Which Side Are We On?

We crossed off another top sight from our list of places to see in Europe this past weekend, this time traveling to Berlin.  The trip was especially fun because we were joined by our friends Brad and Mindy. The boys took the day off on Friday, so we could head to Berlin bright and early that morning.  And we tried to cram in as much as possible during this weekend. I had no idea just how huge Berlin is, and there is a lot to see, so we got right down to it.

Friday started with lunch at a restaurant recommended by our trusted friend Rick (Steves that is) that happened to be next door to our hotel.  We all had huge amazing sandwiches.

Since we hadn't yet really ventured outside much, it was quite the rude awakening as we set off for our next destination.  We experienced our first snow of the season, a very wet variety, that, when mixed with huge gusts of wind, wasn't all that fun.

 

But we made it to the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or German Democratic Republic in English) Museum, our first stop, without freezing to death.  The museum was hands on with lots of exhibits detailing what life was like in East Germany during the Cold War.  This was just the beginning of our weekend long history lesson.

After the museum we hurried across the street to the Berliner Dom, Berlin's main cathedral.  This church was bombed in WWII, so much of the structure was rebuilt rather recently, but that didn't make it less beautiful.

There was a group practicing for some sort of concert which was fun to listen to.

From the Dom, we headed west to see the Brandenburg Gate.  We were hoping to catch it with some daylight left, but we discovered that the sun sets at about 4pm right now in Berlin.  So we got some night shots instead, which were actually great because of the giant menorah and Christmas tree shining bright.  The gate is the last remaining city gate from 18th century Berlin. The Berlin Wall ran just in back of it, and this area was home to lots of protests and demonstrations during that time.

After searching for a place to warm up, we decided to just head to dinner since we were all pretty hungry. It felt great to be inside at that point.  We ate dinner near Potsdamer Platz, conveniently, since we were going to hit up the Christmas market there after dinner.  

This market didn't end up being our favorite of the weekend, but the giant sledding hill was pretty impressive.  We were just too cold to try it out.

The boys even got adventurous at the market and tried Jagertee (it is exactly what it sounds like it is), which is apparently a must-buy at Berlin Christmas markets. Let's just say Mindy and I were glad we stuck with the hot chocolate.

After this market, we tried to check out another one at Alexanderplatz, but the taxi driver who took us there wasn't sure if they would be open.  He said a storm was coming and that winds were going to be 170 km an hour.  We don't think it was quite that windy, but who am I to argue with the cab driver?  

The markets were indeed closed for the night (even though all of the lights were still on), so instead we found a local brewery at which to warm ourselves.

Sampler.

Saturday was then devoted to our quest to seeing and learning more about the Berlin Wall.  We started a bit north where parts of the wall were still remaining as well as a look-out tower we could climb up to get a good view.

View from above, you can see the guard's tower here.

Perhaps this is inappropriate, but you can see how tall it is.

The wall began as just a fence dissecting the city in two after WWII, and the actual wall was constructed in 1961.  The section above ran right through one of the main streets in Berlin, separating neighbors who used to see each other everyday.  There were 136 deaths on the wall of people who attempted to escape to the West.  

An interesting East Berlin symbol that still exists are the "Eastern Crosswalk Men" that are on the crosswalk lights in East Berlin. We tried good and hard to get pictures of the green man before he switched to red.

Success!

We continued our Berlin Wall experience by next heading to the East Side Gallery.  This is the largest remaining portion of the wall still intact, and it was been turned into an art gallery of sorts.  It began in 1990 and has been restored multiple times since then. It now serves as a memorial to freedom.

Here's a few of the coolest panels:

This section of the wall is 1.3km long.  After walking this length of the wall, we headed over to Checkpoint Charlie.  This is the most famous Allied checkpoint along the wall.  It is at the border of the American sector of West Berlin (the allies took control of Berlin and Germany after WWI and divided up the country and city) and East Berlin.

Soviet soldier on this side, American soldier on the other.

And of course the girls beat the boys in a race to get there first.

It was very cool to see this site in person. The Checkpoint Charlie museum was next door, so we went there next to escape the cold again. The museum was packed full of information, and we're all pretty sure we read an entire book during our time.  The highlights were definitely the stories of people who successfully got through the border into West Berlin using some ingenious strategies.

At night we couldn't help ourselves, so we went to another Christmas market. This market was at the Gendarmenmarkt and it was beautiful.  A light snow was falling, we were protected from the wind, and the food was delicious. 

Todd sampling the raclette, melted cheese on garlic bread with bacon.

We ended the night with a late dinner and another Christmas market (the Alexanderplatz market was open).  The day was a success.

Sunday we didn't have a ton of time before our flight in the afternoon.  But we managed to find a very cute place for breakfast.

And then we headed over the Holocaust Memorial, called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This place was somber and very powerful.  The memorial was built very recently, with construction finishing in 2004.

We ended our time in Berlin by walking past the Brandenburg Gate during daylight and then checking out the Reichstag (government building).

And that concludes our trip to Berlin.  We had an awesome time hanging with Brad and Mindy who were the perfect travel partners.  And even though we weren't always 100% sure which side of the former wall we were on (the line is not straight), we did learn a lot about this amazing city.