Visiting Jenn in Berlin!!

(Dates in Berlin were March 6th, 7th, and 8th)

The weekend of March 6th-8th, I went to Berlin to visit Jenn. I had bought my plane ticket for Friday night, because of my Friday class, but my class ended up being cancelled that day. My flight was purchased through Alitalia, but actually being flown by Airberlin. This will be very important later, I promise.

As a person who has a rather irrational fear of flying, I have appeared to have signed up for a lot of flights this semester. But my flight went fine, obviously, or I wouldn't be typing this. I sat next to a nice German couple, who didn't speak any English, (which for me is always fine on a plane. I like the quiet.) I got some nice pictures of the sunset on the plane, and then the plane touched down around 7:30ish, and Jenn was waiting outside the gate.

So much Wanderlust. Somewhere over Nuremberg, if I remember correctly

Waiting for the Sbahn to head back to Jenn's apartment

On the Sbahn

We found a bear! Oh my!

After we dropped of my carryon at Jenn's apartment, we went back to the center to get dinner, which was Doner for Jenn and Turkish pizza for me, as I'm a bit less adventurous. But I did try the Donner. It was alright :) We walked around for a long time, because I only had a short amount of time in Berlin and I wanted to see everything. We went to the Brandenburg Gate first, so I could see it at night when it wasn't mobbed with tourists.

It's really dark, but this is me in front of the Gate.

Jenn in front of the Gate.

We found another Berlin Buddy Bear!

Saturday morning, we set out for a cafe for breakfast, and then Checkpoint Charlie and the Wall. While we were waiting for the Ring, we saw a vending machine...

...that had Skittles, which we took a picture with obviously. Jenn and I know how much you love Skittles Prof. Chill. So we bought a bag, and they were delicious! 

We finally got to Checkpoint Charlie, but I forgot to get a picture of the actual Checkpoint. Before we walked over, we ducked into a museum that had some relics up.

Then we went back outside, since we weren't going to pay to tour the museum. We didn't have enough time or money. But it was nice that they put some stuff out for everyone to see.

I went full on tourist in Berlin. Not ashamed.

After Checkpoint Charlie, we ended up in Alexanderplatz, where we saw the World Clock. It was really cool, especially since it was accurate.

I made Jenn get in on most of my selfies, because she doesn't post a lot of pictures.. ;)

Our next stop was Berlin Norbahnhof, where the largest section of the wall is still intact. We started at the Ubahn stop on Bernauer Straße, and walked down towards the Norbahnhof stop.

They put posts up to represent the outer wall, facing West Berlin

One of the sections of the inner wall, in the Death Strip

A representation of a guard tower in the Death Strip

One of the tunnels leading to West Berlin

A house that was destroyed because it was too close to West Berlin. They saved this to represent all the houses that were destroyed for the construction of the wall.

Jenn called me a creeper for taking pictures of kids, but I was careful not to get their faces. I just think it's sort of fascinating in a way, that children are playing on the foundation of a home that was torn down. They've managed to have fun in a place that, for a long time, was a very dangerous place.

Jenn told me this tunnel was built by the guards, to intercept those trying to escape through other tunnels.

A representation of a church that was destroyed because of its proximity to the wall, and the fact that it was mostly attended by East Berlin civilians, but was in West Berlin.

A sculpture, to represent the families and loved ones who were on opposite sides of the wall.

Inside the church. I didn't take many pictures, unlike every other church I've been in so far. It felt weird, like this place was especially sacred. I think the cross in the back is the original, but Jenn wasn't sure.

They kept a section of the Death Strip completely intact (although hopefully they've removed the mines). There were cracks, so you could see in between.

They put iron rods vertically and horizontally, to stop people from getting through the wall.

But it didn't stop them from trying to get through anyway.

The idealistic view through the hole in the wall

There is supposed to be a cross here, to commemorate the World War II victims. I'm not sure what happened to it, and Google doesn't appear to have an answer either. This person's blog has a great picture of what it looks like though. It appears they took the same walking tour I did.

Some of the sections of the wall were placed in the center of the Death Strip

A picture gallery of those who died because of the wall 

A model of what East and West Berlin looked like. It's backwards here, because I took the picture on the wrong side. The left is actually East Berlin, and the right is West.

After the Berlin Wall Memorial, Jenn and I went back to the Brandenburg Gate, and to the government building in Berlin.

The backside of the Brandenburg Gate

Part of the government building. 

Another part of the government building.

The sunset outside of Jenn's apartment, on Saturday night.

We got up bright and early Sunday morning, so I could make my nine am flight back to Rome. My flight back was actually two flights, which is where the difference between flying with Alitalia and Airberlin becomes very important. My flight out of Berlin, to Catania, Sicily, was flown by Airberlin. I was through the checkout line in five minutes, (even though I had to check my carryon, because the miniature Berlin Buddy Bear that I bought weighed a lot,) through airport security in another ten despite the long lines, and waited to board my flight outside my gate. They board the back of the plane first, so since I was row nine I had to wait until the end to board. We took off on time, without a problem.

Leaving Berlin. I can't resist taking the airplane pictures.

We landed in Catania, and we had to wait to depart the plane because the bus transport wasn't available yet. We finally get off the plane, on to the bus, for it to drive 10 meters and deposit us in front of the doors for baggage claim. *Facepalm* I know they can't let us walk on the tarmac, but I was a bit irritated, because I only had an hour and twenty to catch my connecting flight. My bag was checked all the way through to Rome, so I left baggage claim and went upstairs to recheck in for my flight. The lady at the Airberlin desk said I would need to find the transfer desk, which appeared to be nonexistent in this airport. So I went to the Alitalia check in kiosk, and inserted my passport to print my boarding pass. It tells me I don't have any flights scheduled with them. So I got into the longest line to figure out what was going on. My connecting flight was supposed to leave at 12:30, and it was currently 11:40. I wasn't freaking out on time just yet.

Luckily for me, I had not chosen the 12:10 connecting flight option. I say luckily, because it wasn't my turn in the queue until 12:20. I found out my flight was delayed, with the new takeoff time of 12:45, and got my new boarding pass. I got in line for airport security, and finally got to my gate at 12:40. I was even able to help someone who only spoke Italian find their gate, while I was in line. No one sits while they wait to queue, so the man couldn't see what gate we were all in line for. I was able to tell him in Italian that it was gate number 11, with the destination of Rome. He thanked me and walked off. They didn't start boarding the flight until 1:15, but they did get every passenger on the plane in twenty minutes, and had wheels up in thirty. I finally landing at FCO, helped another person who wasn't sure where his bags would be arriving (this man spoke English though, so it was easier to explain), got my own bag, and headed off to the train that would take me back to my apartment.

Ciao!