The streets:
In the streets of Germany you will find currywurst with fries and doner kebaps (the best street food to grace this place called earth). In the larger cities, you will find street performers and artists of all sorts. Coming across a talented performer/group on the streets is always a lot of fun. Narrow cobblestone alleys are quickly filled by our large crew.
I am having so much fun in Germany. Here are a few pictures from our adventures.
There are way more nice cars in Berlin than back in Grand Rapids. Pretty much wherever we have been in berlin, there are always fancy cars. There are Porches, Lamborghinis, Teslas, and so much more. This is a Lamborghini from the Volkswagen museum. We were not allowed to sit in it, but it was still very cool. Made me wish Id have enough money to afford one someday.
This picture is from our singe day trip to Bremen. It is an old ship that was converted into a restaurant. It would be cool to eat there, but we did not get the chance. The funny thing about this boat is that there are bridges on each side that are too low for the boat to pass through, so its kind of stuck there.
Here is a map of the U-Bahn and S-Bahn routes though the city of berlin. We use these methods of public transport pretty much wherever we go besides school. These subways get you around the city pretty quick, if you know what you’re doing… which now I finally do. There were many times at the start of the trip where we were not sure which train to take and ended up going the wrong direction. Public transport can be fun as long as it is not crowded.
I was supposed to write a blog about Sachsenhausen after I went to see it. That was over two weeks ago, and I still haven’t written anything out. I guess I just don’t want to talk about it. It was a very powerful experience and it made me realize just how forgettable my life is to others. Walking through the camp I realized how many people were there, and how many people died there. At many of the camps and museums, there are several stories of people who did not survive the horrors of the Holocaust. Thousands upon thousands of people whose life is summarized into a paragraph. Continue reading “Better Late than Never”
The following are pictures of some of our adventures in Germany and descriptions of the pictures. Hopefully this allows those of you at home to get a better glimpse of what we are up to. Continue reading “Adventures in Germany in color!”
Recently I visited one of the many concentration camps that were used during World War II. There was a lot of history to a place like that. Each students was given an audio tour and I spent my time just standing in the middle of the camp and listening to all of the stories that were there to be heard. Throughout the trip I constantly questioned how anyone could ever justify the evil actions that were done in concentration camps, even if they thought that it could be beneficial to their country. Continue reading “Reflections on The Concentration Camp at Sachsenhausen”
The East Side Gallery is a large preserved stretch of the Berlin Wall. They got multiple painters to decorate the wall with their idea of what freedom meant. I think that it is a great idea to turn what was once a symbol of oppression into a work of art celebrating their freedom. There are dozens of styles ranging from abstract to realistic and all of them are beautiful.
When we went to the Holocaust memorial in downtown Berlin, I was left wanting more. For me, at least, it was difficult to truly be affected emotionally by digitized pictures of notes written by the victims. Something concrete, I felt, would aide in understanding.
As they say, be careful what you wish for, as you just might get it. Continue reading “Reflections on Sachsenhausen”
It’s no wonder to me that there are warnings to watch out for pickpockets at the Köln train station. Because the very moment you walk out of the station, the beautifully monstrous cathedral is there staring you down. I lost just about all sense of self and situational awareness upon seeing the cathedral because it was simply that stunning. Not only did we see this amazing stunning structure, but we also attended high mass there that Sunday. Continue reading “Reflections on Köln”
We went to the Deutsches Technikmuseum as a group, and we enjoyed our time there! On the top floor there was a plane suspended from the outside of the building. They had both life-size and scale models of various boats, an exhibit on energy, a flight simulator, and many other cool exhibits.
I really enjoyed worshipping in the Köln Cathedral. The organ playing was incredible. I could not believe how beautiful it sounded! I loved listening to the music throughout the service. I also enjoyed the choral singing, both the choir’s singing and singing with the congregation. Continue reading “High Mass at the Kölner Dom”