Hetal Chirag
As a part of our MBA exchange program from Ryerson University, we went on a summer exchange program to Copenhagen Business School (CBS). We planned our trip in such a way that we could travel to different cities during the weekends and complete our academic credits during the weekdays. On one of our weekend trips, we visited Berlin.
After getting a little lost and figuring out the public transport system, we made it to our hostel, Heart of Gold. It was very conveniently located and perfectly fit our student budgets. On our first day, we found this amazing bike tour group called Fat Tire Bikes. With our guide Niels, we explored as many touristy spots as we could during the day. We stopped by Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler’s bunker, the Berlin Wall and Neues Museum.
When we were biking through Eastern Berlin, we came across Marx-Engels Monument. The statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the middle of a park were big enough to attract our attention from quite a distance. If you get fascinated by history, politics or economy, you should definitely stop by and get your photo with these larger than life statues.
If you can open-mindedly overlook what a few dictators did with Marx’s ideas, you can simply think of these influential figures as philosophers who tried to come up with a model of creating better future for the people. In today’s capitalistic society, with its pros and cons, these statues are a good reminder that extremism of any economic, political or religious ideology can be disastrous.
After riding a bike for the whole day, we took it a little easy on the next day. On our second day, we went for a long walk around the city. As we were casually strolling, we found a perfect place for brunch facing the magnificent Berlin Cathedral. The Berlin Cathedral or the Berliner Dom is situated on the Museum Island in Mitte borough. Did you know that it was constructed originally in the 14h Century and was reconstructed thrice? The Cathedral is a magnificent example of the Baroque architecture style.
