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Published: June 14th 2009
Berlin - June 8th - 11th, 2009 From Amsterdam, we took our first (and hopefully last) night bus to Berlin, Germany. We had promised ourselves that we would avoid travelling longer than 5-6 hours per day, and avoid night travelling all together, but with the weekend cost of hotels in Amsterdam, and the cheap bus fares, it only made sense. We boarded at 11:15 pm, and after a sleepless 9.5 hours, were in Berlin the next rainy morning. We had a place reserved, which only cost us 10 Euro per night, a decent hostel with all the amenities. Needless to say the first day was wasted as we were both retarded after not sleeping.
On the second day, we left on a walking tour of the city. First stop, the Berlin Wall, the concrete barrier which separated East from West for 28 years. Most of the wall has been demolished, but there are several intact sections which still stand. They are now monuments to the fall of communism, and are used as galleries for artists to display their work. Next we walked into the heart of Berlin, Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. The Reichstag was almost completely destroyed during
the war, and restored back into one of the most impressive buildings in Europe. Even with all the new restorations, you can still see all the patches from the thousands of Russian bullet holes which riddled every square yard of the facade. Pretty amazing piece of history.
We also got to see where the Fuhrerbunker once stood, the last home of Mr. Adolf Hitler, although there is nothing that remains of it, the land has been redeveloped into apartments. Other interesting sites in Berlin were 8 Prince Albert Stasse, former home of the Nazi SS and Gestapo. Again, only the foundations remain, there is a permanent memorial being constructed on the site to honour the many souls who perished there. Checkpoint Charlie was really neat as well, the only remaining checkpoint on the Berlin wall which was one of the few crossing points from East to West Berlin. It is pretty well preserved, complete with signs warning you that you are leaving the american sector. They even have guys playing the part of the Russian and American soldiers, with whom you can stand and get a picture with for a Euro. Overall, Berlin was a good time, fun hostel,
but we gotta keep heading East...next stop Gdansk, Poland.
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