Germany

Well Im writing this at the end of our second day here in Germany. Yesterday we did something really out of character and did a free walking tour. yep--just kidding. Those dedicated blog followers will know that we have done one in every city that we have been in. There is a company called NewEurope that does these tours in many major cities across Europe. They work on a tips only basis so you get to decide what the tour was worth. So we did that in the morning and met some fun other people from Washington. On the tour we learned about various assasination threats on Hitler. We saw the Jew Memorial which was really neat. Again, pictures will come soon. probably at the next hostel.

After the tour we decided to go back and see the Holocaust museum which is located underneath the Jew Memorial (underground). We went in and they had a timeline of the history and then had different postcards, notes, letters, diaries, etc., that were written by various Jews in concentration camps. It was quite interesting to read all of these. Then they had a couple of rooms dedicated to different Jew families and showed all the different spots in Europe that Jews had been murdered in. I, by now we all know that it is safe to assume "Mollie", really liked the first half of the museum, but found the second half a little dry. I "might" have fallen asleep while sitting in one part waiting for Amanda and Eric to catch up with me. I think that Amanda has made it her personal goal to soak up every little, tiny, bit of knowledge that she possibly can on this trip. Not sure how I feel about that =) but she does keep us all motivated to keep going to the museums.

After the Holocaust museum we decided to head back to the hostel and get some lunch. Our hostel is in a great location. FINALLY!! It is right by the train station. And by train station I mean....mall (yes we went shopping there), grocery store (two of them--we like this b-c we think that they have lower prices due to competition), various cheap fast foodish options, and then finally yes an actual train station. We then (with a little prodding by Amanda) continued on to our next Museum. The German History Museum. --by the way i apologize for the grammer but this keyboard is sure strange. So the German History Museum--it overall was pretty good. Thez had some great things on display that was interesting to see. Part of the Berlin wall was in there and lots of little interesting tidbits of German information.

After the museum we came back got dinner and then decided to go meet up with the pub crawl that is offered by the New Europe tour group. This however is not free, but was onlz 10 euro so it was not too bad. It was nice to have people with us who spoke the language and knew where we were going. We decided to do this with the other group of Americans that we had met. As much as the three of us love each other I think that we were all very open to the idea of getting to hang out with people other than just overselves. They were a lot of fun. We all had a good time. We went to four different pubs and then decided to graciously bow out before the group hit up the local club.

Today we got up and, naturally, went to the train station for breakfast. When we got back to the hostel we had to spend some time fixing our reservation with the hostel b-c they messed something up. It was a bit annoying but we got it all figured out so life is good.

We then went with our new American friends (who are conveniently staying at the same hostel as we are) and walked to Ka Dum--Amanda informs me this is spelled wrong but thats what it sounds like so we will go with that. On our way we stopped so some of the group could get lunch. Amanda and I spotted ice cream and decided that today was the day. We talk about ice cream (and by we, I mean ME) about everyday. Amanda and Eric have given me grief b-c I keep seeing it being sold on the street but will refuse to pay the obscene prices that they are charging. Its normally not that great of ice cream and they want 3.50 euros for it. That is about 4.30 US dollars. For those of you who dont know I might be a big frugal. So I have abstained...that is until today. Actually when I saw the ice cream I decided that regardless of hte cost I was getting some. It was a nice day, perfect for eating ice cream. So when I walked up to the counter I saw the God had rewarded me for my patience. Giant, delicous waffle ice cream cones for 1.80 a piece. Amanda and I each got one, for the same cost as what we would have paid for one in the other countries. Mollie-1 point. Ok...kind of a lame story. SO back to Ka Dum.

It is a a large shopping area that is home to the department store Ka De We. That IS actually spelled right--use your imagination with the pronounciation. SO this store is huge!! When u first walk in all you see are purses purses purses. Loius Voitton, Prada, etc. They were all very reasonably priced. NOT. but it was fun to look at. This department store is seven stories tall. There was literally like an employee about every 10 feet. If Amanda was still next to me we would be able to impress u with the number of employees that are currently working at all time. I believe that it is over a thousand. I will get an exact figure for you. I know regret telling Amanda to go away while I wrote this =). Oh well. But it is huge. I cant even describe how large it is. But everything is incredibly expensive. So the first floor is purses-accesories, second floor is mens fashion, third is womens, then the fourth was babies, then the fifth was like a cooking-pots-pans-house stuff floor. The best floor was the sixth floor. They had like a WHOLE grocery store up there. Thez had every type of meat that I have ever seen, and then some. They not only had whole chickens, but they also had whole little minature chickens. There was also an extensive line of chocolates, bakery goods, cheese, etc. Really mind blowing. Then on the seventh floor they have a huge restaurant--oh and if that wasnt enough they also have various little restaurants throughout the whole store. So it was quite the place. We spent the most time on the sixth floor, --the food floor for those of you who forgot already. It was really fun to walk around and see.

We then decided to come back to the hostel and watch the World Cup game at this outdoor park thing. I however decided that Id rather read the last 20 pages of my murder suspense book instead, so I stayed in. I ended up learning that for some reason the game wasnt being played, so I was even happier with my choice. #

Later tonight we will be taking the S Bahn, the public transportation here, to go see the longest strip of the Berlin wall that is still standing. Then we are going to see the Reichstaf. U can go up in this huge glass dome and see the city, should be beautiful.

Well...Thats all for know!