Winter Break Part 1: Berlin

These are some of the highlights from Berlin:

The DDR Museum, a collection of nostalgic items from communist East Germany. 

The Stasi Museum--old headquarters of the Stasi, or secret police, in far eastern Berlin.  The most interesting part was the section about surveillance--there were all kinds of James Bond-esque surveillance devices

 Kunsthalle, an art squat which was a department store that they were going to tear down, and some artists squatted in there to protest and covered the entire building in graffiti.  In fact, the entire city of Berlin was practically covered in graffiti. 

 

East Side Gallery: the largest remaining section of the Berlin wall which, a few years ago, was painted in sections by various artists.  Most of the artwork has something to do with communism.  Here are some of my favorites

The food there was also quite good and cheap, for example I got this giant plate of food (and a large beer) for 5 euros

I also loved this cute little retro-decorated hipster café one of my French friends found, where we had some great (and great-looking) waffles

Obviously, one of the best parts about traveling are the people you meet, and I met these two lovely French girls with whom I spent 5 lovely days discovering Berlin :)

Coming next--my week in Holland and Belgium with Hannah!