Berlin

Berlin is the only city I have been to where it actually feels like a city. We're staying in west Berlin close to the main train station. Our neighborhood is very nice and safe and it feels a lot like any other big city in America.

But Berlin also has the most interesting history of any city I have visited. The history goes way back into the Medieval times and it is marked by wars, revolutions, and the rise and fall of great powers. We took a 5 hour walking tour of Berlin and our tour guide, Fabian, was amazing. He's a phD student in history and he knew everything about the city and its history. It was really fascinating to hear about how and why some of the landmarks of Berlin came to be and to be able to relate them to historical events. My favorite parts were hearing about how various people snuck out of East Berlin and seeing the remains of the Berlin wall.

What I admire about the German people is that they understand the importance of history and acknowledging the good and the bad. There are memorials everywhere that remember the victims of WWII and the Cold War. This is a city and a country that really values what they have acheived in the last century.

Despite the fact that WWII was 50 years old and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, a lot of Berlin is still being rebuilt. Everywhere we look construction and restoration is going on and I think it will be interesting to come back someday when Berlin has finished a lot of its restoration.