East Side Gallery, Berlin

Here are some favorites from the East Side Gallery, just five minutes away from our hotel. Many of the works, after being vandalized, have recently been restored, or are undergoing or will soon be undergoing restoration.

Grüße aus Berlin

The past week or so has been really, really hectic. Lots of final papers and an exam for my classes, and I'm still not done. But I am in Berlin with the group! The city is beautiful, but also really large and somewhat impersonal. I've heard a lot about the differences between East and West Berlin, but some parts of East Berlin are nicer than some parts of West Berlin. The city is really unique for such a large city because of all the open spaces.

Our hotel is in East Berlin, actually inside the East train station, which would have been really convenient if the S-Bahn lines connecting here weren't under repair and closed. But they are. The infrastructure is still pretty conveniently organized around us though, and transportation isn't too difficult.

On our first day, we arrived at around noon and proceeded to do a preliminary tour of the city with Dr. R. We saw the Fernsehturm and Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center, Unter den Linden, the Reichstag and other governmental buildings in the area, and the Holocaust Memorial.

Getting close to Marx and Engels in Alexanderplatz in East Berlin.

The Pieta inside the monument to victims of totalitarianism.
The Berlin bear.

Memorial to members of the Reichstag who were murdered by the Nazis.

The hotel on Unter den Linden, where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of the window.

At the East Side Gallery.

Kids playing at the Holocaust Memorial.

Brandenburg Gate.
The American Embassy.

Inside the Sony Center.

Checkpoint Charlie.

Bombed-out church on Kudamm that wasn't restored, to remind everyone of the destruction of war.

View of the River Spree from the Fernsehturm.

View of the Berliner Dom from the Fernsehturm.

Statue of Schiller in front of the old theater.

Inside the Jewish Museum.

Going back to Wuerzburg tomorrow, Mannheim on Thursday, and back to the States on Saturday!!

Rose Garden in Bamberg's New Residence

Last Saturday, we went on our penultimate day trip with Dr. Suess. He took us to Bamberg, and in the New Residence there, we saw a really beautiful rose garden. So many different roses, with many different scents. The lavender ones smelled like fresh clean soap, the white ones smelled kind of like the ocean, the pink ones smelled like candy, and there were of course typical-smelling roses as well.

Würzburg Residenz/Only three weeks left

G and I went to Würzburg Residenz a couple weeks ago, and I never posted the pictures. Unfortunately, they don't allow photographs inside the building, which is a real pity, because it's sumptuously decorated, and there is a fresco by Tiepolo adorning the ceiling in the Great Hall. There are beautiful gardens in various styles outside.



It's been a strange week. I had a hard time getting back into the rhythm of school after Prague, especially since I had two papers due Monday, and two presentations in the rest of the week. But everything's better now.

I've been reading Franz Kafka's Amerika all day today in preparation for the literature class on Monday, and the whole book reads like a Goldberg device that ends in disaster. It's one accident after another, and it's kind of hard to endure. After it was apparent in the last class that no one read the assigned book, the professor announced a reading quiz for next time.

This weekend are the last of our group day trips, before the week-long expedition to Berlin, which I'm really excited about. But tomorrow, we're going to Bamberg, and on Sunday to Nuremberg.

I can't believe there are only three weeks left here! The time has flown by so quickly; I feel like I arrived yesterday. I'm going to miss this little town, and all the great people I've met here. Of some consolation, though, is the fact that many of my classmates are going back to UT with me.

Inside the Chapel.

In front of the Residenz.

Lunch at a cafe downtown. Afterward, I stopped by the farmer's market, and bought the sweetest, smallest strawberries I've ever tasted. They were as sweet as candy, and yummier.

Well, I'm off to bed now, since I have to get up at 6:30 am tomorrow to catch the 7:20 bus for the 8:15 meeting at the train station for the 8:30 departure!