And the traveling month begins....

IN BERLIN! Honestly Germany was never my number one European country to visit, but I have to say it turned out to be one of my favorite places we went. After a daunting trip to Berlin (we had an overnight layover in London) we we so tired and just wanted to sleep for a few hours before seeing the sights. Unfortunetly the hostel closes for a good 5 hours in the middle of the day and we came just after they closed up. So Amy and I, delierious from being so tired, found a table at the park right next to the hostel and killed some time playing cards, rocking out to Taylor Swift, and eating M&M's, some of my favorite things to to. If I have learned nothing else from the trips I've taken, cards are always a good way to kill some time. After we got into our room at the hostel we went exploring.

On our second day in Berlin we finally mastered the metro system, called the S-ban and U-ban. We went on a tour throughout the city which started at the Brandenburg Gate, pictured above. This tour was full of information about Berlin and the different struggles they went through to unify their city. Another stop on the tour was a hotel (I forget the name) that Michael Jackson hung his baby from the third floor balcony!

We ended up seeing all of the famous sights in Berlin but there is too many to put up all the pictures. This city was so rich with history it seemed that there was something to see at every corner!

Above is a picture of one of the museams on Museam Island, a trio of museams surrounded by rivers. The next day we took a day trip to a nearby concentration camp. Something I did not know was in World War two there were two types of camps; concentration and extermination camps. Concentration camps, like the one we went to was meant for the sole purpose of working the prisioners to death. On top of building planes and moving cement there was also the "death run" where prisioners were required to run from one end of camp to the other for 10 hours. The excuse of running people to death was they were testing what boots were the most sturdy for soldiers to wear. This was one of the most sobering experiences I have ever experienced. There were personal stories about the survivors and the thousands that were killed in very place we were standing. The concentration camp we went to held experiments on children and we saw the horrific building they were kept in then later executed. The camp now serves as a memorial to the thousands that died at this concentration camp.

After that highly depressing day we decided to end Berlin on a high note and visited the nearby town of Potsdam. I have almost no idea the history of this town except it used to be the home of Prussian kings. So obviously, there were so many things to see. We ended up renting bikes throughout the town and let me tell you, it was the best decision. Bikes were so efficient and it was so much fun! This city was my top two favorite places I've gone to abroad. This town was full of castles and gorgeous buildings literally right next to each other.

One final note about Germany, the sausages there were unbelievable. Europe has this love for baguettes (that my family soon learned after they came) so of course their sausages were on baguettes. For some reason, this made the sausages 20 times better than any I've ever had. Bottom line, if you go to Germany make sure that sausages are in your diet every single day. Getting back on track, the night after spending the day in Potsdam,  we had to sleep in the airport again. So we decided to catch a late train to the airport (that's about 20 minutes away). However, as precedent would tell us, nothing is that easy. The train to the airport was canceled that night for track maintenance. After may changed trains and a few run-ins with the drunken locals we finally found the airport and made our way to BARCELONA!!!!!!