Gardens, Third Reich and Red Berlin

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Our hotel in Berlin was right near Christmas markets and the Berliner Dom, a fantasic sight over the Berlin skyline!

Here in Berlin, you could do two bus tours and we did both. One of the main sights of Berlin and one into East Berlin.. It was interesting to see East Berlin however compared to the main sites in Central Berlin (and some of these are in East Berlin), it is much quieter in the East than in the West.

Following up from our last dinner in Hamburg, we were invited out with our new friends on their first night in Berlin. It was great catching up and having some drinks and swapping stories.

The Tiergarten, the main gardens in Berlin were a sight to be seen in the snow. Covered in snow, we walked through the garens taking it all in.. something we had never seen anything like before. Beautiful and worth the tough walk!

On a day of the mini blizzard, we and other crazy tourists did a Third Reich walking tour, 3hours walking through the snow to see the some of the sights of Nazi Germany.. Memorials and building are still standing to remind Berliners about what occured not that long in the past. One thing a number of tour guides have said and its so true, Germany doesnt try to find its horrible past. It puts memorials up and stands up and says, yes this happened, we cant forget it and nor should we.

As well as a Third Reich walking tour, we also did a Red Berlin walking tour which focused on the Cold War years where Berlin was split into East and West and both the Soviet Union and the Allied Powers had their fingers in the Berlin pie. This tour showed many memorials to victims that died trying to cross the war aswell as parts of the Wall which are still standing in Berlin, there's alot more than I was expecting! On the West side, you could walk up and touch the Wall with no problems. On the East, if you managed to get within 100m of the Wall you better have a good reason or you'd find yourself arrested. Checkpoint Charlie is a very popular sight, the famous spot between the East and West where checks were carried out before you were allowed to cross the border, if you were allowed at all

It was great to see Berlin, onto the next part of Germany!

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