Ich war nach Berlin!

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We arrived a freezing Thursday afternoon in Berlin. On our way to the hotel I sensed the energy of Berlin and how different it was from Frankfurt.

I decided that I was brave enough to go sightseeing but the ice cold snowy wind soon changed my mind, I barely made it to the shopping centre across the road. I stocked up on snacks and headed straight for my warm cosy hotel room!

The next morning I was happy to see the sun shining and it gave me courage to take on the cold. My hotel was located near the famous Potsdamer Platz. It is named after the city Potsdam (25km SW of Berlin). It marks the point where the old road form Potsdam passed through the wall of Berlin at the Potsdam Gate. Here I saw some pieces of the wall and a line that marked where the wall used to be.

Next I took the U Bahn to Zoologischer Garten and as I walked out the station found the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche. The Berliners call this church “hollow tooth” after it was badly damaged by a bombing raid in 1943. It was built in the 1890’s by the royal architect Schwechten.

At the zoo I saw my first live Panda Bear lying on his back chewing bamboo so cute, quiet and small but fat.
Then finally, after watching him on TV and on his blog, I saw Knut face to face. Knut became famous because he was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in more than 30 years. Animal right activists stated that he should be left for dead as in the wild because he was rejected by his mother and not be raised by zoo keepers.
Wow, he has grown and he was dirty after rolling around in the ground. He lives alone next to the brown bear and the water around his enclosure was frozen so I think he felt right at home.

My next stop was the Berlin-Brandenburger Tor. Berlin used to have 14 city gates but only the Brandenburger Gate remains. It was constructed between 1788 and 1791 under the rule of the Prussion Kingdom.
Not far from the gate I found the Reichstag (German Parliament Building). My feet almost froze because of the ice on the ground and so I didn’t stay long. On my way back to Potsdamer Platz I saw a Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman, designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere. It was very interesting as one can walk in between the blocks exploring the site.

Well that was Berlin in a nut shell - so much more history to explore!

Auf Wiedersehen...

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Photos

Pieces of the Berlin Wall
The line indicateds where the wall used to be...