delicious currywurst. This takes part of the family of fast foods. Currywurst is a frankfurter first boiled and then fried. It’s served with ketchup and curry (a mixture of ginger, kurkuma, curry, paprika) on a slice of bread. I think our free hours were spent absolutely useful and interestingly. We experienced as many things as we could, and tasted a traditional food loved by Berliners. We came, we saw, we conquered!

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Thanks for reading, Dora

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