History Overload

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For our last full day in Berlin, we chose to start it off with a Third Reich Walking Tour. The meet up point for this tour was at the Mcdonald's outside the Zoologischer Garten subway stop. We were running late and the tour had already left. Luckily, they didn't get very far and we were able to join up and everyone rode on the bus to start the walking tour at the Reichstag. I don't understand why we all just didn't meet at the Reichstag. It would have saved us all some time and some money by not having to buy bus passes. Since there were so many people who had joined this tour, we were split up into 2 groups. This definitely made sense as it would have been very difficult with 50 people. Our guide began with explaining the history and significance of the Reichstag before we moved on to 2 monuments that we saw yesterday for the murdered Sinti and Roma people and the Jews. Despite having already seen these sights the day before, it was very informative to receive some commentary and explanation on on these 2 sights. Near the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was another memorial to another persecuted group under the Nazis. At the edge of the Tiergarten, The Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism was constructed in 2008 and features a concrete slab similar to one at the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The sole concrete slab has a small window where one looks inside and sees a running film of 2 men kissing. The memorial is so small and discrete that it is very easy to overlook especially with the more imposing Monument to the Murdered Jews right across the street. From here we walked over to Wilhelmstrasse and headed south where we saw a classic example of Nazi Architecture, the former Nazi Air Ministry Building. Today the building is the German Finance Ministry and is one of the few remaining Nazi era buildings that survived the bombings of World War 2. We continued down to the Topographie of Terror, the former home of the Nazi Gestapo which now houses exhibits on the Nazi rise to power as well as exhibits on Nazi atrocties and propoganda. Our guide encouraged us to return here to check out the exhibits once the tour was complete. However, we would only be given approximately 20 minutes here for a break and to get a quick snack. I spent my time during this break to check out one of the longest segments of the Berlin Wall just outside the Topography of Terror. However, what really caught my eye was Trabi World just across the street. Trabi world was a small little museum dedicated to the former East German cars called Trabants. In addition to the museum, you could also rent some of the trabants for a tour around Berlin. Even though it would have been really claustrophobic, this would have been a fun way to see the city if we had more time. After our break was finished, our tour guide started bombarding us with information about the quick Nazi takeover of most of Europe before we eventually made our way over to Potsdamer Platz. One of Europe's busiest squares before World War 2, Potsdamer Platz was leveled during the bombings and left desolate during much of the Cold War. After German reunification, Potsdamer Platz was quickly redeveloped with modern high rises and is a symbol of the new modern Germany. From Potsdamer Platz, we walked over to the former site of Hitler's bunker and where he and Eva Braun commited suicide. The German government did not want the site to develop into a neo-nazi gathering point so the bunker was never marked. Residential apartments now cover the site of Hitler's bunker and only recently was an information sign put up to mark the significance of the area. Our guide gathered us around an small play area where he talked about Hitler's and the Nazi regime's final days. The tour finally ended after 4 hours with all of us pondering the irony that the grave of such an evil person in world history is nothing more than a dirt parking lot. After our long yet very informative tour, we made our way over to Friedrichstrasse to check out some of the shops and find a bank to exchange some money. Friedrichstrasse was a bustling area with lots of pedestrians but the shopping consisted mainly of your typical international chain brands. Walking along Friedrichstrasse, you eventually made it to the very touristy Checkpoint Charlie. We had a quick snack here of hot dogs and checked out some slabs of the Berlin Wall that have been turned into art and on public display. Checkpoint Charlie is a famous Cold War era checkpoint between the former West and East Berlin. Today it is nothing more than a cheesy tourist trap with a rebuilt guard station and fake American soldiers posing for photos. Not being one to turn down a cheesy photo-op, my sister and I of course paid our 5 euros for our photos with them. We didn't take the time here to check out any of the museums. Due to the crass commercialism of the area and the hordes of tourists, we chose to get out of the area fairly quickly. We returned to the Topography of Terror which was close by and checked out the chronological display of the Nazis rise to power to the days just after the end of World War 2. It was all well presented but nothing new that I hadn't already known before. The exhibits inside were very interesting and informative with the most interesting part for me being all the propoganda posters. After a good hour inside checking everything out, I was starting to get burned out of all the history we had seen over the past 2 days. Churro, Vita, and Shea however were still inside reading all the displays and exhibits so my mom, Josie, and I decided to make our way back to the apartment to relax. We weren't at the apartment for very long. After laying down for a while, I realized that I never did go to the Eastside Gallery. For a few minutes I kept asking myself do I want to rest or do I want to do more walking at the Eastside Gallery. I convinced myself to get back out there and check it out and to my surprise, my mom decided she wanted to go also. We got back on the subway and in no time were at the Eastside Gallery checking out all the murals. Stretching for over a mile, this is the longest remaining stretch of the wall and is covered with murals painted by various artists from around the world. I found most of the murals to be underwhelming with the exception of the most famous one which depicted former Soviet leader Brezhnev and East German leader Honecker sharing a kiss. For dinner tonight, everyone was being a bit indecisive. I had originally wanted to take everyone over to Lutter and Wegner, a restaurant highly recommended by my boss. However, it was a bit far and everyone was a bit tired. In the end, I just picked the nearest restaurant that was recommended in the Rick Steve's guidebook. Restaurant Die Schule was a bit difficult to find and despite the slow service, dinner was delicious and our spirits were lifted by countless glasses of beer. After dinner, most everyone was tired after a long day of sightseeing. However Vita, Churro, and I wanted to celebrate our last night in Berlin by hitting up a few spots. Not sure when to go, we just made our way over to the Kreuzburg area and just wandered in and out of a few spots spending most of our time at this small biergarten called Banja Luka. Around 2am, we made our way back to the apartment and called it a night ending our time in Berlin.

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Photos

Topography of Terror
Section of the Berlin Wall