Courtney and I slept in late again today. And I have to admit, I could really get used to this not going to class and sleeping all morning stuff! Why didn't I think of it before? When we finally motivated ourselves to get out of bed we headed over to Potsdamer Platz for Winterwelt (winter world).
Now lets take a little bit of a pause to do Victoria's favorite thing...talk about history. Potsdamer Platz is situated in Berlin Mitte and has always been one of the main areas of the city. For many Germans Potsdamer Platz is known for having the first street light in the country (1924) and even more so famous as part of the No Man's land during the Soviet's rule in East Germany. So, as a nice way of saying "we hate you Communism" winter world has been by far one of my favorite parts of Berlin.
So imagine with me, this HUGE HUGE HUGE square in the nicest part of Berlin filled with a huge Christmas Market, an ice-skating rink, and a GIGANTIC hill for sledding. That's right. You read correctly: sledding!!!! So being the mature and fun people that we are, Courtney and I decided to participate in the Winterwelt. Although nobody with more than one number in their age was sledding we figured that since moments earlier we were carded as 12 year olds for trying to buy Gluwein, that acting our age was SO not important! So we went 4 times and it was SO much fun! I promise i haven't laughed that hard or smiled that big my entire time abroad (or maybe since the last time I saw McKin!) 
Caroline and Christine came and hung out for a little bit before Courtney and I left for the Turkish market. Once we returned home we put our finishing touches on packing (Court was so nice and took home SO much of my junk!) and walked to Oranienstrasse for a Turkish dinner. Now I had my doubts about the place but it looked inviting and turned out to be one of our favorite meals from the whole week!We then made our way to highlight #2 of the day: THE HERTHA BSC SOCCER GAME!!
After a long, long, long train ride out to OlympiaStadion we finally arrived and were ready for the mayhem!! So after walking through a path full of guys peeing...seriously, I've never seen so many in my life, I'd venture to say in the triple digits...we arrived at the stadium home of the 1936 Olympic Games. Now, I'm sure you can tell from the pictures that the stadium has had a face lift since then it was still really cool to see the area and take a quick peak at the swimming pool!! And, for those of you who don't remember the 1936 games, they were used by the Nazi Party to promote the Aryan race AND the games where Jesse Owens won 4 gold metals as one step further toward Equal Rights and a big ol' slap across Hitler's face...but anyway.
The game turned out to be amazing! Full of loud and obnoxious fans all wearing crazy forms of blue and white strips and all chanting and clapping and jumping and screaming nonsense like, "Ha Ho He! Hertha BSC!" After defeating Koeln 2 to 1, Courtney and I made our way back to the U-Bahn station. The stadium itself, however, can only be reached using one line and there were about 40,000 of us trying to get on the train. I know. Bad Idea. But Courtney and I made it on the first train that came and were thankful not to have to wait with the crazy mob of people still jumping, screaming, and clapping. Or so we thought.Once the doors to the train shut and we were all squished inside the CRAZY people started jumping, chanting, screaming, and clapping INSIDE the train. So the train is rocking and their slapping the walls and its funny and a little scary but mostly funny. Until they get the bright idea to punch out the lights landing glass all over Courtney causing it to be pitch black and a little less funny. And I know your thinking I'm a terrible cousin but if you knew how many people were in the train and how crazy they were being you would realize there wasn't a whole lot I could do. So with the help of a very wonderful German woman we got off the train at the next stop and waited for the next one where we could get in the front car with the driver and not die! Which we did, and made it safely back home around 11:30.
When we got back Courtney gave Aloisia her gift which she LOVED! She even ran across the hall to the neighbors to show them! It was so cute!! And then after a shower and the final touches on packing, we headed to sleep for a handful of hours...oh how I love early morning flights!
Oh yea, I'm sorry about the double title thing but I had to restrain myself from making 3 or 4 more! I guess that's what happens when you have one of your favorite days abroad!!
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