Happy 2011!

Celebrating the new year on the fiestmile was quite the experience. People were everywhere, food and drink booths lined both sides of the entire park street, and lights shown from the screens, amusment rides and the fireworks people set off all night. We were there for five or six hours, but the time went by quickly. One of my favorite parts was the view of Berlin from the top of the ferris wheel. I would love to come back to Berlin again for Silvester or go to another city to experience their new years celebration.

I spent the weekend exploring Berlin with Vazanny. On Saturday we went to the Berlin Zoo and stumbeled across the Christmas Market. I really enjoyed the zoo. I'm sure the animals enjoy the weather in Berlin more than they do in Texas becase they were very active. We also got to see many of the animals at feeding time, so they were really excited. Plus, they had small river otters which were adorable. I really wanted to take one with me.

I wish that American cities cleabrated Christmas the way that they do in Germany. Most of the stores and resturaunts have Christmas trees inside and skysrapers attach them too their roofs. Others have Christams lights covering the front of the buildings. And the Christmas markets are very festive and fun. I had my first crepe there. It had kinder chocolate inside and was delicious.

Sunday we went to the Olympic Stadium, the Jewish Historical Museaum, and the Checkpoint Charlie museaum. I really enjoyed learning about the Berlin wall and the differences in culture on each side of the wall. Many pepole on both the east and the west sides of the wall devoted their lives to move people across the boarder. Every time someone sucessfully made it across, the eastern government would find a way to modify the wall so that no one could make it across that way again.

As of this point in the trip, given the chance to return to Germany I would visit Dresden first. We took a day trip there on Tuesday and I thought it was beautiful. I like it so much becasue I would classify it as an outdoorsy city. In the city there was culture, shops and food, but you wouldn't have to travel far to hike or bike along the Elbe river. And a plus for Dresden is that it is home to the best museum ever: the Deutsches Hygiene Museum. We spent close to three hours there, but I would have been quite contenet to stay for many more. It would be a great place to have access to while studying anatomy.

We are about half way through our trip now and I have found that I don't really miss anything "American" like I did on my last trip to Europe. Time has flown by. I hope that the second half of the trip continues to be just as great.