Day 4: I am short

So I start off my day getting on the train, which was a bit stressful, as the train only stops for a 5-minute window, during which you need to find the right coach. It took me a while, but when I found it, I found that the storage area up top was within reach, but tough to get a 25-pound bag onto. I remarked to my train neighbor that I'm clearly below German average height, to which she wittily responded that the German average height was is not average. Turns out my neighbor is an artist doing her PhD in art. She seems to be more in the art commentary field, aiming to work with museums talking about art and stuff. Museumsufer was totally my icebreaker. Apparently, a PhD is very respected in Germany, regardless of which field you do it in. Most people do theirs around 30 years old, so she said the fact that she was doing hers at 25 makes it quite early and will hopefully get her a leg-up. Go figure. I hope we never have to do PhDs to find jobs.

I got off the train and with her help, found the ticket office and got a transit pass. I accidentally validated it twice (I thought you needed to do it for each trip), but it's clear which day my pass started on. Hopefully nobody will check. If they do, I'll yank out my passport and pull the tourist card.

My hostel isn't as good as the last one. The bathroom is shared, which means you need to walk 20+ paces to get to it. Showers are also shared, which means that when you come out from behind that curtain, there could be a South Korean guy waving hi to you. True story.

I had a late lunch again, but this time, I tried the Berlin special "Currywurst", which is a Bratwurst sausage bathed in curry. The curry wasn't great, but it was a good combo. In my picture, you can see the Holocaust memorial across the street. I went to the memorial before eating. Good thing too, as there was a long lineup at the information centre when I was finished eating.

The starting hall was a short chronology of the events leading up to and including the Holocaust. The next room, called The Room of Dimensions, included letters, notes and journals depicting suffering displayed on the ground. On the walls were the number of Jews murdered, according to region. The Room of Families was next, and included the stories of about 15 Jewish families from different regions under German control, including who survived. The ratios were not depressing. The next room was The Room of Names, and was basically a dark room with seats and a video with a name projected on all the walls. A narrator would tell the story of the person and a new name would appear. I didn't stay too long, as there are probably several weeks' worth of names to go through. The final room was the Room of Sites, which detailed each execution & concentration camp.

I headed over to Brandenburg Gate after the Currywurst. It was a beautiful, but the picturesque sight was marred by the the construction going on around it. There were some people posing as American and Soviet soldiers for you to take pictures with for a small fee, but that was too gimicky for me. I walked over to the Riechstag and found out that you had to book to actually get in. This makes sense, since it is, after all, the German government. I totally was not paying attention when planning this. I got an information booklet on the German goverment and how it works for some bedtime reading. I also helped some people take their photos in front of Reichstag and got one guy to help me take one!

Since I couldn't go into the Riechstag, I suddenly had a ton of extra time. It was only 5pm, so I headed to Alexanderplatz to see what was around there. I came acridest few churches, a fountain devoted to Poseidon, a huge tower, and a few other buildings. I didn't want to keep heading to that direction nexuses it would be approaching Museumsinsel, which is for another day. I had dinner at a place in Alexanderplatz that I found. They had what they called Berlin Specialties, so I tried a Smoked Pork meal, seeing as I already tried the Currywurst. I just got them to recommend me a beer to try.

I'm back at the hostel now, sipping on red wine as I'm writing. It's terrible. I think I'll have Pinot Noir tomorrow with dinner to make up for it. It's the main red wine crop in Germany, so I hope I can pick out something better than what I'm drinking now. I'm quite excited for tomorrow. I'll be hitting Saschenhausen concentration camp and two museums. Probably won't be done until late tomorrow night, as both museums don't close until 10pm! That's it for today!