Souvenir hunt Saturday

This morning we all got up for breakfast at 8:30 only to find that our breakfast was actually supposed to be at 9:30. So we waited in the lobby for a few minutes to give the breakfast people time to set the table for us before we sat down for breakfast. Not everyone came to breakfast to begin with, but today the numbers grew even smaller as some of the usual breakfast club had left to go to other countries or to go back home. But, since Mira, Hannah, and I were all leaving for our other destinations on Monday, we had the entire day to go about whatever we pleased. We started the day by going to the Humboldt store to buy some last minute souvenirs, which really became the theme for the day. After the Humboldt store we went to the Rittersport store because Hannah hadn’t had the opportunity to go earlier in the trip. With Hannah loaded with chocolate for her family we went to our next destination, which was the Museum for the Murdered Jews of Europe. All of us had gone to see the memorial before, but we hadn’t realized that admission to the museum was free, so we hadn’t gone in. We spent approximately an hour walking through the exhibits which described the history of the genocide of European Jews and other minorities, letters and postcards from victims of the genocide before their death, and the stories of families that were victims of the holocaust. The exhibits left us in somber mood and we reflected on the things we had read as we walked through the memorial to get to the Tier Garten. For about an hour we walked through the Tier Garten and reminisced about our trip and how much we are going to miss being in Berlin. During part of our walk it even started to rain, and like true Washingtonians, we kept on walking and welcomed the rain despite not having jackets.

After the Tier Garten we passed through the Brandenburg Gate one last time on our way to the bus to go back to Frederich Strasse so that I could go to the Birkenstock store and finally get the pair of Birkenstocks that I was tempted to get since the beginning of this trip. I determined that I will probably not have the opportunity to buy brand new Birkenstocks for 45 euro in Germany for quite some time, so I indulged and got myself an early birthday present. Then after the Birkenstock store we stopped at a coffee shop to take a short break after all of our walking and shopping and we enjoyed thirty minutes of free and fast wifi. I ordered the specialty French press coffee for the day, and I was not disappointed by the Guatemalan origin grounds. Fully caffeinated, we were ready to go to our next destination, which was a bookstore in Alexanderplatz so that Hannah could get a few books for our upcoming train rides and flights. After the bookstore we were finally finished for the day, so we went back to the hostel to meet up with some of the group that was still left to get dinner. We finally decided to go to a Vietnamese Restaurant that we knew had generous portions for a good price and taste. After dinner we all just relaxed and did our own thing. I attempted to correct a silly error I made while checking in for my flight to Pisa and also do research on things to do in Cinque Terre and Paris. Eventually I was too tired to stay up anymore, so I shut my computer and went to sleep.

P.S. I forgot to mention that when we came back to Berlin we had new room assignments, and I was put in a room with a girl who was staying with family for her last night in Berlin, and then she was leaving for a flight early in the morning. In addition, the two beds in the room were put together in one bed frame so that it more closely resembled a double sized bed and not two twin sized beds, like most of the other rooms. So, I really lucked out by getting a room to myself for two nights and getting a larger bed!