Matt and Janelle in Europe

We took the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz, one of the bigger plazas in Berlin. Before leaving from the station nearest Lino's place, we bought two Berlin WelcomeCards, which provide unlimited transport and discounts for several of Berlin's sights. We found some coffee and a pretzel, then headed toward some landmarks. We headed just past the base of the Fernsehturm, a tall TV tower originally built to show the strength of the DDR(Deutsche Demokratische Republik).

Our first stop was the Rotes Rathaus, or "Red City Hall," of Berlin, which had a pretty cool interactive tabletop display about Berlin's monuments and sights. Next, we continued on to stop and look inside Marienkirche, a church in the same area as the city hall with a gothic influence, like many of the other churches we'd seen in Germany.

We walked onward toward the creatively-named Museumsinsel, or "Museum Island;" it's a part of an island in the river that is home to several of Berlin's important museums. Here, we found a museum, the DDR Museum, which shows various aspects and history of life in East Germany before Germany was unified through interactive exhibits. Neither of us had really learned much about the Berlin Wall in school, so it was interesting to be able to both learn the history and see what life was like for those who happened to be east of the dividing line.

From here, we walked past the nearby cathedral, the Berliner Dom, along one of Berlin's main streets until we reached a second small museum. This museum presented the history of Berlin (from its founding until its present) via short videos and an audio guide. It was a nice primer to introduce us to the city as we learned about the settling of the area, the effects of both world wars, and the context and implementation of the Berlin Wall.

After this second museum, we caught the bus and headed back to Lino's apartment. On the way back, we stopped at the same market as the night before and bought some more dinner. We returned to the apartment and ate dinner, then tried to plan the next day and went to sleep.