Berlin - Man a ton has happened in this city!!
Trip Start
Nov 21, 2007
1
138
158
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Berlin,
Germany
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Our first day was probably our best day...a European company has started a genius idea of FREE WALKING TOURS. Basically, you meet up with lots of other people in a designated spot, the company splits you up into small, same-language groups and you are off. The best part is that they are FREE (the guides work for tips only). You just have to pay what you think they are worth...GENIUS to gather a backpacker crowd. If you are going to Berlin, Munich, Paris (they operate in 7 cities), check out www.neweuropetours.eu. JOIN them if at all possible. We had a great guide for a 5 hour tour (don't worry, they stop for lunch and potty breaks too!)
OK, enough of our plug...the tour started at the Brandenburger Gate. The gate is an iconic symbol of the city. However, it is so interesting that the France and US embassies are right in the same area because of the alliance. JFK, Reagan and Clinton all had speeches in this location. It is where Reagan stated, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Then, we walked by the Parliament bldg (Reichstaggebaude) and thru Teirgarten.
Our next big stop was at the Jewish Memorial which was pretty moving. It is an area filled with 2,711 cement blocks of varying heights.
"luxury apt" in east berlin
Jana thought it represented the coffins of the victims of such tragedy. It is left to personal interpretation what the block represent. Then, we walked over where Hitler's bunker was located. He died in such a strange way...killing himself and basically forcing his lover Eva to do the same. There is much more of this story, but if you have not heard it in a while...look it up on the internet. It reminds you that he was one messed up human being.Then, change eras...we went to one of the remaining pieces of the Berlin wall that is still standing. Pretty crazy....it is just like Jana remembers when she was watching the news coverage of it back in 1989. We then made our way to Check Point Charlie which was a boarder crossing from East Berlin to West Berlin. There is lots of cheesy tourist junk now...but the location is the same. Berlin has done a great job of documenting the history of the area with billboards and photos for people to read. We went back and spent about 1.5 hours reading all the information on Monday.
After a lunch break at Schlotzsky's (SOOO funny that we went here for lunch), we walked to the Unter Den Linden (the fashionable avenue of old Berlin.) There we saw the Babelplatz and Humbolt University where the big Nazi book burning took place. Finally, we made it to the Museum Island for an overview of the many collections in the city. It was long but SOOO worth it.
That night we joined the same group for a pub crawl. We felt like we needed to join the "partiers" for once.
hotel were MJ hung out his kid
So, we gussied up and headed out to the pubs. We went to 4 different places and got home WAY too late....but we had a great time. The next day was pretty much a waste for us. However, it was Sunday and Sunday in Germany means RELAX. NO shops are open and cafes open really, really late. We have not blown off too many days like this, but man, we did a good job of it here in Berlin! We did end up going to see the movie WANTED in Potsdamer Platz. Thankfully....seriously, this area of Berlin is NOT to be missed. We went to the movies at the Sony Center which is a HUGE complex of cafes, movies, modern museums and very cool fountains. Jana kept wishing that we had our camera with us....not sure if we could have captured the atmosphere but it was awesome.Our last day in Berlin, we went back to Check Point Charlie to read the information on the walls and to the Topography of Terror (free museum about Gestapo and SS headquarters). We then stood in line to go to the top of the parliament building which is an old building and a new glass dome. They wanted to keep the old after the bombing but also add something new. Different but cool.
Finally, we wanted to go have a beer in the beer garden....we had a few to choose from and ended up walking for about 1.5 hours to get to one (meanwhile we walked thru more of the Teirgarden, walked thru the zoo, and walked by the Victory Column (Siegessaule)! It was fun though even though it was a LOOOONG way. When we got on the subway to take us home...we were 13 stops or so from our hostel! We had made it quite far away!
RANDOM
The subway in Berlin is SLLLLOOOOOOWWWW! It has plenty of trains so that is not the problem. Layton and I think it is because there are too many stops, too close together which doesn't allow any speed to build up. Oh...and the ticket printer at the subway station was SUPER slow too, just fyi.
We found a great burrito place called Delores which served great chips and fat burritos. Just nice to get some "mexican" food or at least a good substitute. We liked it so much one day that we went back the next day for more!
Bus transportation in Germany is used mostly by pensioners....seriously, 85% of the people getting on buses were way past retirement. We knew right away that we had chosen the CHEAPEST way to travel! Ha!!
