Best of Berlin, Prague, & Vienna
August - September 2014
Berlin
Sunday, August 24th
67°F
Sunday, August 24th
67°F
Boarded an Air France A380-800 in San Francisco for a 10 hour 40 minute direct flight to Paris. Then took a 1 hour 40 minute flight to Berlin Tegal airport. Arriving at 2:40 pm on Sunday August 24th. The flight was wonderful; however, even with lounge seats we didn't sleep very well. I was surprised there was no Internet service.
Our room is very nice. Can you tell Barbara is ready for some quality sleep?
Our hotel is in East Berlin. A very vant–garde area.
The next morning we felt refreshed and decided to sign up for a hop On hop OFF bus tour to get an over view of the city.
Berlin
Monday,August 25th
65°F, Partly Cloudy
Monday,August 25th
65°F, Partly Cloudy
Berlin
Tuesday, August 26th
66°F Partly Cloudy
Tuesday, August 26th
66°F Partly Cloudy
Brandenburger Gate
Reichstag (seat of the parliament until 1933)
One of 3 remaining sections of the wall
Checkpoint Charlie
No alarm this morning ... suspect the Germans sabotaged it. We had to race to meet our tour guide at 8:00am.
We were given an all day bus, tram, s-rail and subway pass. Then challenged to follow the leader on several tram and subway routes to arrive at the Reichstag where we met our local tour guide. She captivated us with Nazi era history on a 4 hour walking tour. I was hoping to learn a Germany's point of view regarding the events of this era and she exceeded my expectations with her excellent unbiased knowledge of history and personal family stories.
We were given an all day bus, tram, s-rail and subway pass. Then challenged to follow the leader on several tram and subway routes to arrive at the Reichstag where we met our local tour guide. She captivated us with Nazi era history on a 4 hour walking tour. I was hoping to learn a Germany's point of view regarding the events of this era and she exceeded my expectations with her excellent unbiased knowledge of history and personal family stories.
This Memorial to the Murdered Jews was just completed in 2005 and symbolically placed in central Berlin next the capitol office buildings. It represents Germany's official admitting of a crime.
One of the first things I noticed when we traveled into the old East Berlin area were the large pink and blue pipes running overhead. This morning when walking through the plazas I wondered why we didn't see any pigeons. Then I put two and two together and and figured out the pipes were a vacuum system that sucked up the pigeons when ever they walked across a grated cover in the plaza. Typical German ingenuity. The pink pipes are for females and blue for male pigeons.
Berlin
Wednesday, August 27th
66°F Partly Cloudy
Wednesday, August 27th
66°F Partly Cloudy
Our hotel is in East Berlin. A very avant-garde area.
Hitler's concrete bunker was deep under this spot. In fact, after he had taken cianide, his body was taken above ground and set afire in what is now this parking lot. His ashes were thrown in the river.
The Germans have gone to great pains to not maintain any memorial to Hitler.
The Germans have gone to great pains to not maintain any memorial to Hitler.
This is one of only 3 sections of the Berlin Wall left standing. The wall wasn't that high. It's security value was due to an inner wall plus an outer wall with a deadly no-mans area in between. Notice the rounded top. Barbed wire was easier to grab hold of and pull yourself over. Rounded top is harder to grasp.
Other than the 3 sections preserved, it is hard to find evidence of the walls location. However, in many public places we did see a path of bricks denoting the historical location.
Berlin
Wednesday, August 27th
70°F Partly Cloudy
Wednesday, August 27th
70°F Partly Cloudy
Our local guide took took us to the once destroyed Jewish neighborhood which is now renewed with a flourish. Hard to capture it in pictures but I was shocked to see the building below with hundreds of bullet holes caused when the Soviets invaded the city.
On our own, Barbara and I visited Kirche Church which as you can see was badly damaged by Allied bombing. Most damaged buildings have been replaced or repaired. This church on the main street in Berlin is being left in this condition for all to see and be reminded of the ruins of war.
On our last night in Berlin I insisted on having a Berliner. A Berliner is a Germany style pork sausage, deep fried and topped with a ketchup-like tomato sauce heavily spiced with curry. It was delicious.
My impressions of Berlin:
At the end of the day, our local guide said Berlin is poor but sexy. The Berlin I saw was clean, vibrant, very busy rebuilding especially after the reunionafication, extremely aware of their Nazi history and determined to make sure it never happens again.
At the end of the day, our local guide said Berlin is poor but sexy. The Berlin I saw was clean, vibrant, very busy rebuilding especially after the reunionafication, extremely aware of their Nazi history and determined to make sure it never happens again.
Berlin
Thursday, August 28th
68°F Sunny
Thursday, August 28th
68°F Sunny
On the way out of town, the bus drove past another section of the wall. This is the longest remaining section of the wall and the most colorful. It's a shame that developers plan to "tear down this wall" to make room for new buildings.
