Bouncing Around Berlin

After arriving in berlin it didn't take me long to decide that its not my favourite city. To say that transport system is ridiculous is just a little bit of an understatement. To start with the have 2 types of trains illustrated by S & U. However some of the S and some U lines are actually one and the same but others are completely separate. I'm not even going to try to explain the situation because I really have no idea myself. I'm just pleased to say that we did manage to navigate the place (it just took us about 3 times longer than it should have) and we made it out of the city. I know they have only been a unified city for about as long as I've been alive but really is it so hard to colour coordinate lines and a few signs pointing us in the right direction would have been a huge help.

I have come into a bit of a revelation in regards to dogs in Europe. They are definitely more valued in European society than in Australian. It is totally acceptable for dogs to go pretty much wherever their owners go. Yes the travel on trains and even go shopping. The strangest part about the whole dog issue over here is that they really only come in 2 sizes - rats or horses. I cannot remember seeing a normal sized dogs (it's possible I saw some in London by that's about it).

Anyways back to the sights of Berlin. We went to visit all the things you would expect to see in Berlin such as the Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery (the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall), Reichstag... 

But the place I get stuck on is the holocaust memorial. From the edge looking in it just seems like rows upon rows of different heights of cement blocks (to start with I thought it was graves or representations graves of Jews). I don't know why the built it the way they did and at first glance to me it looked like a waste of 1900 square meters. But as we wander through the rows of blocks and into the middle they slowly got taller. I don't know how to explain how it made me feel. So many people murdered for the deluded ambitions of essentially one man. By the time I was in the middle of the memorial the block would have been probably 2 1/2 times my height - cold and lifeless cement. I have no idea what each block was meant to represent but the stark reality is that it is there to remind us all of the waste of life in a futile attempt to achieve the impossible (a perfect race). Who has the authority to decide what is perfect? It shows us that narrow minded people have always existed. I just don't think I will ever be able to comprehend the principles, morals and thoughts that could drive someone to inflict so much cruelty on fellow humans. How could anyone believe they had the power to play God and recreate the human race?

I just hope and pray that learn from the mistakes made throughout history and ensure they are never repeated.