6/10/2014 - Berlin

Made it to Berlin! It's so hot here - and I though that day biking in Malmö was hot! I'm  eating currywurst right now outside the Tiergarten - it's too ungainly to walk with or I would go inside the park. 

Sort of divided on Plus at the moment - it's definitely not nicer than the other two hostels I've stayed in, AND has no kitchen! I was asleep too early to comment on potential party atmosphere, which I hate - so I don't think it's obviously the place I'll stay always and forever. Especially not in Prague where there are cheaper options. Eh. 

One nice thing is I had the room practically to myself - it's just me and one other guy (who isn't a creepy pervert but is a little weird) named Cameron, who had us play Go Fish this morning? Fine, but eh.) Last night I guess he went a-partying and I just showered and went to bed at like 10pm, success! Then this morning, a walking tour, yay! We went past a lot of places - Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, Gendarmenmarkt, Checkpoint Charlie, etc. - so I've doubled back on my own and just wandered through the Memorial to the Murdered European Jews and the museum underneath. The memorial is really interesting - just levels of stones over uneven ground, so many you could get lost inside. When you wander in it's very peaceful but also a little claustrophobic maybe - you could definitely feel trapped there. Some kids were like jumping from stone to stone. But it's beautiful. And the underneath, too sad for words. A lot of focusing on families and individuals and first hands sources versus numbers. The only place with numbers really is a room where they list how many Jewish people died per country. Denmark, only 116. But that's only along the upper walls - down lower, on lighted squares on the floor, there's letters and journal entires and postcards. Ich schluss - I end. 

It's so hot and I feel a little emotionally wonky so I'm not sure what to do next - the idea of the park seems lovely and serene but the mugginess wrecks it a little. I'm right by the Reichstag so perhaps I'll walk over and take a few pictures, but it's almost 5pm so maybe I'll go back to the hostel. Oh shit, just fed a bird and almost got swarmed by birds. Other shitty thing about the hostel - no book swap!! Boo. 

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