Olympic stadium and Schokowelt

CHOCOLATE! That's pretty much my day summed up in one word. But there were some non-chocolate things so I'll start with those.

Today started with our morning at Ernst Haeckel Gymnasium where we spent our time writing. What we were writing I can not say in surprise for Saturday but I found it good to do something in German without the pressure of having to respond to a fluent German speaker. 

After a walk to the train station we were off to Charlottenburg where we saw the mighty Olympiastadion in all its glory... in size at least. The building itself is grand in its structure but (besides being all grey) has a history that we went to explore. The current stadium was built before WW2 as Hitler was coming to power and was built to send a message to the world. The goal was to show power by building the biggest stadium in the world as well as to accommodate for the 1936 Olympics (hence the name). Unfortunately the first goal wasn't achieved very well as it was only the largest for a couple of weeks before being bested by the Americans who were building one at the same time. The second goal was reached and in 1936 the Olympic games were held in Germany. The stadium is 5 star meaning a number of things. First it can hold about 75,000 football fans. It can also accommodate for not just football but athletic events also with a running track which is blue and white to represent Berlin's football team, a long jump pit, and a swimming pool not inside but to the north of the stadium. 

A highlight for me was a chapel inside the stadium where players can go, sit and pray. It can also be rented out for weddings and baptisms and fans can go up to three hours before the game and pray for their team. The reason it's my highlight is because the room was made of gold! The walls were covered in a thin layer of it. On top of that bible verses were written also in a number of different languages.

Before leaving we took a look at the bell tower that lay west of the main stadium. Frau Zimmer made the whole group take the treachorous climb up. It took only a few seconds because we took the elevator. :D However, there were a few stairs that Gus quickly ran up to claim his gummy bear that would be rewarded to the first to climb the tower. The view was decent but it was raining and there were safety bars on all sides but it was still good.

What followed was the greatest part of my day. A place called Schokowelt where dreams can come true. Walls lined with rows and rows of chocolate. As we entered a counter greeted us laden with multitudes of different ingredients that we could put in our very own custom chocolate bar. Taps oozed chocolate into a large mixer that kept the chocolate warm and creamy. I may have let myself loose a bit in there but I must admit the place was not the tourist trap I expected it to be. It was rather affordable. 

Afterwards we returned to Werder for an afternoon spent with our host families.

By Liam