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Published: December 27th 2007
Anne Frank Centre
This is the sign outside the Anne Frank Centre.**NOTE**- You can click on any picture to see an enlarged version. Not all of our pictures fit on this single blog page. To see all of the pictures, make sure you go through each page (the pages will be listed at the bottom of the entry). Alternatively, you can click on one picture and then you will be able to scroll through the rest.**
Willkommen! (Welcome) We just finished our four day visit to Berlin, Germany. We arrived in Zurich, Switzerland yesterday and we will be here for four days. When we arrived in Berlin, we found our way to our hotel without getting lost! We took two public buses from the airport to get to our hotel and were surprised by the good quality of English the drivers spoke. At first glance, from the outside, our hotel didn't appear to fulfill the 4.5 star rating we read about. However, on the inside, the hotel is quite stunning with high ceilings, glass chandeliers, marble floors, and fashionable seating areas. Since it was midday, we checked into our room and ventured out to begin seeing the sights of Berlin. We walked to Zoologischer Garten, about a mile from our hotel,
Anne Frank's Diary
Anne’s handwritten diary was at the Centre on loan from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. These are the original notes Anne wrote during the war that would later be published into a book, The Diary of Anne Frank. which is a bustling area filled with shops, restaurants, baguette cafes, Germany's first zoo, an aquarium, and a large Christmas market. The Christmas market is filled with wooden huts that sell everything from jewelery, food, clothing, and souvenirs. All the wooden huts are lit up with Christmas lights and Christmas music is played throughout the market.
On our second day in Berlin, we slept until 10:30 am and lazed around our room until 11:30 am. We took a train to the North East end of the city where we spent nearly two hours visiting the Anne Frank Zentrum (Anne Frank Centre). It is the German partner organization of the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. We watched a video biography of Anne Frank's life and looked at artifacts and pictures from the Holocaust. In a nice surprise, Anne Frank's personal hand-written diary was at the centre on loan from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. After the Holocaust was over, the only survivor in Anne's family was her father, Otto. Otto pubished Anne's diary after learning his family had died and fulfilled Anne's dream of becoming a writer. The visit to this centre was a powerfully emotional and cultural experience for
Inside Anne Frank's diary
A picture of Anne Frank inside the diary. the both of us. After leaving the centre, we walked to the Berliner Dom, the Neue Synagoge (The New Synagogue), Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), Reichstag (Government building), and the Holocaust-Mahnmal (Holocaust Memorial).
On Monday, we took part in a Berlin walking tour to learn about the complex history of the city. We re-visited the Berliner Dom, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, and the Holocaust Memorial. We learned that the proper name for the Holocaust Memorial is the Jewish Memorial because it represents all of the Jews who were killed during the war. Our guide told us that calling the Jewish Memorial the Holocaust Memorial is a common mistake (it is printed on our tourist map as the Holocaust Memorial). On the walking tour, we also visited the location where Hitler's bunker was located (a parking lot and apartment building now stand on top of where Hitler hid during the last months of war before committing suicide). On our tour, we saw Humboldt University where Albert Einstein once taught and Karl Marx once studied. Humboldt University is the city's oldest university and used to be their most prestigious before the war. It is the birthplace of the modern professor (one who does both
Anne and Margot
These are photos of Anne as a baby and Margot, Anne’s older sister. Both died at a concentration camp during the war. research and teaches). Across the street from the university building is Berlin's Opera House (destroyed twice during World War II) and the square where the famous book burning took place. On May 10, 1933, Nazi youth groups burned over 20,000 books written by Jewish authors and any other books that disagreed with Nazi ideology. Towards the end of the tour we visited the most recent erected portion of the Berlin Wall (1974 - 1975) and Checkpoint Charlie. We ended the tour at the Gendarmenmarkt, the most popular Christmas Market in Berlin. It is here that we had our first experience of having to pay to use the washroom. It cost us 50 cents each, however it was probably the nicest toilet on wheels either one of us has ever used. We ended our day walking around Potsdamer Platz (Berlin's 'new' downtown area). Most businesses were closed at this time because Germans celebrate Christmas on December 24. For dinner we found the classiest restaurant open at the time (there were lots of people and we had to wait for seating) - KFC!
Our last full day in Berlin was Christmas day. The morning began by Bri giving her Christmas gifts to
Parents of Anne Frank
These are photos of Anne’s father, Otto, and Anne’s mother Edith. Edith died in a concentration camp. Anne’s father was the only survivor of the family and it was he who had Anne’s diary published after the war. Will. Just before we left the hotel for the day, Will gave Bri her Christmas present: he got down on one knee and proposed with a beautiful diamond ring! After a few emotional moments, we left the hotel for our last day of sightseeing. Our first stop was LEGOLAND! LEGOLAND is geared towards kids but we enjoyed ourselves too. The remainder of our day was spent visiting what remains of the Berlin Wall. We went to the East Side Gallery which is the longest stretch of the wall that is still standing. It is known now for all of the artwork spray-painted onto its surface. We ended our day by wandering through another Christmas market and enjoying a nice meal.
During our time in Berlin we’ve noticed a few interesting things: smoking is permitted in buildings and restaurants, food is prepared with great care and quality, public transportation is run on the ‘honour system’ (you’re supposed to buy tickets, but tickets are rarely checked), baguette shops are everywhere, and most Berliners speak English and are extremely friendly.
Our most recent trip was to Barcelona and we found the architecture to be very aesthetically pleasing. In Berlin, we were
amazed by the amount of history associated with each site. Not only are the buildings beautiful, but the history that accompanies them made the visit very emotional and cultural.
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sheila allen
non-member comment
The BEST blog on Berlin I've seen!
I grew up in Germany post WWII..as an American Army brat. Your's is the most descriptive blog on Berlin I've seen..and congrats! on the engagement.