It was late at night and all the good kids from Father Christmas list were neatly tucked in their beds as a symphony of dozens of alarm clocks rang to announce the beginning of a long-awaited adventure. For many, it was the first and the last of it's kind. A school trip that would take us beyond borders. Not only the borders of our imagination but the literal borders of the Czech Republic as well. No matter the unholy hour, we were ready to set on the roar and make NO stops until we reach our final destination. The capital city of Germany - Berlin.
I admit there might have been a few necessary stops that kept us sane through our sleep deficit since they provided us with toilets, overpriced sweets and coffee. Oh, how I love gas stations and all the alarming stares of van drivers! After dealing with our physical needs such as full bladder and catching up on some sleep there was nothing stopping us to take Berlin by an attack!
Unfortunately, we were not the only one with this thought at the mind as we run into several demonstrations and heavily armed policemen. Let's just say, we truly saw Berlin as the restless city it is.
It was fascinating to take in the difference between present-day Berliners and the remains of ancient cultures of Rome and Egypt we saw in the Neues Museum. There is on display the original bust of queen Nefertiti - or Nofretete, which is her German name that charmed us.
After this spiritual adventure and shopping at the gift shop for silly charms to take back home to our loved ones, we headed through the busy streets of Berlin to see the Jewish memorial. We were warned not to climb the stone blocks as the security would stop us and our teachers know us too well, we would not be able to argue for ourselves in German and just to hear that language could frighten us enough to fall to the ground and break a bone or two. But nobody said anything about playing a crossover between tag and hide-and-seek.
It's only understandable that after such an exhausting day we were glad to arrive at our hotel and sleep through the whole night. But only after chatting for a few hours.
Veronika Klausová, 4. A
***
The next morning, we started our day by breakfast at the hotel, which was not the best, but at least we did not have to starve. We packed our things from the hotel and we got to the bus and started our trip. Our destination was Berliner Fernsehturm which is a television tower with at the height of 368 meters. Before we entered this tower, we went for a walk around to see some other places e.g. Marienkirche which is a church built in a gothic style then we saw Nikolaikirche which is the oldest church that can be found in Berlin. Then we finally got to go to the Tower that offers us a great view of Berlin, we could see everything from the top, all the buildings that we passed by etc.
The second place that was in our plan was Reichstag - the building which has a parliament use and as a touristic attraction. It has a dome which gives us a view on a park that lays in front of this building as well as a roof on which we were able to walk.
We ended our trip by having free time in a shopping district where were many famous brands and shops so we could buy something, try traditional German street food etc.
Then we got to our bus and headed home.
Petr Le Quoc, 4. A
