Spring Break in Berlin (part 3)

Now for day three of my Berlin Trip!

So my roommates and I walked around the area our hotel was in and came across a big shopping area. But instead of shopping we decide to keep walking and see what we found. We eventually made our way to the Berlin Zoo, which just happens to be the oldest and moot known zoo in Germany.

Although it was pretty cold out it was still a very fun time. We saw as many animals as we possibly could. There were so many baby animals too and they were all so cute. :)

Then we went into the aquarium next door and explored there. It was so awesome. I loved it so much. There were so many types of fish; including at least 4 different types of jelly fish. There was one point where I just kept staring at this one tank of jelly fish as they swam around in little circles. It was just mesmerizing.

After spending a few hours at both of those places we walked around and did a little window shopping while continuing to explore the area around us.

This was probably the least eventful day but it was still so much fun!!

One more day to go!

Blue Skies, Smiling At Me...

...nothing but blue skies do I see!

So a quick break from me talking about Berlin.

So for the last 5 days I have been sick. Nothing too bad just a small ear ache and a bad cough. But of course Ireland would choose those 5 days to have gorgeous weather.

I did my best to enjoy it while trying not to hack up a lung. :)

On Saturday I let myself sleep in and catch up on some rest. Later, I went out and just kinda walked around the town for a little while. The weather was too nice not too. Then I came back and met up with one of my friends and hung out with her for a while.

On Sunday  I walked out to the beach in Dungarvan and walked along it for a while and basically spent a good chunk of my day out there. It was beautiful; windy but beautiful. I will have to get out there again sometime with my camera.

Overall it was a nice weekend here in Dungarvan. :)

Spring Break in Berlin (Part 2)

The first part of our second day in Berlin was a group tour around the surrounding area and certain specific monuments and places; led by Dr. Hosey. Bright and early we all headed out into Berlin and walked around the beautiful city. Our first real stop was at one of the last largest standing sections of the Berlin Wall.

It was amazing to be standing next to the very wall that we all learn about in school. To know that this section of concrete and metal helped blocked family members and friends from each other for so long was just surreal.

Right next to this section of the wall was a museum that was set up in the old SS Headquarters building. It was a WWII and Holocaust museum. It mainly was on the SS and what part they played in the whole event. It was a very good museum. Lots of information and pictures without being too text heavy. I wish we could have stayed longer but we were on a schedule and could only stay for about half and hour.

After that we walked a bit more and we ended up near where Hitler's infamous bunker was. Right across the street from that was an outside holocaust memorial. We were all given about 20 minutes to explore it. When looking at it from the outside it looks like a lot of short square stone pillars where some are taller then other.

 And at first when you walk into it that is what it is; short stone pillars. But as you continue on they get taller and taller util suddenly you can't see anything unless you look between the rows and rows of pillars. They were all really close together and it is sort of disorienting.

And it was set up to make you feel that way I think. It was supposed to make you feel like you had no real control and that everything was getting out of hand. Basically the feeling that we can only imagine citizens of Germany were feeling during the rise of the Nazi party; and later how the holocaust victims felt when they had everything suddenly taken from them for no go reason.

After that we walked on over to where the museum Checkpoint Charlie was. Checkpoint Charlie was basically the best known crossing point at the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It was a checkpoint crossing for Allied (US, etc.) forces to move between the separated sides.

It was there that we all split up into groups and made our own ways around the city. I stayed with some friends whom I just happened to be rooming with in Berlin. We went into the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and explored there for a little while before we started to get hungry and went in search of food.

After finding food we walked around the area we were at and did a little shopping. Then we walked our way back to the area where Museum Island is located and we all decided on a meeting point and time before splitting up to go look at whatever we were interested in seeing. I went to two places. The first place I went to was the Berliner Dom.

The Berliner Dom is the central cathedral in Berlin. It is absolutely gorgeous in there. The architecture and intricate details were breathtaking. At one point, after taking all of the obligatory tourist pictures, I just sat down in a pew and took in all of the beautiful murals, stain glass, and structures around me.

After a while I went down to the basement where there was a crypt. While morbid and a bit creepy, it was also interesting. It would have been nice to have some English translations but we can't have everything.

After than I went upstairs where they had a few small exhibits on display about the Dom. Then I had a huge inner debate.

To climb, or not to climb up to the outdoor balcony of the dome. That was the question.

In the end I decided that it would be a once in a life time opportunity to see such a view. So I told my self to suck it up and try to ignore the heights involved. I started to climb up the many, many, stair cases; all the while getting more and more shaky from my heights issue. Eventually I made it up to an indoor walkway around the dome and I thought that this was it. That somewhere there would be a door to let us outside to that walkway. Oh, how wrong I was. As I looked down into the main room of the Cathedral from this walkway, I noticed that there were people outside....two stories higher than I already was. I'm sorry to disappoint but I could not make myself go any farther then I was already. Nope, wasn't going to happen.

