Hamburg, Germany—Berlin, Germany—Day 243

Today we took the train to Berlin, arriving in Elizabeth’s “favorite European city” with just enough time to scope out the hotel (located right in Kufürsendamm near the zoo) and to drop off our stuff. We parted ways—Elizabeth went off to meet with her former project leader from when she lived here in 2002 for lunch and I to the “Checkpoint Charlie” museum, which is a fascinating (albeit somewhat disorganized) museum regarding post-World War II Berlin up until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The museum is just amazing—you could spend hours there reading all about how people attempted to flee the Eastern parts of the city for the West—from hiding people in suitcases to making homemade hot air balloons to fly across the border. Their experiences are truly unique and remarkable.

I met Elizabeth afterwards and we set off to find some great Indian food and to walk around the city a bit. Tomorrow we will relocate to the apartment of Elizabeth’s program director (who will be out of town starting tomorrow) and will spend our time staying at the apartment which we are both really looking forward to. Hitting up the zoo is also a big plan for tomorrow, but of course, that really just goes without saying.