I <3 Berlin!

I heart Berlin..

..it's all over every postcard in every color you can think of!
I <3 Berlin.

And its pretty accurate as well. I got to Berlin last Sunday night. I stayed at one of Sabastian and Luisa's friend Rene's place until Thursday (I think this sentence is just one big grammatical error #oops). He was great!  We spent the whole night just talking.. we meant to watch some Big Bang Theory, but it didn't happen because we talked so much!  It was great. I could already tell I was going to have a good time there.

The next day, I went on a free walking tour of course!  This activity is Miranda's favourite!  A chance to see the city, learn about the history, and meet other English speaking people!  All for free!  Well.. not really free, because you should tip at the end. There is soo much history in Berlin, it's unreal. I loved learning a lot about it on the tour. We visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, but a lot of people don't like that, because it was not only Jews that were murdered, so people usually call it the Holocaust Memorial now.

We went to the remains of the Berlin Wall, which once divided east and west Berlin, and the wall is all chipped. This is because when people used to visit it, they would chip off a piece to take with them, it was a thing, everyone did it, but then they put a barrier around it to block anyone from getting to it, so they could have the wall there as a reminder still. We by n passed a bunch of Trabi cars and went to Checkpoint Charlie.There are TONS of Christmas Markets here!!  it seems that every square I went to, there was a market! 

During the tour I met a kid named Jordan, he was from Michigan!  I was sure to mention that OSU beat Michigan of course. He just graduated from a university in California!  Soo much cooler than Michigan.  After the tour we decided to walk around together and get a bite to eat later on. We went through the big Christmas Market by Alexanderplatz, it was soo nice to go through it with someone!  And not just alone. Later we got dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant!!  Haha not German at all!  Lol. Then we hung out the rest of the night and experienced some Berlin nightlife.

On Tuesday, I got a good message from a couchsurfing host earlier in the day. It was someone, Anson,  saying he got 2 tickets to Cirque du Soleil for me for my birthday!  We talked prior to this when he asked me if I would want them, and of course I said Yes! I met him that night outside the hotel that Michael Jackson dangle the baby off of, and got the tickets.  Then we we went and got a drink at a local pub. He works for Cirque du Soleil as a cook, and has been doing it for ten years! I met some of his friends, one of them being the Singer in the show! I met a famous person!!  ;)  We made plans to hang out the next night after the show for my birthday!!  Yaayy!!  I was soo happy I had birthday plans! 

I walked all around Kreuzberg, a really artistic area in Berlin the next day. Graffiti, many styles and buildings laced the quarter. It was nice just walking around there. I Also got to talk to Kevin this morning!!  I woke him up at 4:30am oopsies! Sorry! It was a perfect birthday present though:)

Cirque du Soleil-Corteo was amazing. I took Rene!  It was incredible. The stage ran though the middle of the tent and there was audience on both sides. It's soo cool How I'm awed by the acts and everything they were doing, the incredible flips, dancing,juggling.. but then realizing the music that's being played is actually from a small band in each of the four corners of the stage, and THEN realizing the singing is coming from the male and female usually posted at each end of the stage (one of which I met)!  It was awesome! 

Here in Germany, and maybe all of Europe, at the break or intermission, they sell alcohol right along with the soft drinks, popcorn and candy.  I like how it isn't seen as such a negative, irresponsible thing here.  It's nice that here, people don't just binge drink, they don't do it at home (in the US) either, but here just because you enjoy a beer doesn't mean you're an alcoholic lol it just means you enjoy the taste of a beer or a cocktail. They also don't have an open container law, you can have a beer walking down the street, it's not a big deal. I think that's great.

After the show I hung out with Anson and some of his friends.. I experienced a Turkish bar, a rocker pub, and a club. Haha that cracked me up.

Some cool experiences:
- Ping pong with locals.
- Big Bang Theory ...in German.
- Ferris wheels/merry-go-rounds in every Christmas market.
- Cheese and Ham filled pastries.. I don't know what they're called but they're German deliciousness!!
- Birthday in a foreign country.