In the middle of this semester, I decided to take myself on a vacation. A vacation to Berlin. So far, over the past couple of months, I have been doing chemistry daily in the lab, doing german and chemistry coursework in my free time, and basically surviving in another country. I figured that it was time for a break. I planned a roundtrip train ride, first class, on the Intercontinental Express (ICE). When booking my hotel, I made sure that I booked one close to the main train station and near to the middle of the city. Knowing that I really only had one full Saturday to explore the city, I wanted to see as much as I could in a confined area. My hotel happened to be right across from the brand new Hauptbahnhof and across the river from the Brandenburg Gate, the Tiergarten, and the WW2 memorial! I walked 14 miles that Saturday, taking in as many of the sights as I could. Out of all the pictures that I took, I decided one of the Brandenburg Tor would be best! In addition to lots of pictures, I took some video blogs of my adventures. These videos I posted to my Facebook account and they were received well! This time of year Europe is normally very cold, and that day was no exception! The temperature was a chilly -1 degrees Celsius, but all the walking I did (and some Starbucks) kept me nice and warm! Berlin is an awesome city, combining the old and the new beautifully! Germany has really been a blast so far!
