Thursday, June 9, 2011

Berlin day 2

This morning I was the last one up.  I slept until 10:30.  That was nice for a change!  When I woke up, I was greeted by the gang: mom, dad, David and Bill!  I had a croissant for breakfast.  Yum!  We had a big day of sight seeing to do!  Our first stop was to rent bikes. 

When we got to the bike shop, we realized they did not have bikes for us all.  So, we went to another bike shop.  They did not have enough for us either.  So we decided to get three bikes from1 rental and 1 from the other rental.  The bikes had big advertisements all over them.  I hoped the bikes would work.  They looked kind-of old and rundown.

After the bike rental shop, we saw an old piece of the wall separating East and West Berlin.  The wall was all covered in really nice art work.  It was not graffiti, though.  The art was actually meaningful.  It was made for people to look at and appreciate.  The subject of most of the art was peace and world happiness.  This part of the wall was the longest remaining part left.  It was 1.3 kilometers long.



When we finished touring the wall, we got a snack.  It was similar to a hot dog stand but they  had food other that hot dogs.  I ordered a hamburger and fries in German.  I am getting good at my German.  The lady behind the the counter was really nice and patient with me.

After we had a snack, we went to an amazing place for dessert.  It was a tower that was 300 meters high.  It was built to be a TV antenna, and had a big restaurant on top.  It was designed in the shape of a ball.  Here is a picture of me looking up at it.  The other pictures are taken from the top.





Our  yummy desserts kept us in good spirits for the long ride to Check Point Charlie.  Check Point Charlie is a museum that used to be a border crossing between East and West Berlin.  The museum explained mostly how people escaped to West Berlin.  Some people built airplanes and flew over, some people hid in suitcases, some people swam the river that flowed along the border.   If escapees got caught, border soldiers would shoot them to the death.  Along the wall, there were gun towers with gunners on top.  They also had automatic guns that would shoot if they saw an escapee.  Some of the gun men thought it was just too brutal, and dropped their guns and ran to West Berlin.  Check Point Charlie is a really interesting Museum.  I would love to visit again. 

After Check Point Charlie,  we went to dinner with Bill and his friend Katya.  We had Indian food.  I loved it.  I also had a Indian smoothie.  They taste a little different from a normal US smoothie.  I will have all lot of smoothies in India. Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic.  

6 comments:

  1. nice photos Rohan. i eagerly look forward to your post every night. you are articulate and informative. i learn something from every post.
    have fun and give your mom and dad a hug for me please.
    ivan;.

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  2. Hi Rohan -- It's Uncle John, Grandma, and Anne. We're doing a test to see if we can post to your blog, dude.

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  3. Hi Rohan!
    I am visiting Anne, Lucy, and Margaret, and Anne is helping me post a comment on your blog. I hope this works.
    I love reading your blog! You're doing a great job!!
    Love, Grandma

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  4. Great pics! They really add value to the blog.

    The closest I've ever been to the Berlin Wall is watching the video 'Nikita' by Elton John from the 80's. Here's a link! http://vodpod.com/watch/651392-elton-john-nikita-pour-nikita

    Very Eighties!

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  5. Rohan, so great to read your blog posts. Just getting caught up now, once we got your Dad's email travelogue.

    Susie & I are very much enjoying reading about Amsterdam and Berlin. We are also finding it fun reading "between the lines" of your commentary! :-) We look forward to reading the rest of June soon, too...

    Btw, you may want to avoid anything cold (like Lassis--or as you call them: Indian smoothies) when you are traveling in India. Much easier to pick up bugs when you eat cold things or drink the water there, in particular in Nepal. So be careful!

    We're sure your Dad and Mom know all about this and you'll all be careful.

    Thanks again for your great work here and your detailed blog posts! Sounds like all of you are having a great time.

    Do take more pics of yourself, especially ones in your surroundings, near the sights you're seeing.

    Have fun! (We know you will.)

    Much Love,
    Brad and Susie

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