The Brandenburg Gate

A totally unique experience on a CCVA trip - sleeping in until 8:20 this morning! Fully recharged and energetic, we made our way onto the bus for our one and only bus tour of the trip!

A gigantic fan zone had just installed for the upcoming Eurocup Germany-Turkey game. This required some unplanned walking, but an excellent opportunity to walk through the Berlin holocaust memorial. The giant concrete slabs were disorienting, but after making it out, we headed over to the Bradenburg gate.

Another surreal experience. All of those high school history courses were actually coming in very handy. Till now so many of the places we were visiting had a mythological quality to them. Seeing them in real life gave me a whole new perspective on the things that I had learned and allowed me to more fully appreciate the privilege of being on such an amazing tour.

After taking tons of pictures at the gate, we got back on the bus for a drive to the largest remaining section of the Berlin wall, to which the whole choir was really looking forward. I had been anticipating something sad because of the destruction that the wall had caused, but it was surprisingly beautiful, something I hadn’t been expecting to see.

Paintings on the wall, done by artists interpreting events and feelings about the Berlin division were beautiful and thought provoking. My favorite was actually a painting of the wall with masses of faces around it, depicting the division the wall had caused.

Unfortunately, like so many monuments around the world, there was graffiti all over the wall but Philip told us that the artists are paid to come back every year and redo their paintings so they aren’t completely destroyed by nonsensical tagging. It must be an incredible to see the newly refinished wall!

After we finished the rest of our drive around the city, we were given the rest of the afternoon to shop. It was INCREDIBLE experience. It was here, with the help of my fellow shoppers, began my newest quest. After buying Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in German, Dani, Lindsay, Laura and Kate encouraged me to make it my new project - to collect the book in the language of all the foriegn countries I visit. What a a fantastic idea!

After dinner, we all headed back to our rooms to watch the Eurocup Germany-Turkey semi-final. There was lots of fun watching the game together and even more fun once Germany won! The fan zone just down the street from us went crazy and we heard sirens and screaming for the rest of the night. It’s a miracle we got any sleep! Do these two look German to you?