Berlin was such a great time!
We arrived after not much delay (surprising, considering our history). Chiara was there at the platform waiting for us, which was great because that train station was much larger than any I have ever encountered before. We went straight to her house where we met her family and her moms friend and her dad who were visiting too. We chatted for a while and they helped us to make a game plan for our stay, things that were worth seeing, doing, eating, etc. We found a thing online called the Berlin Pass which included multiple tours including hop on hop off and bike, and entrance to almost every single museum, plus free city transportation. We were going to go out and pick them up and explore a little, but then we checked the times they're open and they had just closed, woops. It was a Sunday night so not too much was open but they suggested we still wander into the city and explore a little since it was still daylight. Plus as we were leaving the train station, a man gave us some day passes for public transport that he had activated and wasn't going to use since he was leaving. We decided that was a good idea and embarked on our journey. Chiara had to study (med school probs) so her mom dropped us off at the close train station, and we were off, thanks to very specific instructions from Chiara. We went to explore Alexanderplatz, which is a cool area with a bunch of historical buildings and is right near Museums Island. We wandered, had dinner (schnitzel and sausages, so good!), then made our way back before it was too late. We were so tired we passed out right away. It was our first time sleeping in a nice bed in a while, plus in a home, with excellent air conditioning and bathroom and everything. It was the best sleep we've had this whole trip that's for sure. This trip would not have been the same without Chiara and her family. Seriously, they were so helpful and great and took care of us and fed us. Her mom even have me her cell phone to use so we could keep in touch with them since there isn't wifi just all over the place. I can't thank them nearly enough. The next morning, Chiara had to go to work super early, so we got ready, had breakfast, and Chiara's mom brought us to the station again so we could go pick up our Berlin Passes and start our hop on hop off tour. We got off when the stop sounded like it had something interesting to do as opposed to just see. Our first stop we went to Panorama Punkt, where you have two floors of 360* to walk and see and learn with posters and information. It was really cool. It also contains the worlds fastest elevator, going 24 floors in 20 seconds. We then wandered around trying to find the Topography of Terror, but stumbled upon parts of the Berlin Wall and a memorial and the Brandenberger Tor. We wandered back because we wanted to continue with our hop on hop off, and asked the guide how to find the Topography of Terror. He took us one stop then let us off and we found our way there. It's a museum located on the plot where the SS and the Gestapo had their planning grounds. It contained a ton of history and information. It also has the longest sparse of still-standing wall out front, so that was cool to see. We had to get back to a bus stop, so we wandered to Checkpoint Charlie, wandered around and scoped out a few museums but didn't go in, took our tacky tourist picture in front of the "You are now leaving the American Sector" sign, and had a curryworst. The next stop we got off at was Museums Island, because we were told that one of them was a must-see. We went to the Pergamonmuseum, which we went into knowing nothing more than we had to see it. It was full of ancient middle eastern art and artifacts. Museums Island is considered a World Heritage Site so we had to go, and it was pretty cool seeing the humongous things they have preserved. We were running low on time by then because the tour us only went until 5, so we rode it to the end to see it all, then took the S Bahn back to Alexanderplatz, because we were going to do a boat tour. We got a little bit lost because the meeting point location directions weren't the most clear, but we got it. The tour was okay, nothing we haven't seen earlier that day, and the recording they used as a tour guide was less than exciting. I wouldn't say it was bad, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, at least not by that company. But hey it was included in our pass so nothing to complain about there. We headed back to meet Chiara. She met us at the train station and we went to dinner, met one of her friends, had amazing schnitzel, it was an excellent time. We headed back to her place and did laundry, which was so amazing to have our clothes actually clean, a trustworthy machine and not by our hands. We got another full nights sleep, with plans to wake up early and conquer another museum before a walking tour.
We were successful, we made it through the Checkpoint Charlie museum with enough time to see it and make it to the meeting place on time. Our tour was excellent! Our tour guide was so knowledgable and intriguing and great. The tour was longer than we expected, it was almost 4 hours which is longer than any we've done so far, but we didn't mind because we saw literally everything and learned so much. There was an afternoon bike tour, and we had enough time before that started to stop by the Anne Frank exhibit, which was really cool because remember how I said they were missing originals at the Anne Frank museum and that was kind of a bummer? Well they were all here in Germany! We got to see the original diary and that was good, but there wasn't much else to the exhibit. We made our way to the bike tour spot, where we went into the bike shop and gave them our passes. He scanned them, then I asked him where we should wait. He was like, "What do you mean, wait for what? Do you need to speak to Julian?" And we were like "to wait for the tour to start?" And apparently we messed everything up because you pay after and the shop isn't the meeting place and blah blah so we had used our free tour to pay for the morning tour we didn't do, but someone who I'm guessing is the manager said it was fine and she would remember our faces and led us to the meeting place. We were shocked that people were still there paying for the morning tour at 3:30 when it started at 10 to have this discrepancy in the first place, until our tour guide came and said it would last 5 hours. It's okay though, because we weren't biking the whole time. It was two hours of tour, and hour or so at a Biergarten (I actually drank some beer how exciting), then an hour more tour to head back. Almost everything we saw was the same with the exception of Tiergarten and the naked sunbathing Germans, and some facts the guide gave us were different from those we heard that morning which was peculiar, but it was a great time. We stopped at the Reichstag and built a human pyramid with our group, it was great! We made our way back and concluded the tour. Two guys we met were looking for an authentic German bar to visit, and we thought, we haven't seen one yet, why not it's still pretty early. The tour guide recommends one, makes it sound like it's right around the corner, and we're on our way. An hour and a half of walking later, it was not just around the corner. When we finally found it, it was so late, and we couldn't read the signs but it had 22:00 on it and we thought surely it had to be closed. Luckily it wasn't, so we had a drink, chatted, then plotted the most efficient public transportation path to get home. Had we taken one U Bahn 3 stops we could have been to the darn bar in 15 minutes but no matter. We made our way back. Because it was so late, though, public transport wasn't running as frequently, and we had to take 3 trains to get back. Then when we finally got back, we had to take a bus close to Chiara's house, but it had stopped running, so we had to walk. It wasn't like it was that far or anything, but it ended up taking us almost 2 hours to get back when it should have been 40 minutes. They were super worried about us and we felt so bad, but we were safe and all was well. We were super exhausted after our 17 hour day, and passed out immediately. We woke up this morning, showered, packed, picked up our quarters, had breakfast, and rode with Chiara to town where she dropped us off at the train station. I seriously don't know how we would have done Berlin without her and her family and I can't say enough how thankful I am for them. We dropped our packs in a locker so we didn't have to carry them around. We went to the Berlin history Museum where you can learn about a super condensed and intense history of Berlin in an hour. It was actually very informative and learned new things despite the 4 tours we went on. We then explored down Unter den Linden, got some lunch (Döner Kebaps and ice cream, yum), then made our way back to the train station. We are no enroute to Munich, and it's one train the whole way so hopefully no issues pop up. The only thing that could be a problem is finding our hostel, because it's not right in the city center, but no matter! We are smart girls and we will be able to figure it out.
Thanks for the amazing time, Berlin! Munich, you've got some big German shoes to fill!