Tour Berlin
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Thursday 14 July
With wanting to see all the sites in Berlin we thought the best idea would be to go on a tour, and as it turned out our hostel was the meeting point for a free walking tour. We were a bit dubious about it, as nothing is ever ‘free’ but went along with it anyway, as it seemed to go to all the sites as the paying ones. We started out at ‘Brandenburg Gate’ which was amazing, such a huge dominating structure. Our tour guide began with moving us into the shade to give us Berlin’s history in ten minutes – needless to say we were there for about twenty minutes, but he was really good at telling a story and was just fascinating t watch and listen to. Just outside the gate is the Prussian Forest where nobility gone by used to go hunting. From here we could see the ‘Reichstag’ – this is the German parliament building which was burnt to the ground, sparking a series of events that ultimately brought Hitler to power in 1933. We walked from here through the park near to the site of to the ‘Jewish memorial’. This is brand new and was very interesting - it’s basically a large amount of different sized rectangular concrete pillars – which reminded us both of coffins. They are all uneven and the ground isn’t flat, so as you’re walking through you get the feeling of them falling or closing in on you, which is how the Jew’s must have felt. From here we walked to Hitler’s Bunker, there’s nothing there but an unsealed car park – quite fitting really. Apparently the government doesn’t want to make a big deal about the site as there is still a Hitler following, and they don’t want to turn it into a religious site, as well as for other reasons. We walked from here up the road looking back toward POTSDAMA PLATZ toward the current tax department, as it was once Hitler’s Government Building. This is some building, taking up an entire block and is in very stark, square style. There isn’t a single curve on the entire building. On the opposite side of the building we got to see the last of the Berlin wall. We were thinking along the lines of ‘Great Wall of China’ which the Berlin wall clearly isn’t, its really not that big but I didn’t realise there was a ‘death strip’ on either side made up of mines, armed soldiers & barbed wire. It was rather hilarious to see that they have built a fence around the wall as it was being damaged, mainly by tourist - so they have quite literally built a wall to keep people out from the wall that used to keep people in! From here we walked along for a bit to Cheakpoint Chalire, not really stoping but got a quick overview and then there was a short walk to lunch. After lunch we walked out and down the main street of shopping in Berlin including a little stop at a well known Chocolate Shop – it was amazing they had large replicas of major German icons, the Brandenburg Gate, Mercedes Benz etc. this was just down the road form Church Square. There are two identical churches separated by a common courtyard. One church is Catholic and the other Protestant, and the idea was that they although they had separate religions they still came together as one outside the church. From here we walked to the Hamburg University Buildings, where we were told the story of the book burnings that happened when Hitler came into power. Last of all we had a short walk to Museum Island for a ‘Grand Finale’ as our tour guide kept saying, of how the Berlin wall came to fall in Nov 10th 1989, after a series of accidents and misinformation by people in power.
Just when you thought that we couldn’t possibly do anymore in one day, we decided that a pub crawl was in order! The tour was 10 Euros each, and included all you can drink vodka and entries to 4 bars and two clubs. WHAT A NIGHT.
posted by Maarty @ 2:36 am,
1 Comments:
-
At Tuesday, 19 July, 2005,
said...
-
Isn't the architecture unbelievable. There is soo much history where ever you go.
You are both looking extremely healthy, must be all that local grog. (becoming well preserved)
We look forward to your next update, to catch up on where you're at, and what places you have been to.
Love Mum S