October 4, 2006 Berlin, Germany

October 4, 2006
Berlin, Germany

This morning we woke up at around 9:45 and headed down to breakfast. We went to the café attached to the hostel and paid 5 Euro for an all you can eat breakfast buffet. It was by far the best breakfast we have had yet. They had fresh fruit, meats, cheeses, breads, cereals, yogurts, and orange juice! To be sure that we got our moneys worth, we smuggled out some sandwiches for later.

By the time we were done with breakfast it was 10:45 and about time for the walking tour (which numerous people recommended). As it happens, we were the only people signed up for the half-day tour. Unfortunately, they only run the tour if 5 people show up! Instead, we got to join the full day tour for the same price (10 Euro). It was money well spent.

We met our new tour guide (Barnaby) and joined the group (about 25 people). We spent the next 8 hours exploring Berlin on foot. We walked the entire historic center of the city. For those that don’t know, Berlin has more modern history than any other city I have been to. I learned more history today than I thought possible. What’s more, Barnaby was an amazing tour guide (mixing in humor at just the right time). Anyone coming to Berlin must do the walking tour.

The tour started by an enormous synagogue and then continued along some of the more famous streets in the city center. We passed by some incredibly architecture and some very old buildings. The entire area was littered with art galleries and museums!

For lunch we stopped at an old train station that was the point at which people from West Berlin were permitted to enter East Berlin. It was also where they had to undergo rigorous inspection in order to return to the western part of the city…

After lunch the weather worsened (lots of rain and cold) but we continued on our way. We saw the famous entrance of the city and some of the modern architecture springing up in the square around it. We then made our way to an incredibly large Jewish monument. It was kind of heavy but very interesting.

After stopping at the spot where Hitler committed suicide and was burnt, we made our way to a well-preserved section of the Berlin wall. Next, we stopped at Checkpoint Charlie.

Everyone then took a break at a famous chocolate store. They had hundreds of types of chocolate and some of the most spectacular food art I have ever seen!

Once everyone was recharged we entered the square where the Nazi’s performed the infamous book burning. We also passed by a square that had a protestant church built by Catholics and a catholic church built by Protestants (if that makes any sense…).

Our last stop was a gigantic square with numerous old buildings. We were later told that it was the spot where Hitler delivered many of his speeches. I immediately recognized it from some of my old history books.

Berlin is an amazing city with an unbelievable history. After being the home of the Nazi’s it became the center of the cold war, a place where two worlds collided. The city his now home to many artists (including those practicing graffiti) and thousands of monuments (many in memory of the murdered Jews)… I learned more today than I could ever hope to express here.

PS - In sterotypical fashion the Germans have numbered every tree in the entire city (all 412,000) of them. The number can be found on a small tag attached to each tree....