Right away, let me get the disappointing thing out of the way.
Checkpoint Charlie. Rick Steves said in his book that Checkpoint Charlie and the area around it has turned in to a sort of Cold War freak show. He could not have been more right. There are two actors dressed as guards who are more than willing to pose for a picture with you - for a price. I am diametrically opposed to posing in front of historic sites (just a pet peeve of mine) but I did snap a picture.
Of course I couldn't go without snapping a picture of the famous sign.
Ok, now that I got that out of the way... Berlin is an amazing city. The first thing we saw was the Sony Center, which is this really cool set of buildings with an outdoor but feels like indoor patio.
Right outside the Sony Center is Potsdamer Platz where they had sections of the wall on display.
From Potsdamer Platz we walked to Brandengerg Gate
On the way, we passed the American Embassy
Pass through Brandenburg Gate and you are on Unter den Linden. Unter den Linden is a famous street in Berlin that is lined with some pretty cool buildings (Many embassies, The Deutscher Bundestag, Dunkin Donuts...)
We went down Unter den Linden as far as Alexander Platz
But before we got there, we passed some of the most beautiful buildings. Ever. Seriously, look at all of the Berlin pictures. You won't believe it.
After Alexander Platz we headed back up Unter den Linden and passed even more amazing buildings.
Our next stop was The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Now we have already established that I have a huge dislike of people posing in front of historical sites, and I am just as opposed/offended by people sitting on a monument that is supposed to represent the lives of the millions of people who were murdered, but that is exactly what we saw. That and teenagers playing tag and hide and go seek between the slabs.
After the memorial, we headed to the Reichsstag. Turns out, the day that we went was the anniversary of Operation Valkyrie, and as a result they shut down 2 blocks around and including the Reichstag and swear in everyone who joined the Army this year - so no Reichstag for us.
That's ok. We headed back to Potsdamer Platz and then followed the path of the wall to the Topography of Terror.
They make it very easy to follow the path of the wall. The entire length is traced in cobble stones - sometimes even through buildings.
The Topography of Terror was - well, terrifying. It is a very detailed and sometimes graphic accounting of the rise and fall of the Nazi party. It was quite a lot to take in - even for someone like me who soaks in history - but we made it through to the end. Outside of the Topography of Terror is protected section of the Berlin Wall that was left standing...
...and the remaining parts of the basement of what were once the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS.
Talk about a "if these walls could talk" moment. *shudder*
After the Topography of Terror we headed to Checkpoint Charlie and then home. We were absolutely exhausted. In fact. we are all so exhausted that we are taking a full week off of doing anything other than sit around the apartment and read. But that is another blog post...
More Berlin pictures here.
2 comments:
Sounds like you are having a fabulous time! How jealous am I. One of my biggest wishes is to live in another country for a few months (I'd like to go to Finland)
I know what you mean about posing at historical sites, or worse fooling around at monuments like what you described.
My boss just told me the story of the time he and his family went to a German Concentration camp museum. Apparently they took a bus there and it was the off season for tourists so hardly anyone was on the bus. The people that were on the bus asked where they were going and he was a little embarrassed to say, but he did. Well, the Germans he was riding with were going there too. FOR A PICNIC..... Weird. Apparently they picnic there a lot. I don't even know what to say about that. I think then he was more embarrassed for them!
When we were walking through the exhibit at Bergen Belsen we had the pleasure of listinng to a dumb ass American answer her cell phone and very loudly say things like "Yeah, we got to go to the Baltic Sea yesterday. Compared to that this is so boring!" and "Oh, I have a loaf of bread in my freezer at home. Just get the key from the neighbor and get it." Of course, it echoed throughout the place.
Some people are just idiots.
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