Berlin
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Ah, Berlin. A city of history, culture, and amazing sights.
One of my favorite things about Berlin is most everything is within walking distance.
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But first, a shout out to the 24-hour market across the street from our hotel. This cute and wholesome store sold fresh fruit, Jaffa Cakes, and giant bottles of water for only 1 Euro! Compared to a few Euro per glass of water at restaurants, this place was a life saver, and allowed us to pack snacks for the remainder of the trip.
Walking through the city, there are several plazas, courtyards, nooks, and crannies in which gems are hiding.
I found the above alleyway by accident, which was one of several little plazas that veer off from main streets in the city. This one is a plaza filled with street and trash art. The walls are plastered with street art, graffiti, posters, flyers, odds and ends. The Anne Frank museum was right around the corner, and a cafe was conveniently within smelling distance.
Alexander Platz is one of the main squares in town, historically an old gathering place of Soviet members during the Cold War.
The Holocaust Memorial contains 1,167 cement blocks, all ranging in size. When you look at it from the street, it looks like there's only a height difference of 2-3 feet in each one. But once you walk into the memorial, the ground dips and curves so you're standing between 13-foot slabs and creating the sensation of how Holocaust victims felt walking into the gas chambers.
Yes, this is a picture of a sand pit in a play ground. And beyond that is a parking lot. This area is significant because the parking lot is sitting atop the former home to Hitler's underground bunker, where he ultimately committed suicide at the end of WWII.
At the end of the conflicts, people couldn't decide if they wanted to keep it as a memorial and run the risk of neo-Nazis gathering behind the idea of something Hitler left behind. So in 1985, they blew the bunker up and built a parking lot and playground.
This building is one of the last remaining sites from the Third Reich.
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The Berlin Dome (Berliner Dom) was by far one of my favorite things in Berlin. The architecture was beyond stunning and one of my favorite styles.
Inside the Berliner Dom, marble and exquisite decor was breathtaking.
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One courtyard near the Berlin Dome was surrounded by about seven meusuems of various topics. I chose one at random, walked inside, and encountered another stunning foyer! White marble and statues everywhere, I felt like a princess walking up the strip of red carpet.
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| The entrance to the National Gallery, I believe |
The Reichstag Building is the house of government. If you look closely at the top, you'll see a glass dome that was added relatively recently. You can climb all the way to the top of the dome to see the surrounding area. Apparently it symbolizes how the people of country are supposed to be above (a priority) its government, while the government is below, serving and supporting the citizens.
Immediately across from the Reichstag Building is a luscious garden (Tiergarden) with bushes, flowers, trees, and walkways. Locals were lounging in the shade, and the aroma of flowers and greenery floated through the air.
 I found this area so interesting...in the Tiergarten, a giant park near the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag, was this circle of giant rocks. Each rock was unique in the shape, color and arrangement. There was one giant oval shaped, black marble stone standing straight in the air; a circle of white rocks with smooth sides, a sitting area of oval rocks with smooth tops, and this one. Each rock had a word engraved into it, translated into many languages. This one, along with Peace, Freedom, and Forgiveness, is my favorite. It says Amor [Love]. On top of that, each rock had a few counties listed on it along with a year, as if they were symbols to Berlin.
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The Berlin Wall
Pieces of the Berlin Wall are scattered throughout the city in various forms. From pure, unaltered wall to mere poles to shielded bits and pieces, each monument shares a story of what the community endured during the war.
The first piece I encountered was in the city center, near a busy intersection. Each area between the segments depicted a bit of history on the wall and conflict. I also realized that from the ends of the wall were marks on the ground- they were engravings in the ground, running through the city, marking where the border of the wall used to be.
Below are two photos on either side of the Wall at one of the longest remaining stretches.
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| The west side |
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| The east side |
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| Looking straight down the middle, West on Left, East on Right |
These poles simply stand in the middle of a grassy area, somewhat out of the way of the city's hustle and bustle. These poles signify where the wall used to stand, and at one point completely intersect a road.
Check Point Charlie was the place where U.S. Troops were stationed to check IDs and such to enter into the US zone during the Cold War, yet today is quite unassuming.
The Brandenburg Gate, of course, is a major symbol in Berlin, as it stands for the unification of Berlin after the Cold War. On the ground, you could see bricks that signified where the original Wall was. And then apparently, the four horses on the top of the gate symbolize victory (I don't quite get it, but that's what I was told).
On a more cheery note, after all that walking, Berlin does not disappoint with food and drink! Sometimes you need to simply sit and watch the world go by. We found a restaurant by the river, sat, drank, talked, and enjoyed life.
Afterwards, we kept walking, and grabbed a bite from a local street vendor- a sausage with a roll and mustard. It was one of the most delicious things I've had in a very long time!! We must have walked our feet off, because we went in a giant circle over the course of 3 hours before collapsing at the hotel a couple hours before dinner. But really, it was great, because we ended up sitting on the couches in front of the hotel, reading, and talking to our friends as they passed. It was amazing. And the food was too!
Something we noticed about Europe... graffiti is more commonplace than in the States. Even on nice establishments, there's graffiti. We noticed this throughout our travels, and created difficulty in discerning safe/unsafe areas because Americans are so used to associating graffiti with unsafe places.
To end with food, we found a delicious and cozy alleyway hotel for dinner, and had authentic German Strudel!
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| Authentic German Apple strudel...be jealous!! |
Fun fact: Germans don't drink tap water. Not because its unclean (its very clean!) but simply because tradition dictates otherwise. A bottle of water often costs more than alcohol!
