Day 14 - Berlin - The Wall and WWII History

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We woke, packed up and checked out of Wombats by 10 with little more than a stir from our roomies, nice knowing you I guess! We dropped our bags in left luggage and headed up to the 7th floor to enjoy a €4.50 all you can eat buffet brekkie on the Terrace outside, it was a nice view to take in whilst munching through salami and cheese on rye. I say we, Dan only had a card and refused to accept a lender €5 from me, so I ate and he watched. We cobbled together some sarnies for the day then headed out.

First stop today was the East Side Gallery, a 1.3km section of the Berlin Wall which still stands in its original place and has been re-decorated in its original likeness by either the original artists or replacement ones. I photographed my favourite sections (see photos). Sticking with the same theme we then moved across to Checkpoint Charlie and read up some more on the DDR, the divisions between east and west Germany and the wall itself. More obligatory touristy pictures, then off we go again.

Next up was the Jewish Memorial a series of slate-like blocks of varying heights which recessed into the dipped floor level. I can tell you much about the symbolism behind these blocks as we didn't see any descriptive signage and we didn't go into the museum section. I expect each block represented a certain number Jewish people murdered by Hitler's Nazi regime, more chilling stuff. We then wandered across to the site of Hitler's bunker which is now just a gravel car park for an apartment complex behind the Mall of Berlin (I don't think eye want to give it much airtime for fears of it being used and abused as some sort of sick shrine and also because it's since been blown up).

The last touristy stop of the day was the 'Topography of Terrors' Museum, it's exhibits detail the acts and events of Nazi Germany 1933 through 1945 and focus on the role of he SS, he Gustapo, Propaganda and some high ranking people within Hitler's party during this time. There was once again an awe full lot to read but it was all interesting and kept us entertained for 1h 30m until we needed to head back to collect our bags and get the train down to Prague.

We made a detour to try and find a post office and post some postcards, a task which was now long overdue (we bought me in Gotland). This was nothing short of a nightmare including incorrectly plotted post offices on our Wombats map, the worlds longest post office queue and our stress re: catching our train. Mum, Dad, Auntie Ang and Grandad, enjoy your postcard as it'll be the only one you receive on this trip I'm afraid! I'm not repeating that process!

In the end, we made the train and had some banter with an Aussie couple and two girls from Newcastle whom we shared a carriage with. Dan found the cheapest pint of the trip so far in the restaurant car at €1.40, we arrived in Prague and wandered over to our hostel for the next two nights 'Mosaic House'. It's a relatively new hostel and a bit up market, we are pretty impressed with the posh bathroom and comfy mattresses in our 4 bed en-suite! Another good sleep to catch up was gratefully received with no interruptions as we seemingly have the room to ourselves (we think the guy before us left all his toiletries as we have seen no other signs of him).

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Comments

[dancortazio]

Art
The arts are wonderful not to mention the history of World War II! Content that shows us past accounts! Congratulations