Berlin

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One of the very awaited trips for me. Berlin - the city with so much history, so much of modern history and with so much of history in the making with EU and Euro. But I was there for the history of the world wars. The city is full of museums and modern buildings. It did not at all feel like European city, no old town, no cobble streets, victorian houses. The place was bombed to ground and rebuilt and it shows. There was so much to see and learn there, that 3 days were definitely not enough. The places we visited -

Museum of German history - That was very interesting. Lot of it was repeat of what we had seen in Paris, but it was focused on German history. We learnt that Germany as a country was formed quite late.

Opera - We had heard a lot about Opera in Europe. A cold winter evening in Berlin was best time to enjoy one. They are much cheaper here than in Zurich. We had to pick a show in Italian with German subtitles, ahem! While we sat there enjoying the musics and sounds, we caught a few words in Germand and I could understand a couple in Italian. Overall, it was great fun, and we are hooked.

DDR - The museum of history of East Germany. It was quite a informative museum. We had heard so much about communism and life under communism, but it was interesting to see how it was. I can't say it was objectively depicted, but then I don't really have any other measure. Before the museum, we ventued into Eastern part of Berlin. The difference from West was still clear, you just feel you are in different part of the city. But that is where I bought my high winter boots also, love them!

Jewish Museum - Its one of the most interesting buildings. As the name suggests, it has history of Jews in Europe for centuries, and of course a large part is dedicated to period around WWII.

Charlie Checkpoint - Its more of a collection of photographs and paintings around Berlin Wall. Stories of innovative ways people tried to cross the wall, tearful reunions and what not. Its interesting, but highly overpriced. After that we walked to the remains of Berlin Wall which is covered with paintings for artists all around the world.

Lastly since it was close to Christmas, there were small melas setup at every square. Little shops selling cute stuff, and then lot of food stalls. It was nice, we had so much to eat! I was worried that being Germany, we won't find anything but potatos to eat there. Food was no problem. Of course 2 days we had pizza.

More photos on Picasa

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Photos

Berlin Wall
A painting on the remains of Berlin wall

Wooden Toy store
A store with very cute toys, I wanted to buy everything!

Decorated Square
All squares were decorated and had a fair going on with little shops