Recently, I took a trip to Europe, experiencing a whole different world of culture and art. For my first stop, I visited the city of love, Paris, France. On my first day there, I stayed in the Louvre the whole day, seeing hundreds of wondrous paintings, sculptures, and other creations. I was awestruck, viewing works such as the statue of Aphrodite,
July 28: Liberty Leading the People, a law tablet of Hammurabi, and best of all, the world famous Mona Lisa smile. As I walked through the glass pyramid on my way out, I was still amazed by the museum. The next day, I started with a more architectural itinerary. I visited the Arc de Triomphe, the magnificent cathedral of Notre Dame, and the Pantheon, a mausoleum. In the Pantheon, I was able to visit the burial site of Alexander Dumas, a famous author. The building brought to mind a darker side of burials that lived beneath the city, and I spent the rest of my day in a tour through the Paris Catacombs, a haunting tunnel system whose walls were covered from the floor to the ceiling in stacks of human skulls and other bones. In order to cheer up the rest of my last day there, I took a cable car to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, looking over the stunning city lights.
For the second part of my trip, I went to the city of Berlin, Germany, and saw many historic monuments and structures. I visited one of the most well known structures first, a large series of covered columns known as the Brandenburg Gate. The gate was interesting, but the truly amazing part was the quadriga on top, a metal sculpture of a chariot drawn by four horses. I toured the Reichstag building, a historic parliament building. When you stand in the center of the building and look up, you can see the beautiful glass dome in the roof. I later visited the memorial to the Jews of the holocaust, paying my respect to the 2,711 stone columns for the Jewish citizens that were killed. I continued this by also visiting the Topography of Terror, a collection of exhibits of the documentation of forced Jewish Labor. I was able to see a section of the Berlin wall that is kept standing for exhibition, even after the rest was torn down. I ended my trip by visiting the East Side Gallery, an extensive section of walls set aside specifically for street art. There were some extraordinary pieces on the wall, many making very clear statements about how the artist viewed the world, proving it to be the most insightful section of my trip!
Recently, I took a trip to Europe, experiencing a whole different world of culture and art. For my first stop, I visited the city of love, Paris, France. On my first day there, I stayed in the Louvre the whole day, seeing hundreds of wondrous paintings, sculptures, and other creations. I was awestruck, viewing works such as the statue of Aphrodite, July 28: Liberty Leading the People, a law tablet of Hammurabi, and best of all, the world famous Mona Lisa smile. As I walked through the glass pyramid on my way out, I was still amazed by the museum. The next day, I started with a more architectural itinerary. I visited the Arc de Triomphe, the magnificent cathedral of Notre Dame, and the Pantheon, a mausoleum. In the Pantheon, I was able to visit the burial site of Alexander Dumas, a famous author. The building brought to mind a darker side of burials that lived beneath the city, and I spent the rest of my day in a tour through the Paris Catacombs, a haunting tunnel system whose walls were covered from the floor to the ceiling in stacks of human skulls and other bones. In order to cheer up the rest of my last day there, I took a cable car to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, looking over the stunning city lights. 
For the second part of my trip, I went to the city of Berlin, Germany, and saw many historic monuments and structures. I visited one of the most well known structures first, a large series of covered columns known as the Brandenburg Gate. The gate was interesting, but the truly amazing part was the quadriga on top, a metal sculpture of a chariot drawn by four horses. I toured the Reichstag building, a historic parliament building. When you stand in the center of the building and look up, you can see the beautiful glass dome in the roof. I later visited the memorial to the Jews of the holocaust, paying my respect to the 2,711 stone columns for the Jewish citizens that were killed. I continued this by also visiting the Topography of Terror, a collection of exhibits of the documentation of forced Jewish Labor. I was able to see a section of the Berlin wall that is kept standing for exhibition, even after the rest was torn down. I ended my trip by visiting the East Side Gallery, an extensive section of walls set aside specifically for street art. There were some extraordinary pieces on the wall, many making very clear statements about how the artist viewed the world, proving it to be the most insightful section of my trip!
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