catching up to do

It has been forever since I have been able to write a post! I still need to update about my Berlin/Stockholm weekend, week last week and my trip to Madrid!
My Grandma passed away last week.  It has been hard to be away from home at a time like this but I am so lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive family. I know that my Grandma is resting peacefully and happily reunited with my Grandpa. I love her very much and keep all her memories close to my heart.
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Even though I found out this news while I was on a weekend trip, I still tried to make the most of my time. I know that's what my grandma would have wanted.
I flew out of London Stansted to Berlin, Germany early on Thursday morning with my friend Christina. We had to actually get to the airport on Wednesday night because we wouldn't have had enough time to catch a tube otherwise (the tube closes from midnight- ~5 am).
We stayed at a hostel called Industriepalast. It was clean and spacious, but a hostel non the less. After dropping our bags off we headed right to the East Side Gallery, which is the largest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall.

Then we made our way to the Jewish History Museum. It was very interesting to learn about a religion/culture that I really had no background knowledge.  After the museum it was time where we could check into our hostel so we went back and showered and planned out the rest of the evening.

We decided to head to The Story of Berlin, which is a museum about the city of Berlin itself. It was also very interesting. Most of the interactive parts of the museum were in German but all the writing was in both languages. After we toured through the museum, we went down to the old bunkers that were made in case of an atomic bomb attack. They were really creepy. There were 4 beds stacked floor to ceiling and fitted to house up to 3600 people. I just can't imagine what the living conditions what have been like if they were put to use!

After the museum we were in search of an authentic German dinner. I had pork with mushrooms and potatoes

YUMMM

After dinner we were in search of a beer hall, but it was pouring out and we got a little lost, so that didn't work out as we hoped. We did get some German beer with dinner so at least I can say I tried!

The next morning we woke up early to head to Sacsanhausen. It is a WWII labor concentration camp about 40 min outside of Berlin.  We went with a tour guide who knew a lot about the topic.  It is hard to describe the feeling of being there. The pain and torture these people went through is absolutely sickening.

Entrance read "Work Leads to Freedom"
in most cases "freedom" was death

We spent most of our day at the camp. By the time we got back it was around 5 and most of the museums had closed for the day. We did a little walking around to see the ReichStag (where Hitler had his rise to power speach) but again it was pouring out so we just decided to seek out dinner.  We headed to a place called Albert's because we had coupons for 2 for 1 cocktails. The menu was completely in German so we had to be a little adventurous and just pick something. It turned out to be a wonderful meal though!

After our cocktails we just headed back to get some rest because we had to wake up at 5 am to catch our next flight to Stockholm.

I'll try and be on again soon to update with that adventure :)