There was a lovely view from the indoor walkway though. While looking out at Berlin from that height I thought back to my Irish literature class; more specifically the day when we discussed the usage and meaning of the word 'sublime' in one of W. B. Yeat's poems. Basically when something is sublime, it means that it is awful. Not awful in the sense of something negative or wrong, but rather full of awe. But at the same time as being full of awe you still have a small feeling of unrest or slight fear. That was exactly what I was feeling. I was stunned by the beauty and wonder of the city from such heights while at the same time being fearful of the heights that made it possible to see such things.

After the Berliner Dom I walked right on over to the Altes Museum.

This museum was basically a huge wonderful display of Ancient Greek and Roman pottery and statuary. It was so cool. Not gonna lie though, when I first saw one of the Greek pots with the images of a mythological scene painted on them, my first thought was of Disney's Hercules.

It was a great last stop for the day and I spent about an hour and 10 minutes just looking at everything and reading the descriptions. Afterwards I headed on out to the little courtyard in front o gboth the Altes and the Berliner Dom and met up with my friends. We all then got some dinner and took the S-bahn back to our hotel. We then relaxed for a while before going out to a near by pub/restaurant to have a few drinks and chat.

 And thus ends day 2 of my Spring Break in Berlin!

Spring Break in Berlin (Part 1)

First off, I am sorry for not blogging about my amazing spring break sooner. I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of my very close friends from Mercyhurst was planning to join me in Dublin, when we came back from break, and spend then next 5 days with me. Carolyn graduated last year and she, our friend Amanda, and I are very close (and all studying the best major ever!!). She is currently doing her masters degree program in London and will continue doing so until her dissertation is due in Sept.

Anyways that is my excuse for not blogging. I couldn't exactly turn to her and say, "yeah I know this is your first time in Ireland but I really need to blog so our plans to bike to the cliffs are gonna have to wait". Yeah no, that wasn't happening.

So anyways I have tons to tell you all about Berlin and so you can expect at least the next three posts to be about Berlin. So, without further ado.....

So I will admit that the very first bit of our journey was not much fun for anyone. We all had to wake up and be ready to pile onto a bus set for Dublin, at 2:50 in the morning. Yes you read that right, 2:50 AM! And after the long bus ride (where I got absolutely no sleep) we had to go through all of the general airport stuff and wait for our plan. Then we flew to Berlin (where I, again, got no sleep) and we landed in Berlin. Then we took the S-bahn (one of the train/subway systems) to the station nearest to our hotel (Savignyplatz; that's the station not the hotel lol).

                                                  (Picture of a typical train station in Berlin)
                                                   
We then proceeded on with a short walk to our hotel.

After making it to the hotel we all had to sit (actually more like stand) around and wait for the manager to get us all of our keys, only to find out that the roommate assignments had gone missing. So then we had a scramble to find whom we wanted to room with since it was left to us at this point. I got to room with some wonderful people that I had roomed with back during out weekend in Dublin.

                                                         (Main stairwell up to our hotel)

Then we got a bit of down time to relax, because we were slightly behind schedule and we all put it to a vote between two options. 1) if we wanted some time to relax and then go on a modified tour or (2) just power through with the original plan at a faster pace.

In a stunning turn of events, the 32 college students voted for the option of down time.

After a little over an hour's rest we all got back out on the S-bahn and went down to this sort of shopping street further into the city. We then walked a ways and came to this big opening, kind of like a long town square of sorts, where the main gate between West and East Berlin is. There we saw these four guys doing a street performance of a sequence of dances. It wasn't quite a flash mob because it was only the four of them and they all started at the same time but it was still interesting to see. And only after being in the country for a few hours no less.

We then went to the Reichstag otherwise known as the German Parliament building.  It was very beautiful but sadly we did not have reservations to get in to tour it. While near the Reichstag we saw these really cool street performers.

We all thought they were statues at first. But then this little girl put a coin or two in their little bowl there and they started moving around and doing a skit for us. It was pretty cool I must say. We then back tracked through the gate and made our way towards Museum Island. Yes, I kid you not, there is an actual small island in the middle of the large river running through Berlin where there are only museums. I was in heaven. More on that later though.

We then were shown where we were all going to be taken to have some traditional German food for our first dinner in Berlin. After that we were set free for about an hour and then we all met back up and got ready to eat.

First let me just say that there was a lot of beer brought to our tables. You can't have a traditional German dinner without beer. First course was a cucumber salad and it was very tasty! Then came the main course of some sort of roast in what I think was a beer sauce, steamed carrots, and roasted potatoes. It was all very good (once I got used to the taste of the beer sauce lol). Then came desert which was a chocolate pudding covered in a vanilla cream sauce. I have always hated pudding but I promise I at least tried it.

By the time we got back from dinner it was nearly 9 and everyone was pretty tired. I decided to call it an early night so that I could try to get as much done as I could the next day.

