History Sometimes Repeats Itself

I went to Berlin this weekend with Amanda and some friends. Berlin is probably one of my top 5 cities I've been to. I can't really pinpoint what the charm is but overall, i loved my experience. It's so rich with history, especially recent history, and the city is just beautiful.

We stayed at CityStay Hostel in Mitte which literally means the "middle" of Berlin. It had the best location... very central to everywhere you want to go. That night we ate at a Vietnamese place called Monsieur Vuongs. It's supposedly pretty famous and was pretty damn good.




Pergamon Museum

The next day we had the most fabulous meal at a steak place called The Block House. Man do I miss steak. It was such a fulfilling meal. We then headed off to shop a little bit at a thrift store area. Bought nothing, unfortunately. We went on the Sandeman's NewBerlin Free Walking Tour. It was incredible. Our tour guide was named Per and he was probably the best tour guide I've ever had. Really knowledgable, enthusiastic, and helpful. He answered any question anyone had and was very sociable. You could tell he was in love with the city. This was a great tour because it was free and all they make their money on are tips. They have these tours in 7 cities all around Europe so I suggest taking them!



Berlin Wall




Checkpoint Charlie




JR in Berlin. This one's for my buddy.



Holocaust Memorial


That night we did the pub crawl. super fun. super drunk. amanda included. the end.

Saturday morning on our way to meet a tour we had to hop an little fence on an island in the middle of the street and Amanda had a little accident. Thankfully, she's okay. We ended up going to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp on a 6 hour tour. It was an overwhelming experience. Unfortunately, not much remains of the camp but we did get to see the area, some barracks, and memorials. Regardless, it was an interesting experience hearing the stories of what happened, how so many people were executed, and having a very small sense of what they saw when they were in the camp.




Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp


That night we had this huge sushi meal. We were all craving it and we saw a 2for1 place so we ordered a bunch. We completely misunderstood what 2for1 meant and our waitress gave us everything we ordered TIMES TWO! she even warned me that i ordered too much but i was like nah... but she was right. i definitely got my sushi fix for this semester.




Sushi

We then ventured onto a club called 2BE Club. We stood in line and Amanda and I got in first. As we were paying the security guard calls me back saying "the man can't go in." I came back out and wondered what was going on. My friends were all outside the line. My friend Lena tells me, "Hammad can't get in cuz he is Middle Eastern."

First time I've witnessed discrimination like that. I couldn't really believe it. I was shocked and pissed at the same time. Especially in Berlin. After going to the Concentration camp. It was just disappointing. If you go to Berlin, don't support this place.