Germany - We are here!

 Hello! My name is Amy Mikesell and my husband is Dr. David Mikesell, professor of Mechanical Engineering at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio.  We are traveling for the next 25-ish days with a group of 11 ONU students throughout Germany for a study abroad experience.  I love to travel and make blogs of my trips.  It is a fun way to share my experience with people who might want to know what I’ve done.  Plus, as a mom of a 20 year old males, I can empathize with the moms of these students who want to know what is going on and the students who don’t want to give them nearly as much detail as the moms might want. LOL.

So, come along and follow our trip, if you’d like.

Day 1 & 2 - Travel and Berlin

Most of us met at ONU Tuesday morning around 10:00 and drove to the Detroit airport.  We picked up a couple others along the way and met one member of our group in Berlin.  We flew from Detroit to Toronto, to Munich to Berlin.  We arrived in Berlin around 8:00 am local time.  Our seats were all spread out all over the plane.  No one slept much, so we were all pretty tired upon arrival.  We took a train to our hotel to store our baggage and then were off on a 3.5 hour walking tour of the city.  Dr. Mikesell planned this as a way to use our time wisely but keep us active so we could stay awake and start the battle against jet lag.  

The tour guide, Artie, was a historian and very knowledgeable.  He did a good job of explaining the basic history of Germany and especially what led up to and followed the Nazi Regime.  We saw many significant landmarks and learned about the history, people and events they represented or memorialized.  Towards the end of the tour was a memorial to the Jews killed in the Holocaust.  It was an interesting design and we had some good reflection and discussion. 

Unfortunately, it did rain during the last half of our tour and we ended up getting soaked.  We headed to supper as a group tonight and got some “donner kabob”, did a little shopping and then to our rooms.  As I type, I think some of them are organizing a game of cards, but the old people of the group are going to bed!

Here are some photos from our day so far.

Playing cards to pass the time in the airport.

This was one of Hitler’s favorite places to give stirring speeches in Berlin.  The entire place in front of this building would be full of soldiers, all lined up.  Now it is a museum with some of the treasures of the German nation.

This church was only build a little over 100 years ago, but made to look much older.  The dark black spots are from smoke from the war. Those parts were left intentionally as a memorial.

This is a figure of a mother holding her dead son.  It is a memorial to the victims of war and tyranny.

This is the memorial of the Nazi book burning.  These empty shelves beneath the plaza hold enough room for all the books that were destroyed.

This is the plaza where the book burning took place.  It is part of a university.

Checkpoint Charlie - The cobblestones going left to right is where the Berlin Wall used to be.  The large photo of the American soldier tells you that from this direction, you are traveling into the American/Western part of Berlin.

The view from the other side of Checkpoint Charlie.  Now you see the photo of the German/Communist soldier indicating you are entering East Berlin.

This is the last remnant of the Berlin Wall.

This is the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.  It is just 2,000+ large concrete blocks in all different heights.  There is no writing or images.  You are welcome to walk around into the memorial.  When you do, you find that you walk lower - getting easily lost and overwhelmed by the size of the blocks.

(See the next photo.)

This is the view walking around in the memorial.

The designer of the memorial wanted the meaning to be up to interpretation for each person.  Some of us thought that the effect of walking around in it was powerful - giving a sense of powerlessness.

We ended our tour at the Brandenburg Gate.

I am wiped out and we have another big day tomorrow.  That is all for now.