Sept 24-26, 2009 – Berlin – Day 3 (continued)

Berlin was home to some very striking architecture.  Our walking tour guide made the observation (not original, I’m sure, but interesting nonetheless) comment  that the fall of the Wall had brought to life every property developer’s dream – putting on the market a 2.2 km wide stretch of undeveloped property cutting through a major city.  Potsdamer Platz was only one example of the result.

 

Another example of Potsdamer Platz.  The building in the background (behind the two larger foreground buildings) was illuminated at night and visible from all over downtown Berlin.

On the day we were at Potsdamer Platz the France’s Alsace-Lorraine tourism bureau had some information displays designed to provide more information about their region and entice tourists.  One of the displays was a static line rope course that both Allister and Charlotte gravitated to instantly and went around twice.  I think they were the best customers the operators had that day.

Also part of the Alsace-Lorraine display was a medieval sword play exhibition.  Allister, through his interest in things medieval found this fascinating.  I think this is one of his photos.

This line etched in the sidewalks of downtown Berlin shows the path of the Wall and enables the visitor to visualize its path.  It was not straight, as one might think, but meandered around, the result, I’m sure, of many negotiations.

 

Sunset in Berlin on our last day, on to Prague (or Praha to Europeans) via Dresden tomorrow!

Sept 24-26, 2009 – Berlin – Day 3

As part of the walking tour and then on our own, we visited more of the Cold War and Holocaust sites.  This is one of a portion of the Wall (at least one side of it – there were two walls that formed a buffer between East and West) the other side of which was a museum containing tons of fascinating material – too much to completely absorb but worthwhile reading.

 

Like many European cities, Berlin was located on a river with lots of traffic.  Watching this traffic and the types of boats that use these waters is an ongoing hobby.

Like Paris, Berlin has a rent-a-bike program that those holding the right identification can rent for short trips and leave the bikes in one of the approved bike stands for the next renter.

Some hip-hop dancers in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

This was a bike that everyone pedaled and the driver turned in crazy circles while we hung on.  Great fun!

Sept 24-26, 2009 – Berlin – Day 2

One of the museums or displays that we enjoyed the most was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  More information about the Memorial can be found at this Wikipedia entry.  It consists of over 1000 blocks of specially-formulated blocks of concrete of different sizes.  One of the properties of this concrete was its resistance to graffiti.  It seemed to have worked – there was no graffiti anywhere in this memorial.

This picture of Allister shows the different sizes of the blocks and the ability to walk amongst them.

This view gives a perspective on the size of the memorial and a part of its layout.

Also on the walking tour, we passed the previous location of Hitler’s bunker where he committed suicide.  Its now an apartment block.

 

The tour got about this close to the Reichstag, the reunified German parliament building.  It may just be me, but I found it interesting that when Germany was reunified, there didn’t seem to be much debate about whether the capital of the new Germany should be in Berlin, in spite of the fact that West Germany had established its capital in Bonn and the tremendous expense of relocating a capital.

Right next to the Reichstag was this beautiful complex that included a theatre and an exhibition hall and one of Berlin’s channels or rivers running right through it.

We went back to the Reichstag at night in hopes of avoiding the 45 minute lineup.  No such luck.  The same lineup was there at 8:00 pm as at 2:00 pm but this time we waited

  

Visitors can walk up the walkway on the inside of the above glass dome and from the top it offers this view of the German parliament’s main chamber.  The idea behind the design, described in may guide books, was to symbolize the openness and transparency of Germany’s parliamentary process.

Here is the proof that we really did walk all the way up.  This picture is taken from the top of the glass dome shown above.