Well there you have it. Day one of four in Berlin. And that wasn't even my busiest day. More to come soon. :)

Castle's, and Churches, and Ruins...Oh My!

So last weekend a group of us went on a tour, led by the amazing Tom Keith, around the near by towns of Dungarvan. It was a long yet interesting day and, while the weather may have been windy and freezing, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Basically we toured many of the old historic churches and ruins in the surrounding area close to Dungarvan. Tom, as always, had many interesting facts and stories about each and every stop.

Our first stop took us up into the hills of Waterford County to see an old church and monastery. The view was amazing and the church was beautiful. Our next stop was Lismore Castle. Sadly we were not able to go in. The reason being that a Duke actually lives in Lismore Castle. I would imagine it would be a bit weird to have your home invaded by a group of foreign college students. We got some great pictures of the outside of the castle though.

We then went to see several other churches, some dating back to around 600 AD if I remember correctly! Our last stop took us near the sea; St. Declan's Well. From what I can remember, St. Declan used to retreat to this area by the ocean for reflection and prayer and he built a small stone building there (now only one wall remains) and there was also a well built there. Nowadays, once a year people come to St. Declan's well and they take a small stone and etch a cross into the last remaining wall. We did this as well while there. The amazing thing about this was that you could see just how long people have held this tradition...some of the crosses etched in were a few inches deep due to the many many times the cross had been written there by visiting people. Wow right?!

Over all it was a very enjoyable way to spend a Friday and I cannot wait until the next trip Tom may plan for us.

Till then!

Volley Ball in the Parking Lot Anyone?

So this past weekend, while many from our group were in Dublin running the 5K race, I was here in lovely Dungarvan. It was actually a very nice weekend of relatively sunny weather.

Saturday morning was a very interesting, yet fun, experience. I had gone down stairs in my townhouse and heard voices outside my door. So I went out to say good morning only to find one of my professors, his nephew, and one of my friends playing some sort of ball passing game. I of course joined in the fun. After a little while playing one of my other 2 professors and his two young sons came out and joined in the game as well. It was then that it was suggested by the boys that we play adults vs. kids.

We then set up a court made up of imaginary boundary lines and played a makeshift version of volley ball. We played for at least a good hour and a half. We put up a valiant fight but in the end, at game point, the kids got the upper hand and beat us.

I guess this just goes to show you never quite know what will happen when you step out your front door. You might just end up playing volley ball in a parking lot with 2 of your college professors.

A Weekend in the Big City (part 2)

So the next morning we all met up in the lobby of our hostle and met up with our tour guide again. He then took us on a 3 hour walking tour of Dublin. It was very interesting (for the parts that I could here at least). He took us to Trinity College and told us a bit about the college and the when, why, and how it was built. Unfortunately my camera chose that very moment to die on me and I had forgot to pack any replacement batteries; so no fun pictures this time around.

We then walked around town and took pauses at significant statues or street addresses and were told the stories behind them. We eventually made our way to Dublin Castle. We were not able to go into the castle since, for the next 6 months, Ireland is housing the president of the EU and they were preparing the castle for an event. It was a beautiful place though with a lot of history.

After that we walked even further up to a lovely old chapel deep within Dublin. We then walked down to the water and made our way over to what had once been the post office where the Easter Rising of 1916 had taken place. For anyone who doesn't know much about the Easter Rising, a group of rebels took over the post office in Dublin to upset the British. It wasn't until about 6 days in that the British really did anything. But when they did begin to retaliate they did it on full strength. They bombed the post office and eventually captured all of the leaders of the rebellion.

Once they had been captured they were taken to execution. The Irish people were not really upset or outraged until the story of how the injured James Connolly had been dragged out and tied to a chair in order to face a firing squad. Some attribute the beginning of the fight for Irish independence on this event. W. B. Yeats wrote a poem on this rebellion and the people involved.

It was very cool to not only learn some Irish history and visit such significant places, but to walk to, and see, places and street ways that were referenced in important literary works of those such as Yeats and James Joyce.

After the tour we were given the day to ourselves to enjoy. I, and many friends, decided that it was a perfect time for shopping! We found this wonderful shop called Penny's (no not JC Penny's) where there was tons of cute clothes at very good prices. After that we found a side street full of shops and spent our day checking the majority of them out.

We then went to dinner at this little pub Malloy's. There we ate, talked, and watched the rugby match with a few of the locals. It was, overall, a very good day.

On our third and final day in Dublin we had most of the day to ourselves. Only rule was be back at the hostle by 4. Easy enough. A friend of mine, Ricardo, and I walked ourselves over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was so incredibly gorgeous! Such detail, color, and beauty in one place. They had several statues and small exhibits on the sides of the Cathedral. Ricardo and I spent plenty of time in there taking as many pictures as we wanted of everything we could see.

Then we walked around, saw a few sites, and did a little shopping. Then made our way back to the hostle and got on the bus to make our way back to Dungarvan. My weekend in Dublin was incredible and I will never forget it.