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