Berlin – Day 19

After grabbing a hearty breakfast at the hotel I headed out. My first destination was going to be the Brandenburg Gate. My preference was to walk since it wasn’t far and it would give me a better fell of the city.

Being only a short distance from Checkpoint Charlie, I though perhaps I’d go to the museum in the same location. I soon changed my mind when I saw all the people who were already crowded around the area.

I saw that the museum actually doesn’t close till about 10pm so I knew I could save it until one of my return trips on night. So I snapped a few pictures and continued on my way up Freidrichtstrasse towards Unter den Linden.

As I continued along I noticed the whole area around Checkpoint Charlie is covered with descriptive boards and there is also a walk you can take. Looks like I’m going to have to spend a lot more time here soon.

Where Freidrichtstrasse meets  Unter den Linden I found a VW store. Yes a whole department store devoted to all makes and models of VW. This also includes Bugatti, with the Veyron parkign in the windows. I could let such an opportunity to go by, as this will probably my only change to get near a Veyron.

I walked around the whole store, up and down the floors (yes, it has more than 1 floor) and lamented at how much buying a car in German has become like buy and other home appliance!

I turn the corner on Unter den Linden and headed west and took this shot looking back at the TV tower, which will be something else I’ll need to visit.

 

It wasn’t long before I was standing in front of probably the most famous place in all of Germany, the Brandenburg Gate. After seeing it many times in the history of World War II and the Cold War it is something to actually see it for yourself.

As you pass through the gates, heading west, you can see the Reichstag on the right, so I headed over there to have a look at probably the second most famous place in Germany.

I got a real sense of history when I stood in front of the building and took these shots. You may also notice over on the right hand side of the front of the building was a long queue. This is a queue to get into the Reichstag.At this stage of the day I decided that I’d join the queue late in the day, hopefully when the crowds had died down.

I walked around the extremity of the Reichstag and noted how close the river is.

My next plan was to board one of the hop-on-hop-off buses and take a complete tour of the city. Most of these stop at the Brandenburg Gate, so I headed back there and jumped aboard the Berlin City Tour bus which gave me a discount with my Welcome Berlin card.

My plan was to do at least one complete circuit of the city on the bus to get a better idea of where everything was located.

I took the above shots while riding around.

After a complete circuit I hopped of at the Brandenburg gate again and headed a little south to the Holocaust Museum.

All these blocks stand in testament to all the Jews who were killed by the Nazis during the war. The memorial now stand the location of old Nazi Propaganda Ministry and there is actually an underground exhibit you can attend but it is closed on Mondays. Another thing to mark on my ‘to-do’ list.

I knew that Hitler’s bunker was also in the area so I started to look around. There is actually an exhibit which provides you with the history of the old Berlin and conducts underground tours but most start early in the morning. Another ‘to-do’ item.

It turns out that there is some information about the location Hitler’s bunker a bit further south of the exhibit.

There is basically nothing left as it was totally destroyed by the Russians after the war. For more information have a look at this Wikipedia article. Basically now it is car park in front of some flats.

There are still a number of underground bunkers and constructions that can be taken in via a guided tour. Hopefully, if I get enough time I’ll get along on one.

The above shot is an example of some of the form work from another bunker in the area.

My next stop was going to be the memorial to the Soviet soldiers killed in the battle for Berlin in 1945. It is basically a little to the west of the Brandenburg Gate along Strass des 17 Juni.

So I headed back that way, once again through the Holocaust memorial with the Reichstag in the distance.

Over 300,000 Soviet soldiers lost their lives in the battle for Berlin in 1945 and this impressive memorial is dedicated to them. At the front you can see two T-34 tanks which were the first ones into the city. If you walk through the memorial you will find a number of informational panels about the memorial, numerous war cemeteries and other memorials to the war.

I headed back to Brandenburg Gate to pick up the Berlin City Tour bus to get to the other side of Unter den Linden as I wanted to see the Neue Wache memorial.

 

I jumped off the bus at Rotes Rathus in Alexanderplatz and headed through the Marx Engles Forum back toward Unter den Linden.

On the way I passed the Neptune fountain,

the Berlin TV Tower

and the Berliner Dome.

A little way along I can to the Neue Wache which is now a memorial to the Victims of Facism. It is basically the statue you see above of a mother holding her son inside a start room, with only a skylight. Not exactly what I expected but I think it conveys the feeling of the memorial very well.

I decided that it was now time to head back to the Reichstag and line up to get inside, so I headed off back down Unter den Linden toward the Brandenburg Gate again.

Passing the Statue of Fredrichs des Grossen.

Even at this time of day I had to queue orf about an hour and pass through a security check.

Once you rear the roof you can pick up a free guided audio tour which takes you to the top and back down the glass and aluminium dome on the roof of the Reichstag pointing a number of interesting sites in the city.

At the top of the dome.

Looking down to the glass roof under which the members of the German Parliament meet.

From there you can walk around the exterior of the dome on the roof of the Reichstag and take in the fantastic vistas of the city.

It was now time to start heading back toward the hotel. I had seen a long intact piece of the Berlin Wall not far from my hotel so I headed that way.

Here’s the view from one side,

and from the other.

Heading back to the hotel I saw this attraction, which is basically a balloon that you take a ride up in the air to give you a view of the city.

I finally arrived back in the Checkpoint Charlie area as you can see from the above sign. I grabbed something to eat as well as coffee and desert at the local Starbucks and headed back to the hotel. I was going to go to the Checkpoint Charlie museum but decided I wouldn’t get as much out of it tonight so I’ll save it for another day.

So a few comments and observations on today. Firstly, my hotel is in great location, probably the best so far on my trip. It is right in the heart of everything, making most things within easy walking distance. Second, the place is full of tourists but most are German. I didn’t hear much English at all today. Thirdly, food is really cheap here. You get really good value for your Euro. Finally, I think there would be enough to keep me occupied in Berlin for a week, there is so much to do and see.

So what’s on the cards for tomorrow. I think I’ll start the day with a walking tour of the World War II sites and them perhaps head to the Stassi Museum. However, that may change but hopefully the excellent weather won’t!