Auf wiedersehen Berlin, hallo Zurich!

Our last day in Berlin we went to Potsdamer Platz again and found the museum Ashley really wanted to see with all the Rembrandts, I think there was 20. It was way less busy compared to the louvre and other European museums I have been to. It also only had paintings and only went up to the 18th century, I was bummed about that. Ash got to see a lot of her favorite artists though or people she learned about in art history, I'm excited to take an art history class at Essex! After that massive intake of paintings we went to the Berlin Wall East Side Gallery. The Bernauer Strasse on the west side of the wall was a French zone and for a long time it was a popular area to escape. The buildings on the east side were actually demolished when the wall security and fortifications were increased. A church was separated from some of it's parishes and also the wall and "no man's land" was built on graves from WWII. I didn't know that many details about the wall beforehand and the gallery was very informative. One section had the remains and explained all the different details surrounding the area. Another was what it actually looked like during the height of security. The picture of the police officer escaping always gets to me, it must have been so horrible. In this particular area a lot of families were separated too. At the wall there were memorials both for all the victims of the wall and all the now unknown graves from WWII. There was a window for all the victims with photos and there names. There also was a section that listed the names of the eight guards who died. But watching movies of escapes and seeing the hundred or so names of people that died was moving. I guess because I was born after 1989 and I haven't studied much about the cold war, before I went there the impact of the wall and it's symbol escaped me. Germany was not a unified country for so long! In the city there is a giant Soviet Memorial we saw dedicated to the soldiers who died. Nowadays it's easy to forget and think why is that there? Then you remember that the Soviets built it themselves. On the Siegessaule there are decapitated figures of the victory soldiers and men and women as well as other vandalizations. It commemorates the Franco-Prussian war so after WWII the French destroyed a lot of it. In 1990 a lot of the granite pieces were returned as a friendly gesture from France, and the Germans put these pieces in one of the tunnels to get to the site. They were purposefully not returned as a reminder. Interestingly enough that whole area is very similar to France's Arc de Triomphe! It was a weird parallel for Ashley and I. I think this is another great example of how much I love this historical city, everything you encounter! Later that night we went back and I skyped with my family minus Erica :) Ash had gotten the time wrong so we stayed in until she could skype with her family. During the skype session, I heard this really loud chirping noise.. Turns out it was a giant grasshopper! It was terrifying and Ashley and I tried everything to get it down from the curtain but it was so high and we were afraid. For a good reason cause after a shoe didn't work we shook it and it flew around., we definitely screamed. After that we decided to just deal with it later and went down to the bar in the hostel and Internet room. Went we came up a guy had caught it and was flinging it out the window. Vincint got it! Haha our new roomie proceeded to take care of the other one we found. Thank goodness, laugh all you want but I have never seen a bug that big and we were in the city! So strange how it even got in. While Ashley skyped her parents I got to know Vincint, Ashley and I finally got to know someone! From now on we are going to try and be less shy. Anyway Vincint is German and in the fall he is transferring to a university in Berlin so he was there to sign an apartment lease which I guess he was lucky to get. I can't pronounce or spell the city he was from but it's in Bavaria and closer to Munich I guess. After Ashley was done we all decided to go back down to the hostel's bar and Vincint ordered Ashley a beer while I got a special one! Haha only Vincint would know of a German drink that is similar to sprite and beer I guess? But the lady at the bar didn't make it right I guess, he was bummed we didn't get to try it. I was just happy it was way better than plain beer! Haha so Ash an I had our German mugs of beer and it was cool being with someone that could tell us how to say everything! We talked about school and a little about politics, we told him we really liked the Bundestag! After that we went out with Vincint and went to a place called Kreuzberger! Haha it was awesome and that was definitely the latest we had stayed out. Can I express how awesome it was that Vincint could just order Ashley's burger?! Haha I'm pretty sure the owners didn't speak English. After that we were pretty exhausted and went to bed. Yay for making a friend finally! We never even learned our Australian roommate's names! The next morning we had to say auf wiedersen to Berlin and made our way out to Tegel airport. I loved seeing Bismarckstrasse and Richard Wagner Platz on the U Bahn, so great! We flew Air Berlin for the first time and it was so funny because I ordered ginger ale and the guy thought I wanted a gin and tonic, uh nein! Haha this really attractive guy next us nicknamed "tall, dark and handsome" thought it was funny too and said that he must have just not know because ginger ale isn't popular in Germany I guess. "TDR" I feel epitomized our experience with German men, especially police officers! Ashley took some pictures haha check out we-the-redeemed.tumblr.com for not only those photos but some from all of our trip! Now we are in Zurich and have wifi again! So lucky! This hostel isn't as nice and homey as Berlin but it's nice but since Zurich is so expensive it's definitely in a sketchy area. We think at night we'll just stay in. We get one free drink (I'll probably get a soda haha) and there is music down at the bar so we are going down there. We also get free breakfast, makes it better for how expensive Zurich is! But I'm stoked to be in beautiful Switzerland for the next week :)