Berlin & Prague pt. 1

Happy Sunday!
I've just returned from an excellent whirlwind trip to Berlin, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic. It was an awesome week and I don't even know how I can describe everything that has happened. I'll do a rundown of everything that happened in 2 different postings (1 for Berlin, 1 for Prague) on a day by day schedule, just to keep things simple.

Berlin
It was incredibly cold in Berlin while we were there from Monday to Wednesday, with temperature never reaching the 0°C mark. In my opinion our time was far to short to see many parts of the city and we were constantly pressed by short days and sub-zero temperatures.

Monday
Was up at 5:00 to get on the train to Berlin. Arrived in Berlin around 2, checked into the Bax-Pax hostel and immedeately went on a city tour. The tour was on a bus and left a lot to be desired as we didn't stop or get off to take pictures. We ate some dinner and hung out that evening.
Tuesday
With the morning free several of the other IES guys and I went to the Neues and Altes museums on Museum Island. The Neues had exhibits with Egyptian artifacts, Germanic artifacts and lots of historical information. It is also home to Nefertini, known as the most beautiful woman in Berlin. The Altes Museum, though smaller than the Neues, had an excellent exhibit on Greece with many pieces of sculpture and art. Afterword we took some pictures of the Berlin Cathedral, which is actually a Protestant church, but weren't able to go inside as they wanted 3€ just to look around, way to steep a price for college students.
The afternoon included a trip to the German Bundestag and the Reichstag. The Reichstag has undergone many changes since it's original construction in 1894, most recently the construction of the large glass dome that replaces the original dome which burned down in 1933 and a large scale remodel. The building is filled with history with Russian on the walls, Adolf Hitler's name on a plaque, and old secret tunnels out of the building; it does however have a very modern touch with it's large glass dome providing excellent views of Berlin and the Parliamentary proceedings.
I also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial. This 4.9 acre plot of land in central Berlin is filled with 2,711 concrete blocks of varying sizes. The  memorial leaves a lot of interpretation to the visitor and the information center provides a history and many personal examples of Jewish persecution during the Nazi rule in Germany.
Finally we had a meeting with Dietmar Nietan, a member of the Bundestag who spoke with us about his action within the Parliament, Committees, the EU and several Jewish cooperation organizations.


Wednesday
Another early morning we departed for a meeting at the German ministry for Defense and spoke with Lt. Col. Hamann about Germany's continuing role in Afghanistan and the future of German military operations. He had to leave us early, as he needed to write the Mandate that would be presented later that day to Angela Merkel (German Chancellor), overall he was pretty awesome. We also got a brief history of the building, and the Hollywood movie Valkyrie, even seeing where Tom Cruise was shot.
After lunch we headed to the Auswärtiges Amt (German Foregin Ministry) and heard from a Dutchman about German foreign policy and Germany's role in the European Union.
We headed back to the hostel, changed, and departed for the train station for our continuing adventure on to Prague, Czech Republic.


General Impressions
Berlin, while not the most beautiful city in Europe is full of history and culture. The city has changed hands and governments many times in its short history and it is easy to see that Germans have remaining impressions about their history and may sometimes feel embarrassed for that history. However, even though the Berlin wall fell only 20 years ago you can barely see a difference from what used to be East and West Germany and the continued ability of the German people to persevere and adapt is really astounding. I definitely want to head back to Berlin when I have some more time, to see some other sights that I saw only in passing or didn't have a chance to see at all(Checkpoint Charlie, The Pergamon, DDR Museum, Schloss Charlottenburg, German Film Museum, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Wall remains, Jewish Museum, and the Topography of Terror). From my visit I would highly recommend a stroll down Unter den Linden, a tour of the Reichstag, the Holocaust Memorial, and Museum Island.