Hit the Road, Jack

Hitting the road is exactly what Brian and I did today (and even that may be an understatement).

Today was our only full day in Berlin, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and create our own walking tour of the city. This morning, we took the metro to East Berlin to begin our amazing day of sight-seeing (literally everything the city has to offer). Part of the Berlin Wall remains standing in the city, and though the original graffiti was covered by more talented artists, it was surreal to witness.

The beginning.

Graffiti by an Italian artist.

Some of the work (like this, obviously) was incredibly intricate.

The back of the wall hadn't been completely painted over.













We stayed at the Berlin Wall for quite some time, but eventually started making our way towards the Fernsehturm (television tower), which apparently has the fastest lift in the world. We were going to go to the top, but the line was too long and we didn't want to waste any of the day.

It has a 360-degree view of the city... but not worth a 2-hour wait.












We woke up early this morning and left the hotel around 10, so we were getting pretty hungry at this point. We had heard about a market district on the way to our next destination, so we decided to head that way and have lunch.

We stumbled across this pretty fountain on the way.

Hackescher Markt.














We got to Hackescher Markt and walked around a bit before settling on a place to eat. Since we arrived in German, Brian has been dying to try a traditional German meal and was set on having "currywurst" for lunch. I ordered a salad (like a normal person) and wanted nothing to do with creepy-sounding German food. However, Brian finally guilted me into tasting a bite of his meal. Let me preface these photos by explaining that currywurst is some sort of sausage thing covered in ketchup. I actually have no idea what it really was.

Preparing and looking blatantly hesitant...

Face of horror. I was NOT a happy girl at this point.













Ugh. Let's just say I do not think I'll be having German food anytime in the near future (or long future for that matter). Anyway, we finished our meals and headed on our way.

Next destination: Checkpoint Charlie. It was incredibly touristy so we hardly spent any time there. I did, however, get a chocolate ice-cream cone, which was great.

The Brandenburg Gate, where President Reagan delivered his famous "Tear down this wall" speech to President Gorbachev.

We stumbled across this monument on our walk. I don't have any idea what it is. My bad.













All in all, we walked probably 10 miles today. We left around 10:30 am and made it back to the hotel at 5:45 pm. It was an incredibly long day but we got to see so much of Berlin. By the time we were on our way back, our legs were literally buckling beneath us. I'm not complaining, though. The city was breath-taking, the weather was perfect, and I got a little much-needed Vitamin D. (I have the Tory Burch logo from my flip-flops tanned onto my feet. Sorority girl problems.)

Now it's time for me to recuperate before tonight!

Caroline

P.S. - This post is titled "Hit the Road, Jack" because German musicians looooooove to play that song on their trumpets, accordions, etc. It was stuck in my head for about 4 hours. Annoying.