The Third Reich
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
139
457
Trip End
Ongoing
Berlin, Germany
Monday, August 16, 2004
We arrived at the hotel, dumped our bags and walked up to Charlottenburg Palace. We were going here because they had a hall of mirrors and I figured it was about time that Lucy took a good long hard look at herself, and as she had her passport, Fantasy Island was only a short flight away !!!!! We walked all around it, went through the gardens and the crypt, but could not find the Hall of Mirrors, only to discover that if you do want to see it, you must pay for a proper tour. Ahh, such is life. Instead, we hit the cake shops as I was actually hanging for a mandlehorn as I did not get one when we were in Leipzig. This is Germany after all, so free U-Bahns everywhere and we ended up at the Zoo station. We wanted to see the old church that had been bombed and left as a memorial. Once there, there was a beer and food fest going on, so we pigged out on Pork and beers. What else would you do !!!!! A few more U-Bahn's and we were at the Eastside Gallery. Here is the longest piece of the wall that is left in existence. We had been here before and it was good to come back to see all the paintings on the wall in a different light, but on the otherside of the wall, which we could not get to before, the locals had laid sand on the edge of the river, deck chairs, and they called this a beach !!!!! We walked over to the Television tower, carried on and ended up at Brandenburg Gate .Now this had changed, there were more buildings around it. It was really ugly, well not the gate, but the surroundings. We walked over to the Reichstag, and lay on the grass to take in the view. The last time we had been here, it had been covered in snow. The sun was out, and there were people queued up to go inside, we did consider lining up ourselves, but we decided to come back in the morning. Schoolboy error, as we were to find out. A quick beer and some more pork, and back to the hotel we went
After the normal hearty German breakfast, we hit the road. Illegally catching the trains of course, and we were there at the Reichstag. It took around 45 minutes to get to the doors, and once in, we were able to get to the top. Last time we were here, it was covered in snow, this time, the views were superb. We stayed up there for ages and took it all in. The sad thing was that if we had gone up the previous evening, we could have watched the sun go down.. Once down, we walked past the Brandenburg Gate, and not far from it, the locals are now building a huge memorial for the Jewish people. It will be amazing when its finished. We tried to find where Hitler's bunker was, but all we found was an old East German control tower. We pushed on and ended up at Potsdamer Platz. 3.5 years had passed, and now everything was built. The Red Box had disappeared, quite sad really. We found another cake store and then moved onto the Topography of Terror. In 1998, we didn't know it was called this. My mate at work had given me a load of stuff about this place so it was more realistic. Just around the corner was Checkpoint Charlie. Back in 98, there was the museum and the visitor shop. Now, both sides of the street were shops and they had rebuilt Checkpoint Charlie. It was hideous. We walked off in the direction of the Zoo, and found the festival, still in full swing, so we had more pork and beers. Time was coming to a close, so we decided to catch our train to the airport. Sometimes, you get a feeling inside that says, buy a ticket. I bought 2 tickets, and once on the train, was confronted by the dreaded inspectors. Luckily, for once, we had one. Overall, I still find Berlin one of my favourite cities. As much as it changes, it still has the same relaxed German feel
