Our 2nd
day in Berlin went MUCH better than the first.
We talked to someone else who recommended the walking tour and decided
to do that first. The walking tour was
great and we were so glad we went. We had
a informative and funny tour guide from Australia, who really knew his German
facts. The tour was a total of 3 hours, and we learned a lot. These
were some of the high-lights.
We met across from
the hotel, Hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson was seen dangling a baby from the balcony
several years back. The penthouse comes complete with a bomb shelter, butler and a fairly inexpensive price tag of 12,000 euros/night ($16,300). However, breakfast is not included (why would it be for that price) so one must count on the plethora of Dunkin Doughnuts in/around Berlin. We thought that was
pretty ridiculous.
The Bradenburg Gate (below) wherein our tour guide proceeded to give us all of German's history in 13 minutes. One random factoid that we found jaw-dropping at the beginning was the fact that Germany had to pay some 6.6 billon pounds for war damages/responsibilities. The final payment to clear the debt was made in 2010 some 90+ year later.
We continued our journey and visited a Holocaust Memorial for the
Jews. They have specific memorials for
each group of individuals who were affected during the Holocaust, such as the
mentally/physically impaired, gays, politicians, etc. We found out the number
of stones did not represent the people lost, but was constructed to help
remember those who were killed.
There are also small memorial golden plaques found in the
ground around Europe that are in memory of individuals who died in the Holocaust. There are 60,000 individual plaques, with
more continuing to be created. There has
to be specific evidence of each person prior to the creation of the plaque.
We saw the Berlin wall and Check Pointe Charlie to hear more
stories behind it and it’s destruction.
Certain parts of the wall are still up, and some parts have a small
fence to block it from people who like to chip away at the wall as a souvenir. We noticed on our way home later that day that
there are other parts of the wall that does not have a fence to block it and is
covered with graffiti.
One of our last
stops was Hitler’s Bunker, where he spent his final months of his life and
committed suicide. We did not go inside
the bunker, as it was previously destroyed.
It took three detonations to completely destroy his bunker. There is nothing noteworthy about what
they have placed over his bunker, which was specifically done that way. The Germans didn’t want to honor him in any
way, and only recently placed a sign near the bunker site to inform others of
the area. This was done within the last
5-10 years.
After our tour Mark and I went to this amazing restaurant
that our tour guide recommended to get some local German food. We got the Doner Kebab, and found out the
kebabs were started in Germany. It was
delicious, and the location we ate at is where current German Chancellor Angela Merkel ate as a kid (she still does to this day).
After spending a few hours walking in the spotty rain, we
decided to go to the German History Museum.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any pictures inside, but learned so much
more about the history here. They had
exhibits for both World Wars, but at the time had a specific exhibit for World War I. There was also a fascinating exhibit about
military training and the targets they use.
We learned that countries all over the world will set up mock sets of
the countries they are in conflict with or could go to war with and help the
soldiers get used to the scenery of that country. They also will have life size targets of
various people, some with faces and some not, to help the soldiers practice
shooting from various distances.
After spending nearly 3 hours in the Museum, I was ready to
head back and relax. My feet and legs
were so tired and just wanted to lay down and relax. It was a quiet walk home, as I didn’t have
the strength to even talk at this point in the day…haha, poor Mark. I laid down for a half hour to rest my
feet/legs and recharge before heading out to dinner. One thing we love here, is the daylight
hours. It has definitely thrown off our
schedule as we have eaten around 9 oclock both nights, but the sun stays up
until 10:30 at night. We are used to the
sun going down around 6 in Doha, which we do not like.
I found this pub online as being the #3 authentic pub in
Berlin, Brauhaus Mitte. We visited the
#1 pub our first day and was disappointed, but #3 pub definitely lived up to
it’s reputation. We enjoyed their wheat
brewed beer, sausage platter, and pretzel.
It was definitely a traditional German meal and loved it. I even tried the sauerkraut, and although it
was better than I remembered what I have tried in the States, it still is not
for me. This was a great way to end our
day.
We went on a bike tour for most of the day, which was great! Berlin is predominately flat which makes it a real ease to bike, walk, etc. throughout the city. It was a bit of a rough start as they weren’t as organized with organizing each
group and such, and our tour guide told us she was sick/hung-over, which
instantly made us think this could be a LONG day. Luckily, she did a great job and we learned a
lot more about the country and its history.
I have such a better understanding of the history here and really
respect Berlin for now embracing their history and educating others about
it.
Berlin is a poor city with an unemployment rate of 30%, with
tourism being their 2nd top industry. So, people have been extremely friendly and
think in part is because we are tourists.
Overall, they have just been so helpful everywhere we go…as long as they
speak English. ;)
Some hi-lights of our trip include:
Bebelplatz – site of the Nazi book burning…there is now a
small memorial below ground with empty book shelves representing the space that
the 20,000 books that were burned would take up.
Humboldt University – one of the top universities in Germany
(and well known in the World). It is home to 5 Nobel Prize winners and former place of employment where Einstein taught back in the day for a stint.
Stopped to learn about the history of Germany with a visual
from our tour guide…it was quite informative and truly educational. Mark really liked it as he is a visual learner. Those Allied leaders sure screwed things up and probably could not make dividing up Germany (plus Berlin) any more complicated.
Cruising through Tiergarten that lead us passed the Zoo to a
hidden beer garden, where we at lunch and enjoyed a beer. This was a beautiful bike ride and loved it! After living in sand central for the past 10 months, seeing green left, right, front, and back is incredible.
We saw several places again and learned more to the story
such as Hitler’s Bunker, Bradenburg Gate, Berlin Wall/Checkpoint Charlie. Overall, we enjoyed the tour and learned a
lot. I’m glad we did the walking tour
first and then the bike tour, as we were able to see a lot more on the bike
tour, but build upon our knowledge on what we learned the previous day.
A fence around a fence....perfect visual to explain irony.
Afterward we went to the Berlin Cathedral and then met up
with Jordan (friend from EMS) for dinner.
We went to the Haufbrau Haus and had some sausage, pretzel, and
beer.
Overall, we loved Berlin and we were amazed at how recent the
wall fell and when they began rebuilding the city. The eastern part of Berlin is predominately under construction still in playing catch-up to what was formerly western Berlin.
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