Greece and Berlin

Dustin and I are in Berlin now, and we will be leaving for Amsterdam this afternoon.
Greece was fantastic, despite the 110-degree weather. We took a ferry from Bari, Italy, to Patras, Greece. The ferry reminded me of a cruise to Nassau (Bahamas) I went on a few years ago. The ferry had a nice sit-down restaurant and a self-service cafeteria, three or four bars, a slot casino, an arcade area and fancy rooms, something Dustin and I have only experienced in Barcelona because we had to book a place at the (literally) last minute.
We watched the sun set behind Italy as we sailed away into the Adriatic Sea for our 16-hour trip.
Once in Patras, we took a bus to Athens. The three-hour trip took about five hours because of the route our driver took. But, we saw a lot of the Greek country side. We arrived in Athens in the early evening. Our hostel was right in the middle of Plaka, the oldest part of Greece.
We walked the (around) 500 meters to the Acropolis to find it had closed already, but we stayed in the area and explored the hills, which were filled with toppled columns and other artifacts. It is hard for me to even contemplate the fact that I have used a 3000-year-old artifact as a step to another part of the ancient ruins. People just sit on the rocks and artifacts as if they were put there yesterday. The objects are so common that people just treat them like they would any other piece of outside furniture or landscape.
We climbed Areopagus Hill, which is right next to the Acropolis, and we watched the sun set over the mountains. Areopagus Hill was where the Areopagus Council would preside over trials of murder, sacrilege and arson. Most people on the hill at the time did not care about its history though. The site has a beautiful view over the city, and the cool breeze is a relief from the temperature.
Plaka happens to be the central location for restaurants and tourist shops. The streets are filled with people and vendors until late hours of the night. Dustin and I stayed in the area the entire night and window-shopped. There were crazy pieces of artwork and furniture that I would love to own. Too bad they are so far away (and way too expensive). The artists in Europe are so creative and their contemporary functional works are the kinds of things I would buy if I were rich. (It feels good to dream about the impossible.)
Saturday, we went up to the Acropolis in the blistering heat. The site was worth the heat exhaustion and sunburn though. We saw the Parthenon, the Theatre of Dionysus and the Temple of Athena Nike. From the top of the mountain, you can also see the Olympic Stadium that was used for the 2004 event.
We took a plane Saturday night to Berlin. Our plane was an hour late arriving, and the train we needed to take to our hostel was stopped for the night by the time we got into the airport, so we had to take a taxi to the hostel.
The hostel is really nice, one of the best we have stayed in yet. Actually, Berlin is strange in that everything is either really new or restored, mostly because of the war and the problems the city had until the 1990s.
Saturday, we took the S-bahn into central Berlin for a free walking tour of the sites. We started at Brandenburg Gate. The gate is the exit from a French square where the French embassy, some of the American embassy and the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his son Blanket from a 3rd floor window are located. (The American embassy is still being built.)
Our tour guide was an young woman from New York who was great at her job. She told fantastic stories of the buildings and events in the city as we visited the sites. We saw the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, Charlie Checkpoint and several other sites.
The Holocaust Memorial was interesting because all it was was a bunch of cement blocks, all the same width and length, but each at a different height. The architect said he wanted it to be vague because the Holocaust is something that is too hard for anyone to really grasp entirely and each person has their own feelings and perception of the horrible tragedy. The monumental size, he said, is also part of the piece because anyone who passes it has to at least wonder what it is. The point is to remind the people who want to forget.
The Berlin Wall was also pretty interesting. Our tour guide told us about the mistake that was made that led to the fall. I remember watching the news about the wall, but I also remember not really understanding why it was important, so this part of the tour was really interesting to me.
After the tour, Dustin and I went back to the Reichstag, and went into the huge glass dome. The parliament meets right underneath it and the point is that the members of parliament always know they are being watched and who is really in charge in a democracy.
So far, I think I have liked Berlin the most, despite the rainy weather we had during the walking tour. Unfortunately, we did not have time to go to the concentration camp because something like that really deserves more time and attention than we really have at this point. However, the trip to Germany really was a great experience.
On a side note, there are no pictures with this entry because we sent a package of stuff (including my computer) to the states this morning, and the CD of pictures from Rome, Greece and Berlin was in there. Also, we lost the CD of pictures from most of Barcelona, all of Venice, and some of Florence (including the Duomo). It was left at an Internet cafe in Florence.