Walk Through East Berlin

  Berlin, Germany
Saturday, March 31, 2007

Today we got up early, had breakfast, and walked over to the train station area where we met up with the tour group. We took the 4-hr Famous Walk: Hidden Berlin & ALL Main Sites walking tour by Insider Tours. Scott was our tour guide. He is originally from Michigan, but has lived in Berlin for seven years. He was a wealth of knowledge and did a great job.

Our tour started by taking the train over to East Berlin at Hackescher Market. Scott knew we had been there the night before, and he asked us if we had seen the "ladies of the evening" and if we had noticed their "uniforms." We laughed, "Yes, indeed, we did." Apparently, prostitution is legal there.

Famous Walk: Tour Guide Scott

From there we retraced our steps from the night before and went over to the Luthren Church, which is also near some museums at Museum Island (Pergamon & National Gallery).

Luthren Church, Berlin (day)

We went down Unter den Linden. Saw the State Opera House, then went to Bebelplatz, the scene of the Nazi bookburning and where Humboldt University is, which is where Marx studied and Einstein taught.

Near Bebelplatz

From there we went to the French sector. Then stopped for a coffee break. From there we went to Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall. Then to the area where Hitler's Bunker was and on over to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, which incendently was built over Goebbel's Bunker. Right across from the Memorial they are building a new US Embassy. From there we went to Brandenburg Gate and the Parliament building.

DH and I walked around a little after the tour.

Parliament Building, Berlin

We found what I would call an American steak diner to eat at, Block House. I'm pretty sure it's a franchise type place. We had salads and baked potatoes for lunch. We enjoyed it immensely, almost like being at home. They even had big pepper (can't seem to find anything but pepper *powder* in Europe...I like big ground pepper). The sour cream was a little weird; it seemed to have the butter mixed in it. But either way, it was a great break.

Statue in front of Berlin museum