A Taste of Berlin

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Keeping a journal has been a great way to refresh my memory about our trip. Our train from Munich to Berlin was delayed pulling into Berlin and so Dani and I had a fun adventure of finding our hostel in the dark. We ate some fresh mozzarella pizza and drank some Beck's for dinner. Our hostel was at the Ostabanhof metro stop on the east side of Berlin. We went on a free walking tour in the morning, met some french students and two Australian girls who we went out with that night on the tour-sponsored pub crawl. We didn't even know where to begin in Berlin and so the day tour was a great way to get an overview of the city and see the main sights such as Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler's bunker, and museum island. After this Dani and I went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum. There were so many different stories of attempts to cross the wall. Cars were re-built to hide people, suitcases were pieced together with holes cut in the middle to hold people, and numerous tunnels were dug as well. It was difficult to understand just how recent this was. The city of Berlin is such an interesting mix of old buildings and new architecture and development. While we were on museum island they were in the process of tearing down a building that Stalin had built. The people in Berlin were fascinating. We heard stories about the process of watching this city transform over the last twenty years.
That night we went on a pub crawl to six different places around Berlin. In the morning we went to a cafe that was recommended to us by a friend on Bainbridge Island who lived in Berlin. It was called Cafe Berio. They had kombucha! I think that was our favorite place in Berlin, situated on a quiet street with a market at the end. I also loved Germany because they believed in the "coffee to-go" concept that doesn't exist in France. As afternoon came, we walked through Tiergarten, which is I suppose the "Central Park" of Berlin. The reflections, fall colors, and speed walkers in 80's gear were all great to see. It was so cold too, we always had to be bundled up.

I added descriptions on some of the pictures for more information on each place.

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Photos

Wall
Throughout the city these bricks show where the Berlin Wall used to stand

Holocaust Memorial
The artist did this exhibit without any information, simply that all the "boxes" are the same size and color. They are uneven and put on different sides throughout the square

Hitler's Bunker
A description of this spot was only put up for the Olympics. There are apartment buildings all around.

Book Burning
This is the memorial of the Nazi book burning that took place in this square. It is simply a white room with empty book shelves displayed underground. Humbolt University is located in the square and is where Albert Einstein taught before his escape.

Reflections
Tiergarten, it was so beautiful.