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Published: February 22nd 2008
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On January 6th we took an all day train from Krakow, Poland to Berlin. This was one of the cities in Europe I was most looking forward to. Obviously, having grown up during the Cold War you would hear Germany, and especially Berlin, was under communist rule and it really was not a place you wanted to visit. So, I was eager to see Berlin after it had been free from dictators for almost 20 years. On Monday, January 7th Rich and I went out to explore Berlin. We took the metro passed the many "platz" (squares) to Potsdamerplatz first which is in the former Eastern Berlin. Actually most of the sights are in eastern Berlin so when I talk of different sights they will probably be in east Berlin. During communist times the wall used to surround West Berlin and eastern Berlin was all the rest of the city. Potsdamerplatz was actually dirt lots and a no man's land during this time and since 1989 they have started to develop the area. Now there is a huge Sony Center with an IMAX theatre and a shopping mall. After Potsdamerplatz we headed over to the Topography of Terror which is now
on the site of the former Gestapo and SS Headquarters. It's an open air exhibition that details all of the planning for the war and interrogating of the victims that went on at the site. Our last stop of the day was the Checkpoint Charlie museum. Checkpoint Charlie was one of the military checkpoints for western Berlin that the Americans controlled. The museum was fascinating though. There were tons of stories of creative ways people either successfully or not so successfully tried to escape East Berlin. There were however also sad stories of these types of tales as well.
The next day we joined a walking tour of all the major sites. We went by the Brandenburg Gate (Tor) and the Bundestag, which was the German Parliament. The Brandenburg Gate actually is one of the only things still standing that is left from centuries ago, most everything else was leveled in subsequent wars. Near the Brandenburg Gate is the famous hotel where Michael Jackson also dangled his baby over the railing outside his hotel! We also went through the Jewish Memorial which as you can imagine is a memorial to all the Jewish people who lost their lives during World
War II. Hitler's bunker was next, which is the place where he spent the last six weeks of his life as the Allies closed in. It's actually nothing more that a lawn of grass now in front of an apartment building because Berliners are set on not memorializing that monster in any way. The guide showed us the Nazi air force building and along one of the only sections of the wall that is left near Checkpoint Charlie. At Gendermarkt square there was a beautiful French church and a German church next to the stunning Opera House. Next, was Babelplatz square at Humboldt University. In 1933, students in favor of Hitler burned 20,000 books that did not comply with Nazi ideals, ironically Hitler's autobiography, Mien Kampf, is now the only book banned in Germany. One of the last things we saw on the tour was Neve Wache which is a former guardhouse. Now, the mother and child statue inside are a memorial to victims of war and tyranny. Berlin is really a great city to visit!
On the 9th we headed to Frankfurt to meet up with Christian, a friend we met while in New Zealand and Max a friend
Rich met in Australia. After taking us to see Frankfurt's famous skyscraper skyline and the Romer (town hall) Christian, Max, and his girlfriend took us to have apple wine and traditional German food. It was fantastic!
On the 10th, we headed to Munich for a few days to see our last German city. We went by the Rathaus (town hall) first, which is a magnificently ornate building that is in the center of Munich. We also saw the Dom church with its twin onion shaped towers, the Residenz (royal palace), and a strangely yellow church called the Theatiner. On the 11th we went back to see the Rathaus clock tower do a performance. Every day at noon the medieval figures on the outside of the tower move around on tracks dancing and enjoying a feast, it's very cool to watch! After the clock tower, we headed to Viktualienmarkt which is a large open air square with tons of restaurants and little eating stalls. We then headed to the Deutches Museum which is a gigantic science museum! There were floors and floors of history on oceanfaring, physics, astronomy etc, both including german contributions and the rest of the world's contributions! For
dinner, we went to the famous Hofbrauhaus. This is your traditional beer house with the band that has an accordian player, women selling beer steins, and every kind of sausage meal you could think of that includes a huge beer! It was a beautiful sight! On the 12th it was time to head to visit with the Swiss!
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Marti
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GOOOOOOOd Beer in Germany
That is so interesting about Berlin. I cannot tell if you spelled the names of all those places right. Doesn't much matter. very cool.......Have Fun Be safe.. Marti