A Busy Few Days
Oct 7-9
Berlin is a great city. Very easy to get around, and lots to see and do. I went into central Berlin, and did some walking around there. I find it interesting how Germans here do not try and forget the bad things that have happened in the past. In between the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate, there is a huge memorial to the Jews killed in the 2nd World War, also memorials to other terrible things that have happened in the past. As I was walking around I found the Spy Museum, so went in for a look. All kinds of artifacts from times that I could remember, as well as the history of spying, pretty cool.
On Friday I went on a walking/public transportation Cold War tour. So well done. The guide went through the history of Cold War, how the wall was built and how it finally came down. Stories about people on both sides of the wall. Very moving.We also stopped for lunch at a kiosk for currywurst which is a Berlin dish, pork sausage with a curry ketchup on it. Pretty tasty.After the tour, I had a ticket to go to the Reichstag, German Parliament, and tour the dome. The dome was added to the building after Germany decided to move parliament to Berlin after the reunification, so the outside of the Reichstag looks the same as it always did, but the inside was completely redone, and a dome added to the top. To get into the dome, security is pretty tight. You have to show your passport to reserve a time to tour, then when you check into the tour, show your passport again, and go through a security check, like at the airport. Walking around the dome is cool, you get a 360 view of Berlin, and an audio guide telling all about it.
Yesterday I went on a tour to Dresden. It was bombed during WW2, and they are slowly recreating the buildings, as they were prior to the war. Some of the buildings have been built using all new material, others they were able to save parts of it, and rebuild the rest, and others have some of the original bricks they were able to use.It is a Unesco Heritage sight. I used the same tour company as for the walking tour, and again I was very happy with the tour. Since Dresden is a couple of hours from Berlin, I also saw some of the countryside, got some information about the areas we passed through. One of the saddest things was an area which has been designated as a cemetery. During WW2 there were german and russian soldiers fighting about a 100 kilometres from Berlin, when the war ended, no one told the soldiers the war was over, so they continued to kill each other, and basically where they fell was where they stayed. So sad.
Berlin is a great city. Very easy to get around, and lots to see and do. I went into central Berlin, and did some walking around there. I find it interesting how Germans here do not try and forget the bad things that have happened in the past. In between the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate, there is a huge memorial to the Jews killed in the 2nd World War, also memorials to other terrible things that have happened in the past. As I was walking around I found the Spy Museum, so went in for a look. All kinds of artifacts from times that I could remember, as well as the history of spying, pretty cool.
On Friday I went on a walking/public transportation Cold War tour. So well done. The guide went through the history of Cold War, how the wall was built and how it finally came down. Stories about people on both sides of the wall. Very moving.We also stopped for lunch at a kiosk for currywurst which is a Berlin dish, pork sausage with a curry ketchup on it. Pretty tasty.After the tour, I had a ticket to go to the Reichstag, German Parliament, and tour the dome. The dome was added to the building after Germany decided to move parliament to Berlin after the reunification, so the outside of the Reichstag looks the same as it always did, but the inside was completely redone, and a dome added to the top. To get into the dome, security is pretty tight. You have to show your passport to reserve a time to tour, then when you check into the tour, show your passport again, and go through a security check, like at the airport. Walking around the dome is cool, you get a 360 view of Berlin, and an audio guide telling all about it.
Yesterday I went on a tour to Dresden. It was bombed during WW2, and they are slowly recreating the buildings, as they were prior to the war. Some of the buildings have been built using all new material, others they were able to save parts of it, and rebuild the rest, and others have some of the original bricks they were able to use.It is a Unesco Heritage sight. I used the same tour company as for the walking tour, and again I was very happy with the tour. Since Dresden is a couple of hours from Berlin, I also saw some of the countryside, got some information about the areas we passed through. One of the saddest things was an area which has been designated as a cemetery. During WW2 there were german and russian soldiers fighting about a 100 kilometres from Berlin, when the war ended, no one told the soldiers the war was over, so they continued to kill each other, and basically where they fell was where they stayed. So sad.
posted by Judith at 12:38 AM
3 Comments:
It sure sounds interesting. Happy turkey day Judith.
thanks Laura, hope you had a good one.
It was gopd quiet just me and Wilf too much food but good. No turkey though we had prime rib, yummmm.
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