In order to become better aquanted with the city, Ed and I went on something called a "free tour" operated by a particular company. In order for the tour to be free the guides work for tips and they are great! Within a four hour walk we walked through most of the popular sights in Berlin. Brandonberg Gate, the Memorial for the Murdered Jew of Europe, the Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie, and other great things we revisited. The most powerful thing we saw is Orenplatz (a platz is a square). This platz was where on May 10th 1933 a group of Nazi affiliated students stormed Humbolt's University library and torched thousands of books which did not correspond with Nazi ideals.. this even was a serious indicator of the persecutions which would take place. How powerful it is to stand there years later. Other sights we returned to later and that night we experienced some great shopping! (This one shop we went to.... think Best Buy times 4 more floors.)
Day two we were more focused on our mission to see more of Berlin. We started the day with visiting the Riechstag (The German Parliament) and after sitting in line for awhile we visited the top dome structure recently built. We had an excellent views of the city, and you can see into the government chambers. The museum under the Memorial was very touching full of oral histories. We also road the fastest elevator in Europe which was built by Edward's elevator company Tyssen-Krupp. Outside the tall building was another Christmas market, there is a fair ride which is pretty muich a long hill of snow. As part of the ride we took inner-tubes up and road them down. It was a ton of fun!!! That evening we road the S-bahn all the way to the last stop to a little town called Spandau. The authentic feel of the market and all the German voices really couldn't be denied. There we tried the mulled wine with amaretto, but retired to the hostel early like grandparents.
On the third day we the most touching sight we viewed was the Memorial Church for the Kaiser. This church is only half there, left in rememberance of the bombings which happened during World War II. Thursday evenings in Berlin the state funded museums are free to visit. We started by paying for the German History Museum which had so much! We saw everything from roman mosaics, knights swords, Napoleons clothing, and WWII Nazi propoganda. Took hours to view. We saw the Egyptian exhibit on papyrus and statues. Then we made our way to teh Pergamon Museum. This museum is particularly impressive because it contains entire buildings!! We saw the Gates of Babylon and whole alters to Roman Gods and many mystical statues from the Middle East.
We found a place off the beaten path by our last full day. We rode the S-bahn to the end again and went to a village called Potsdam. This town contains all the Royal Palaces of the German families. That day it was incredibly cold and I would go as far to say that I've never been so cold in my entire life! We visit the summer palace of Frederick the Great known as Schloss Sanssouci which we had to put on some funny slippers to go across the marble and wooden floors. The lawns were perfect with a fountain of swimming ducks and swans and perfect hedges stepped up the hill. The streams surrounding it were frozen and we got to visit another nice church. There were snow flurries and the trees were completely white and absolutely lovely. That evening we had a nice meal at a restuarant which served tuna and this beer called alger which is a dark brew mixed with sprite.. yummy!
Berlin was actually a city more off the beaten path than expected. Plus with the time we went we saw it in it's full Christmas cheer. It has just wetted my appetite to see the rest of Germany!
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