Day Two - Friday in Berlin

Time for a Break

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After leaving the Reichstag we decided we needed to get postcards. Across the street from the bus stop we had seen a big cafe/souvenir shop. We also decided that perhaps we had a little too much hot chocolate for breakfast. Time for a pit stop.

An Impressive Sink

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I've gotten to know quite a few European bathrooms over the years. I've learned that whenever and wherever toilet facilities are available, take advantage of them. The bathroom in the gift shop/cafe did require a .50 coin to get in but it was clean, warm and featured this wacky sink. No drain in the midlle. The water empties from the basin through very tiny slits along the edges of the four sides.

A Short Walk from the Reichstag...

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...took us to the Brandenburg Gate. Even though we had a printed walking tour we were already deviating a bit from the itinerary and just heading toward whatever interesting site we could spy nearby. Had we gone right behind the gift shop, we would have seen a very impressive monument dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who dies in the Battle for Berlin. I already marked that down for the next trip.

The Beginning of Unter den Linden

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This particular stretch of road that we had been walking along for the past two days changes names as often as I changed underwear. What had been "Prenzlauer Allee" near the Alexanderplatz, then changed names to "Karl Liebknecht Strasse", then "Unter den Linden". Where we snapped this photo it was called "Strasse den 17. Juni"". Normally this place would be chock full of tourists but we seemed to be visiting at the slowest time of the year. Perfect.

Berlin's Statue Man (or is it "Men"?)

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Like everywhere else in Europe, at this landmark we found a knucklehead spray-painting himself and standing on a soapbox in an attempt to lure the sucker tourists' Euros. Cassie and I stared for a good two minutes trying to determine whether this guy's friend was the greatest statue artist in Europe or a real dummy.

Standing in the Pariser Platz

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On this side of the Brandenburg Gate the Unter den Linden begins at Pariser Platz. In this square are a couple of museums, part of the new U.S. Embassy and the Akademie der Kunste.

The Boys at Work

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I'll never understand why anyone gives these "performers" a dime. Just like the wind turbines I used to get excited seeing these "statues" but they've been done to death now.

New American Embassy

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After a quick stop in yet another souvenir shop, we proceeded South. I had read that the Hitler Bunker was in this area. I mistakenly thought that the Holocaust Memorial was built over the remains of that bunker. Tyler corrected me. Anyway, just before we got to the Memorial I took one last glance back at the Brandenburg Gate and the construction of the new U.S. Embassy.

Quadriga

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The chariot that sits on top of the gate is a Roman symbol of victory. At one point the Iron Cross adorned the statue but it was replaced by olive branches. The Quadriga was once taken down and stolen by Napoleon. Later it was replaced only to be taken down again during the Cold War.

Memorial to The Murdered Jews of Europe

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The monument is an entire city block filled with coffin-like blocks of concrete. Each seemingly similar concrete block is actually a different size. The artistic explanation is that this is supposed to signify chaos among supposed uniformity. A less pretentious view would just be that each different sized block represents a different person whose individuality is eventually lost among the huge mass of objects.

Getting Lost Inside the Columns

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As much as this memorial is intended to be a solemn place, you almost can't help having fun wandering around inside. The farther into the center you wander, the higher the blocks become. We easily and unintentionally got separated from each other. In order to link up we had to call out for each other and explore every corner. Little kids could have a blast playing hide and go seek in here.

Soviet Era Apartment Complexes

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I didn't realize it at the time, but it is in the gardens of one of these apartment blocks that the Hitler Bunker once stood. There's nothing to see and it is meant to be that way so that the area never becomes a Neo-Nazi shrine.

Wilhelmstrasse

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Across the street from the memorial was a souvenir shop so we were required to stop in. Nothing new here except for an interesting metal sign advertising a Communist-era hotel called "Red Oktober". I decided not to buy it simply because I didn't feel like lugging it around the rest of the day. We decided to continue walking South with the intention of reaching Checkpoint Charlie. Somehow we ended up on the Wilhelmstrasse, one of old Berlin's grandest avenues. The name rang a bell for me having read so many World War II spy stories. It was along this street that the Air Ministry and the Abwehr (German military intelligence) were situated.

Central Office of the Fuehrer's Deputy/Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection

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Thanks to one of the historic guides I picked up on one of our many souvenir store stops, I learned that this particular house was once the HQ for Rudolf Hess, Hitler's Number Two man. Hess mysteriously defected to England when the Battle for Britain air war began. At the conclusion of World War II this entire street was in ruins and remained as nothing but open field as a buffer between the East and West. In the 1980's the East Germans started to develop it. The boring, cookie-cutter apartment blocks we saw in previous photos were the result.

This Isn't on the Walking Tour

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We continued down the Wilhelmstrasse noting a few plaques indicating the one time site of a Nazi-era office building. When we reached the Mohrenstrasse where this statue to Field Marshalll Leopold von Dessau. He was one of Frederick the Great's generals and instrumental in the Prussian conquest of Silesia. This just so happened to be the region where we would be heading through tomorrow. Finally deciding to consult a map, we discovered we were a few too many streets West of Checkpoint Charlie. We then proceeded east to the Mitte section of Berlin.

Snapped in Passing

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As we crossed over toward a more commercialized and rejuvenated part of town, I spotted this unique adornment atop one of the buildings. Thanks to my 10x zoom I saw what nobody else saw at the time. Later we'll learn what this place is.

A Bit of Old Bavaria in Berlin

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Soon we were heading South on Friedrichstrasse. There were Starbucks, McDonalds and Starting Line stores in this newly affluent section of town. Down one side street we spotted this big fella summoning us in for a couple of brewskies. We passed on that idea but kept the location in mind should we find ourselves near here at dinner time. Our bodies had still not accustomed themselves to the idea of having lunch at 2:00 in the afternoon.

We Found It!

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As we continued South we left the quarter of town full of modern, commercialized buildings and then came to a block that seemed to be under development. It turned out that this area of undeveloped land was the old Kill Zone that sat between the end of East Berlin and the wall along the border with the West. This cleared area was set up so that the East German guards could see and shoot anyone trying to make it through the ring of barbed wire toward the concrete wall. This marker on the sidewalk delineates where the actual Berlin Wall once stood.

Checkpoint Charlie

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Next to the Brandenburg Gate this may be the second-most famous site in Berlin. During the Cold War the street straight ahead was in the American zone. Anyone wishing to go into or out of the East had to pass through this American guardpost. The much more intimidating and security-conscious gate would've been where we are standing on the East side. Here people had to pass through stringent security and strict vehicle inspection.