Berlin Day 1

Wow, where do I begin. We left yesterday around 5:45. I have not slept since yesterday morning. Well not exactly I slept for one hour from Frankfurt to Berlin. So I am exhausted to say the least. We got into Berlin around 11:30 am. It is now 8:45 p.m. If today is any indication of how the trip is going to go than I am in for quite the trip. Everything is first class all the way. Berlin is an interesting city to say the least, not what I expected. The contrast between East and West Berlin is quite obvious. For my students you will remember that Berlin was divided into four zones after the war. In 1961 the Soviet Union built a wall around Berlin to keep people from leaving to the west. Upon leaving the airport we headed to our hotel to freshen up and drop our luggage off. The hotel is quite spectacular. Very modern and artistically designed. Our rooms are wonderfully designed and comfortable. I am looking forward to going there soon to crash.
After leaving the hotel we went on a bus tour through Berlin. Our bus, by the way, is a pretty sweet Mercedes Benz. We headed to the only remaining portion of the Berlin Wall that is still intact. It certainly was interesting to see the wall and the land that separated the east and west in between.
After visiting the Berlin Wall we went to the Reichstag. The Reichstag is like our Capitol Building or Great Britain's Parliament building. We were given special access to the building and had our own private tour. Our tour lady did an excellent job describing key events in German history presently and currently. The Reichstag was set fire to before WWII and the Soviets also took over the building at the end of the war. There are still bullet holes in the building. They have kept this visible on purpose for the whole interior of the Reichstag has been redone. It truly is an incredible structure.
Following the Reichstag we went to the Brandenburg gate. The gate was built in 1871 by the Prussians. It was basically a city gate. The city gate would be closed at the end of the night. During the cold war the Brandenburg gate separated east and west Berlin. I actually got my passport stamped, Checkpoint Charlie. The architecture is fascinating. Don't worry pictures will come soon. I am at a train station now writing this all so I am not able to load pictures. I will when I get back to the hotel.
Following the Brandenburg gate we went to a holocaust memorial. Not much to report there except that I need to take a break from the Holocaust for awhile. Very sad memorial, the museum is very honest and forthcoming. However the memorial is rather bizarre. Not sure I understood it, which really I think is the whole point.
Just got back from dinner, service and food were incredible. I had a Gypsy schnitzel. Absolutely incredible. Sorry for the bad grammar and punctuation. Keyboards are different here. Talk to you soon. Tomorrow we are off to meet some prominent folks so that means I need to be on point.