Berlin is about 2 hours away from Hamburg. The bus ride was actually not bad because the view out the window was just continuous beauty. It was nice that everyone started to get comfortable with each other because I was never really social during the year with other members of the group. We really bonded over games of psychiatrist(my favorite!) and chicken tacos(new favorite :P).
On our way into the city, we stopped at a concentration camp called Sachsenhausen for a couple hours. It was such a profound experience standing in a place where an incredible amount of history took place. Sachsenhausen is a different kind of concentration camp. Unlike ones like Auschwitz, it was more like a work camp. So instead of killing by gas, it was where people died from working to death. But there was a building we visited where the guide walked us through the process that they went through to kill prisoners. He described what would happen in each room and the next steps they took until the corpse was sent to the incinerator. It was just crazy to stand literally two feet from the room where thousands of people died. It was such a fascinating tour and I can't believe that I was able to visit a concentration camp, a place I've only studied about in all my years of school.
Once we got to Berlin, we had free time for dinner before we got to attend the Berlin Philharmonic concert! It was our first real encounter of a language barrier. The waiter at the restaurant didn't speak English, and none of us knew anymore Germam than danke. We had to order by pointing to the numbers. It was a funny experience, we're such tourists.
The Berlin Philharmonic's concert hall is just absolutely gorgeous. The entire building is gold and the sunset reflected off of it just perfectly. The concert was epic. The most memorable piece was Zarathustra which if you look it up, you'd recognize it. It took everyone's breaths away. Really, look it up and imagine one of the best orchestras in the world playing it, you'd geek out too (ok maybe just me...no shame). On top of that, I got to witness Emmanuel Pahud playing. For those of you who don't know who he is, he is a world famous flutist; famous for his playing, his golden flute, and his handsome looks. Hot dang that was a good night, I really let my inner nerd come out.
We walked back from the concert hall to the hotel and got to see the city before the end of the night. Berlin is like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and New York combined. Who needs America when you can get the trifecta right here. I am seriously in love with this city, it is so beautiful and majestic. I think I want to move here. We'll be back here again May 2nd, I'll be searching for apartments then!
Tschuss! :)
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