europe 2010: day 3

day 3

our first stop was at the longest standing stretch of the Berlin Wall. here are some pictures of it:

this is a Soviet memorial...2,000 soldiers are buried here.

this is Mother Soviet who is weeping for her children.

this statue was really interesting...our guide told us what he had written on his arm. i can't remember exactly but it talked about how they are free in the Soviet's hands and how one day the Soviets will rule the entire world...that's a scary thought...the hill he's on is where the soldiers are buried.

here's a closer look:

here's our entire group

Here is the U.S. Embassy in Germany. We tried to get pictures of the one in France too but apparently someone was there so we weren't allowed to...

This is the Brandenburg Gate.

This is the Holocaust Memorial right across the street. We were told that when the architect, designer, whatever you call him was asked what the message that he wanted people to take from this was he said that there was no message because everybody knows about the Holocaust and it has impacted everybody.

Unfortunately I can't remember what these buildings are either...there are a lot that I can't remember... :(

This is Checkpoint Charlie...of course with the McDonald's in the background. We also went to the museum. However, since I was going to Potsdam, we only had about 10 minutes so I didn't get to read anything...BUT I am going to look it up because I heard there were a lot of interesting things. What I did see, however, was that were many exhibits that showed where people hid to escape the Nazis. At the very end, there was a car. A man hid his wife in there. It asks where she hid...so, to anyone who goes there, my question to you is: where did she hide?

This is Potsdam Palace. It wasn't very cool. It was basically just a cottage. There wasn't even of the furniture. I wish I had been able to spend more time at Checkpoint Charlie rather than go to Potsdam...

But, this is the absolutely gorgeous view from Potsdam Palace.