We arrived in Berlin this afternoon and met up with Cathi, who lives in a more suburb-y neighborhood of Berlin, outside of the main central part. It's good to see Cathi again; she's a lot of fun to talk to and very nice, so I'm glad we'll have a few days to spend with her. After getting settled in she took us into downtown Berlin to see some of the major sights. It was overcast today so my pictures didn't turn out great, but I did get some. Also, I am going to be totally useless on giving the names of the places because I don't understand about 90% of the names that come out of Cathi's mouth, so I'll just give some vague descriptions.
Looking down the River Spree, the river that cuts through Berlin. The big old building with the modern dome is the Reichstag, one of the main political buildings in Berlin. The dome was added in recent years as a tourist attraction - you can climb up it via spiral ramps.
On the way to the governmental buildings we passed a courtyard with a glass wall that lists all the rights that are written in the German Constitution. It was a pretty structure.
Buildings by the Reichstag. Most buildings in this area are political buildings.
In some ways, Berlin reminds me of D.C. Part of that probably has to do with the fact that it's the capital and full of government buildings, but it's also a low city (no skyscrapers) and the coloring is similar to D.C. (light buildings, lots of green). It's also very clean like D.C. Berlin is a lot different than a lot of European cities because it's pretty modern in comparison - it was pretty much completely destroyed during the war, so it's been rebuilt since then. Plus with the Berlin Wall and East Berlin being occupied by the Soviets...the 20th century was not an easy decade for Berlin. But now it has good vibes and seems like a nice city (from what I've seen so far).
Walking through one of the parks as we wandered around downtown. At one point someone asked where we were from and guessed Sweden. We're assuming because all three of us are blonde.
One of Berlin's most famous monuments, the Brandenburg Gate (confirmed that by searching "big arch in Berlin" on Google). It was a symbol of the division of Berlin - because the wall was constructed basically through it - and now serves as a monument of peace and unity.
Cathi and Karen standing somewhere in between what was East Germany and West Germany.
I think that Berlin will be most interesting not for its architecture but for it's history. It's a nice city, like I said, but it's history is probably more interesting that its buildings, since many of the buildings have been built in the last 70 years or so. We're going to check out some museums about Berlin tomorrow, but we did manage to see some remnants of the Berlin Wall (they're all over the city) and the army station, Checkpoint Charlie, where people crossed between East and West Berlin.
Remnants of the wall that have been recently painted. These were located fairly close to the information about "Checkpoint Charlie."
A replica of the old checkpoint station for the Allies.
Another replica, but this is in the exact place where the original sign stood while the Wall stood. The real sign is inside a museum on this same street. (We'll be going there tomorrow.)
Another part of the wall left intact. This was accompanied by photos and information about Germany's descent into a dictatorship and Hitler's rise to power (essentially explaining how and why it happened).
I know the basic information about the Wall and Berlin/Germany when it was divided into East and West, but I'm interested to learn more at the museum tomorrow. I love history, as you know, so it should be interesting.
A few of the other old structures in Berlin are located on a square in the center of town. There are two almost identical churches, one called the French Church and one called the German Church, across from one another on the square; in the center there's a theater. The French church served the Huguenots for years while the German church served those who were not French Huguenot. It was a very nice square and it was cool to see these identical churches. They were closed when we went to the square, but I hope to go into them tomorrow or Thursday!
The two churches. They are almost identical. It will be interesting to see if they are identical on the inside as well. The one on the left is the French one and the one on the right is the German one.
The square with the two churches and the theater in the middle. It was a pretty square and there were nice cafes and restaurants on it surrounding the churches and the theater. And there were lots of nice green trees, too.
We also went and visited the Sony Center which is a big modern area with restaurants and shops and a movie theater. It was just kind of cool looking! We didn't spend much time there, but it was cool to walk around.
The Sony Center.
And, of course, what is Germany is you don't mention the chocolate? We also bought chocolate at the Ritter store where there were dozens and dozens of options. Chocolate that would cost you maybe $4 in the States cost less than a euro in this store. So we bought a bunch of different flavors to try while we travel!
Germany and it's chocolate, you can't go wrong.
Today was really just an introduction to Berlin, so I'm looking forward to learning more in the next few days. I hope that we also have some better weather so I can get some better pictures!
And that's all for this evening!
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