Schönes Wochenende!

While leaving school on Friday, I received of chorus of "Schönes Wochenende!", wishing me a wonderful weekend. Luckily the Berlin weather, which has decided to be as rainy as Seattle of late, complied and I was treated to two 70 degree days. On Saturday I met up with another Fulbrighter in Berlin, Kiersten, and we began exploring our new city.

Here are a view images from our tour--or Umlauf.

The German parliament or Reichstag with the Holocaust memorial in the foreground.

The Holocaust memorial was designed to make the visitor feel the impending sense of doom and disorientation that the Holocaust victims felt.

Next I found the Tiergarten which is an urban oasis much like Central Park in New York. Absolutely beautiful and serene. 

Located in the Tiergarten, the Berlin Kulturforum is an example of the prevalent modern architecture in the city and the site of many art exhibits and concerts.

The Soviet Memorial is located next to the Kulturforum and memorializes the Soviet soldiers who died during WWII. It was built by the Soviets and is surround by over 1,500 soldiers' unmarked graves.

The Kanzleramt, or Chancellor's office is located on the banks of the Spree River. While I find it beautiful, Berliners are more skeptical and call it the Chancellor's washing machine.

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche was badly damaged by Allied bombing during WWII. Instead of rebuilding, Berliners voted to leave it damaged as a testament to the destruction of war. It's located on the Kurfürstendamm, Berlin's trendy shopping street.

This plaque on a bridge says "Built 1886-91 Destroyed 1945 Rebuilt 1947" This is a theme of many historic buildings around Berlin. Most of the historic buildings in Berlin are replicas or renovations of the originals which were badly bombed during the war.

On Sunday, Kiersten and I went to the Berlin Zoo and spent a wonderful afternoon with the animals. The Zoo is world famous as one of the oldest continually operating zoos in the world.

The beautiful Elefanttor entrance.

Feed me!

Knut was a sensation when he was born in 2006 as he was the first polar bear cub born at the zoo in over 30 years. Even though he has grown up, he is still cute!

He'd make a good wide receiver...if the football were made of meat.

Die Pinguin!

waddle, waddle, waddle

All in all, it was definitely a schönes Wochenende!