First thing, we came upon a Jewish Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Apparently it was a huge deal and only recently completed (and by recently I mean 1999). It seems the German parliament dragged their feet a bit about building a memorial but, obviously, the did eventually. Those crazy Germans. So it was pretty interesting. It took up basically a whole city block, and the cement blocks themselves almost look like could hold a body they are so long. It was masterful.
Then we headed the Brandenburg Gate, the last remaining gate of Germany of the original 16 and one of Europe's most famous landmarks. It marks an entrance to the city and once led to the Prussian palace of Frederick William II. It was pretty cool. It's topped with Nike, the god of war. And to think it was once marred by the Berlin Wall...
After that we traveled to the Reichstag, the building that houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. We waited in line for about an hour to get in. Once inside we were able to go up into the glass dome and get a spectacular view of Berlin. It's was fantastic. Also, along the top there were photos recounting the history of the building including the burning down of it 1933 by Communists supposedly who were most likely framed by Hitlet. It's full of history. And we saw photos of it where it was wrapped in fabric by the artist Claude's. Following the draping reconstruction was started on the building, resulting in the beautiful building it is today.
the outside facade
inside the glass dome, it was open to the elemenets and had this mirror/glass thing on the middle
After the Reichstag we traveled to Check Point Charlie and saw the museum there that is in memory and honor of those brave souls who risked their lives to get themselves and/or others from East Berlin to West Berlin during the Soviets rule. It was interesting to see the kind of innovations people had to trick the Reds.
the building and pictures on the walls by it on the street
a sign like the one that used to stand guard at the wall
the guard post, inside the musuem, those are all the different nationalities of visitors, pieces of the origina sign
a car that was used to smuggle people across the border; they built compartments where a body could fit under the hood to hide from Soviet eyes
That's about all we had time to see. I wish we could have stayed longer, but alas, it was not to be. I'll just have to go back =) Berlin is a really cool city and I feel like there's so much more to see and we just saw the tip of the iceberg.
Here's the rest of the pictures:
horses in the square by the gate and a very modern building that is by the Reichstag, I believe it's a library
the torch from the 1936 Olympics (or at least I thjink so), and a memorial to those who lost their lives trying to get to West Berlin
more of the memorial
a dog in the square, a sequined store, and a rose in a glass
I tried to get a good picture of a wind turbine (of which there were a lot along the autoban) but I think I failed...
But now.... I'm preparing for Greece!!! Hopefully I'll be able to update somehow while I'm gone so it's not information overload when I get back. I'm sure I will have loads of pictures. So many in fact you'll probably get bored of them. But I am counting down the days! It's Wednesday already here so only 62 hours until I leave for GREECE. I watched Sisterhood of the Travling Pants which is set in Santorini to get me prepapred amd more excited (like I even needed it...).
So until the next chance I get to update, αντίο (that's Greek for bye)!
