Berlin

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East side vs. West side ... learning the story

We stayed at the St Christopher's Inn hostel where we drank 2 euro jagaers, beer from steins and dined on curry weaners!

We went on a free walking tour of Berlin. Our guide was a young lady, and she was really good and told some interesting stories:

We start off at the symbol of Germany: the Brandenburg Gate. From there we follow the line of the Wall, through the former Nazi Government District to Checkpoint Charlie. After a coffee break, we head through the 1920s Cabaret Mile and over Berlin’s grandest square – Gendarmenmarkt – to Museum Island. The tour concludes in the beautiful surroundings of the Lustgarten – the old royal gardens – in the heart of the city, a stone’s throw from some of the best museums in the world!

On this 3.5 hour tour we covered:


• Pariser Platz
• The Brandenburg Gate
• The Reichstag
• The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
• The Site of Hitler’s Former Bunker
• Luftwaffe HQ
• The 17. June Memorial
• The Berlin Wall
• The Former SS Headquarters
• Checkpoint Charlie
• The 1920s Cabaret Mile
• Gendarmenmarkt
• Bebelplatz
• The Old Royal Boulevard
• The Old Royal Boulevard
• Neue Wache
• The TV Tower
• Museum Island


We were the coldest we have ever been in Germany. We had to buy sunglasses because it was so windy that the snow was stinging our eyes! It quite amazing to be standing at the Berlin Wall where you can clearly see both sides, which is something that really we are only able to do quite recently! The evidence is war is clear and they have preserved many things so that the world never forget what happened.

They do tours to the concentration camps but we did not want to go. Going to the Memorial to the Jews was upsetting enough.

Apart from this Berlin is a big bustling city! We were wandering around one night and ended up in a Russian bar. I ordered a vodka and lemonade and got a shot of vodka next to a glass of lemonade....lol...authentic Russia! We also found this really cool abandoned building that has been taken over by artists. All the walls are covered in grafitti and poster and people have taken over each room and turned them into little studios and they sell their stuff from there. Very cool.

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