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Date: 19.03.2005
Destination: Berlin, Germany
Day: 1
Ah yes... Berlin. A city with so much memories. The Nazis, the World War Two, the concentration camps and the wall that divided the world, not just Berlin. We took a five journey train with ICE to this historical city just for the weekends. To experiance what the capital of Germany has to offer.
As any other train stations in Germany, Berlin main station was just as clean and modern. We used the local tram to the hostel first to freshen up and put our bags. The hostel was not far from the city center so transportation was not a problem. The weather was nice. Eventhough it was still winter, there was drove of people walking around especially around the main attractions. First stop, Alexanderplatz. There was shopping complexes and sitting prominently in the middle of the park is the Fernsehturm, the TV Tower, the highest building in Berlin. Much of Berlin can be seen from this high tower but the most impressive architecture in this park, to me, certainly is the neptune fountain just few metres away. The sheer size of this fountain and the fantastic sculpture of the sea lifes
with heavenly creatures is a sight to behold. But sadly, no water was coming out of the fountain.
As we walked toward the Berliner Dom, I realised there are a lot of monuments built around Berlin to remember the victims of the war, even until this very day. Some monuments were built entirely by glass with names and stories etched on it. Just wondering when vandelism will comes in. Then we reached Berliner Dom. This is one of the most beautiful building in Berlin and the beauty definately made up for the small size of it. It functioned as a cathedral. The most striking feature of this magnificent building is the greenish semi-sphere doms, a big one and 4 small ones. Just beside the Dom is the Unter den Linden, which means "Under the lime trees". This street is full of shops, restaurants, hotels, banks and museums. Just behind this street was another interesting place, a flee market. This small market was selling just antiques and old books, and a lot of things from Russia! Perhaps due to the divided Berlin 15 years ago, there are still some influence from Russia.
If you want to know part of
Berlin you are, either the eastern or the western part, you just have to look at the traffic light. The Eastern traffic light is a man with a hat and looks like cartoon whereas the Western is the normal one. We were walking from the east to the west and reaching the symbol of modern Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate. This monument was one of the most important symbol during the World War Two and also during the Cold War. With four tall arch supporting the roof with a sculpture called “Quadriga”, a chariot with four horses, facing the East, this gate was easily recognisable because it is etched into Germany Euro coins. As this gate still proud, the controversial Berlin was no where to be seen. The wall once divided Berlin was gone, broken down into small pieces and being sold as souvenirs to visitors.
Then used the bus to Reichtag, the parliament building of Germany. This place was destroyed completely by fire shortly before the World War Two but was quickly rebuild. The only part that was changed differently from the original design is the glass dome. It raised a lot of controversy but today, the glass dome
is one of the most frequented place in Berlin, to view the city landscape. A very long line to the dome dampened our mood so we decided to skip it for tomorrow. We headed instead to Postdamer Platz. Along the way, we stopped by a newly contructed memorial site for the Holocaust victims. This place is blocks of grey concrete blocks without size to represent the hollowness of a concentration camp. Postdamer Platz was the more modern part of Berlin, with shopping complexes, restaurants, hotels and cinemas. We had our lunch here before heading to another historical building, Charlie Checkpoint.
This checkpoint was actually just a small house in the middle of a busy road but certainly the size did not justify its importance. This is one of few checkpoint left that people can cross from the West to East during the Cold War. Even Germans can't cross it during this time, just Americans and Russians. Just in front of the small house were two person dressed as American and Russian armies, certainly to earn some money from posting for photograph.
Before we head back to the hostel to call it a day, we stopped by at Bernauer Strasse, further to the east of Berlin to see the real Berlin wall. This part of the city has a long stretch of the infamous wall that was still in pretty good shape. But I think not long before it was torn down to make way for modern buildings.
We went back to the hostel to rest after a very busy day, to freshen up and take a short nap. The night was spent near the main train station, eating KFC and just walking along the shops before heading back to the hostel.
Date: 20.03.2005
Destination: Berlin, Germany
Day: 2
To beat the queue into the Reichtag Dome, we went there very early. Indeed we were the first batch of people arrived. The view from the glass dome was just perfect because of the clear blue sky. We spent an hour there, taking photos before going down to the dome to see the exhibition about the history of Reichtag. Certainly interesting to read about this full of history place. Our original plan was actually to visit a concentration camp just outside of Berlin after the Reichtag, something out of the ordinary but unfortunately, the train to that part of city was late, very late. As a result, we changed our plan to Postdam, an ancient town about 45 minutes from the city central.
After reaching the town, we must walked a long way towards the castle. Unlike majestic castles in England, the castles here are more like big mansions. So, really I do not find it interesting enough. During this time, I realised that I saw too many architectures around Europe that I started to get bored about it. I wanted to experiance more than architecture, something different, maybe something like the concentration camp visit! As it was late winter and spring was not in sight yet, the castle surroundings were brown and yellow leaves. Cold and damp. After spending some time admiring the castle, we walked toward the big park and later to another attraction of the town.
Late noon, we headed back to Berlin. While waiting for the train back to Duisburg, we went around the city center hunting for souvenirs and have a last look at Berlin. There is a small church just in the middle of the road, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. This church is so special because it was severely destroyed during the world war and left as it was before as for people to remember the 'sins' of the war. There was a big hole in the middle of the church, the tower was half gone and services was now held in a newly built mosaic building just beside it.
In the evening, we went home after a interesting tour of the capital of Germany, Berlin.
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