Berlin. July 20

Today we went over to the east of Berlin, firstly the East Side Gallery. This is a section of the wall that was left intact, and maintained as a memorial for freedom, covered in murals by artists from all over the world. It was painted in 1990 and since has been restored in 2009 because of graffiti covering the artworks. We both found it pretty amazing, and some of the paintings were really good and also some were pretty fun. We became photographers again, with many people asking us to get shots for them, especially this one man who asked us several times to get several shots at various different murals. We are obvs just gods of photography (but you all knew that already right?).

Pals

Actual pals

We spent considerable time here, taking it all in, and by taking it in we mean taking a million photos. Across the street was the train station and after getting a coffee we caught the train to the Stasi museum, which was further east of the city. Similar to in Leipzig, this was the headquarters in Berlin for the Staatsicherheit, or state security of the GDR. Here, however, was the office where the head, Erich Mielke, had his personal office. We got to see that along with many other important rooms and offices that were kept intact with their furniture and various features after the Stasi and the GDR fell in 1989. We are both finding that the German museums are really well put together, with the general structure of the museums making it really easy to understand and also really interesting.

From the Stasi museum we went to our local park, Hasenheide Volkspark, where we sat in the sunshine for a bit, before heading to Görlitzer park in Kreuzberg, to meet Elise's friend Kaylin for dinner. We got take away falafel plates (amazingly delicious) and went to the park to enjoy them in the evening sunshine. The park, as usual in summer, was full of people, and it was so lovely to enjoy our night with so many people. After watching the sun go down, we went back to our place in Neukölln, a quick train ride away.

Xoxo A&E

Berlin. July 19

This morning we headed out in the rainy weather to find a market, Mauerpark Flohmarkt, that we had been told was worth a visit. We arrived and were immediately faced with an expansive puddle right through the walkway, and this was only one of many miniature lakes across the marketplace. We jumped and dodged and tip-toed through them and actually had a pretty fun time looking at all the different stalls. Eventually we decided to get some falafel and made a mess of ourselves eating it in front of everyone. V v v v  tasty though!

SO WET

Somewhere under here there are falafels

After the market we made our way back to the Jewish Holocaust Memorial as we only walked past on the walking tour the other day, and wanted to experience it properly.
The memorial is made up of lots of concrete blocks, of all different sizes, that fill a city block. The ground between them is hilly and at some points the pillars tower well above you, and in others you can look out across them all. There is no written explanation for the thoughts behind the memorial, so it’s nice to come to your own conclusions and ideas.
On the edge of the memorial are stairs that lead down to the museum below, which contains one of the best exhibitions we have seen so far in all our travels. Dedicated to the Jewish victims of the second World War, you walk through many different rooms, some focusing on the general history, others with diary, letter and poem excerpts and another room in which you get a full history and understanding of a family and each of its members, giving each victim a total identity, rather than a number. We were super impressed and very affected by the museum, so if you ever find yourself in Berlin, make sure you visit!

East and West sides. Por que no los dos!

We decided to walk next to the Reichstag, which is the German parliament building so we could have a look around and it was obviously a pretty great looking piece of architecture.
We walked on, past a canal, and a kid ran into Elise on a bike. But by the look on his face, she was definitely just in his way. Woops I guess?

Elise dreaming of eating the wurst 

Hit and run

V sad. No apology from child.

On the way home we stopped off at the only supermarket open in the whole of Berlin (but actually we might not be exaggerating) and lined up to get in! Sundays are the worst! We got dinner makings, and by the time we finally got home and had eaten dinner, we decided that it wasn’t a night for going out after all, and had another wine night in!

Love A&E

Berlin (Leipzig). July 18

We decided to do another day trip because we were loving the freedom of travelling to towns without our luggage in tow. Today we went to the formerly East German town of Leipzig. It played a big role in East Germany, being one of the major towns used by the Stasi as headquarters for their organisation.

We started by wandering through the town, which was really beautiful, with many old buildings throughout the small town. After exploring a bit, we went in search of lunch, and stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant, getting our fave pal for lunch, Mr Pho. It was delissshhhhhh, accompanied by a Vietnamese iced coffee, we were living the dream. So German, we know. After lunch we headed towards a museum Ash had read about, the Runde Ecke. The museum is named so because it's in a building that is essentially a round corner, and was the former offices for the Stasi in Leipzig. The information in the museum is mostly German but we had English audio guides to accompany us. There were some really interesting things that were used by the Stasi to enable their surveillance of the East German citizens. Things like disguise kits, with the classic fake moustache, wigs and makeup to disguise themselves many times. We also saw bug and wire tapping devices, along with secret cameras they hid in button holes and ties. Another interesting exhibit were the smell jars, were they'd get people they were suspicious of to sit on a chair covered in removable fabric, often for hours, sweating and transferring their odour to the cloth. Then, they'd removed the cloth and put it in a sealable jar, trapping their smell, so they could later use dogs to identify if the suspect was in certain locations. The museum was definitely a highlight for Ash, who was really glad she got to see it after reading about it and study the Stasi and their methods so much.

Runde Ecke

After leaving the Runde Ecke it began to look very stormy, so we wandered back towards the station via St Nicholas Church in the centre of Leipzig. This church became well known as the location of the Monday demonstrations against the East German regime, a peaceful demonstration in attempt to liberate the country and to elect a democratic government. In October 1989 at the Monday demonstration a crowd of a few hundred increased to 70,000 who all united to oppose the regime and chanted the famous chant "Wir sind Das Volk!" (We are the people). In the subsequent weeks the number of protestors increased, which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November that year.

We finally got onto the train and headed back to Berlin, the train was pretty delayed and we only got back at 8.30pm, which by then most supermarkets had closed, so we had to divert to one at a station on our train line, getting the ingredients for chicken tacos. At home Ash cooked the taco feast and we watched some Netflix before heading to bed.

Love A&E

Berlin. July 17

Today we headed for the Brandenburg Gate to meet another free walking tour. We had some free time to have a look around before setting off in a very large group. On the tour we saw a lot of the sights, including the main city park, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, some important Nazi and Soviet architecture, Check Point Charlie, some of the Berlin Wall, a car park that sits over the sight of Hitler’s bunker, Humboldt University and finally Museum Island.
After the tour we wandered around the island and then back to the Parisian square, where we ate ice cream. Obviously.

We also wandered back to the Humboldt University so that Ash could pine a bit and imagine how life would be if she studied there. (It would be nice).

Brandenburg Gate

Too many photos. Blergh

Segways 4eva

Biggest fan 

Museum Island

RE: photoshoot in the background. Just wanna join in. 

Humboldt University

Wishing she was going here

PLLLLZZZZ

Much education

Queen of icecream

In the evening we purchased many tasty foods and snacks, took the blanket and some couch cushions to the park nearby, and had a wondrous picnic . MMMMMMM.

Look at dis!

<3

Lots of love,

E&A