Even more of me wandering around
Trip Start
May 25, 2007
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58
73
Trip End
Oct 29, 2007
Berlin,
Germany
Sunday, August 19, 2007
I decided on a few museums. First was the Pergamun Museum in the center of town. Awesome place. They've reconstructed the huge temple front and fresco from the ancient site of Pergamun, the Ishtar gates from Babylon, and several other huge Greek and Mesopotamian columns and facades. Very different from your typical artifact-filled museum. An extensive audioguide explains nearly everything. Highly recommended by me, if you happen to be in Berlin.
The day before, while on the bike tour and in front of the main Dom, there was a large police presence and some kind of ceremony. We found out it was a funeral for a fallen cop
berlin06
. After leaving the Pergamun and heading along the main street by the church there was a small civilian parade, and an enormous police escort. Cops and SWAT-type guys all over the place. I just thought it was a procession for the dead cop from the day before, so I didn't bother with the pictures. Then the car that was in the middle of the civilians started playing this speech, in loud, passionate German, in a voice that sounded vaguely familiar. After all the police cars and vans had passed, I asked someone what was going on. In her limited English she said it was some kind of important date, and those were Nazis in the parade! The voice I had recognized was Hitler, in one of his old speeches. The massive police presence was to keep the parade walkers safe! Without anyone carrying a Nazi flag or wearing a swastika they were impossible to identify just by looking at them (and being unable to understand German). Very strange thing to see, and I don't have any pictures of it!I also took a tour of the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie. It was a history of the Berlin Wall and those people who tried to escape it. The building was full of the contraptions that people had built to get over the wall or out of Eastern Germany. Very sad history, but enlightening.
After being here for a while I've noticed that Berlin is easily the least expensive city I've been to. So far it's the only one where the prices are comparable to those back in Edmonton. That aught to tell you how expensive Europe really is.
Because I really only got to spend 2 out of the 4 days I was there actually doing the things I wanted to, I'm looking forward to going back to Berlin and seeing the rest. I'd pick a different hostel though...one with more people around and closer to the city center.
