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| Brandenburg Gate - Rachel, Stefanie, AJ, Missy & Steve |
The kids have "ski week" in February. Since we aren't downhill skiers we decided to finally see Berlin. This trip we decided to make by train. Six hours via train versus the hassle of driving to, parking at and clearing security in the airport seemed like a good trade off. Plus we know if you book your ticket early enough a first class ticket is often about the same price as a second class ticket. And first class via train is way more comfortable than flying!
We did make one little mistake, we got off at the wrong train station in Berlin! We saw Berlin on the sign and didn't even think about if we were at the main train station. Luckily we know enough about the German train system that it was easy to figure out how to get to our hotel.
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| Deutscher Dom |
We stayed in the Gendarmenmarkt. There is a beautiful square with two churches and a concert hall. The Berlinale Film Festival was also taking place so one night the kids watched a little of the red carpet festivities. We left before the famous people arrived, Stefanie was a little disappointed to find out Robert Pattinson was there later that night, she could have seen him!
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| Konzerthaus Berlin |
Some people know that the kids aren't always enthusiastic about my site-seeing plans. Although over the last 2.5 years I have really worked to have reasonable expectations of what I will get to see and what they will enjoy seeing. When I hopped in front of them for this picture, they decided to show how they sometimes receive my plan for the day...
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Rachel, Stefanie, AJ
Missy - It's going to be a great day! |
Since it is winter time and we found ourselves with a particularly cold few days we did a city "hop on hop off" bus tour. But we just stayed on for the whole tour. It was actually a really comprehensive tour and we saw all the major sites. I still prefer walking or bike tours, but this is a good substitute when the weather is not cooperating.
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| Rachel, AJ, Steve |
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| Stefanie |
Afterwards we started our day of history. We began at the Topography of Terror. This museum is next to one of the last remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall and documents the rise and fall of the Nazi regime. It is very comprehensive and extremely interesting to read and examine the photos. There is lots of information to process and for anyone interested in WWII and the rise and fall of Germany it is fascinating.
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| Missy at the wall. |
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| Steve's unique perspective of the wall. Hard to imagine being trapped on one side. |
We also explored the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie. This museum highlights many of the escape attempts, both successful and unsucessful and the stories of families separated by the wall. It's definitely more of a touristy type of place but the kids did like seeing the cars with their secret hiding places and the hot air balloon that people used to escape East Germany. Some of the stories are captivating.
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| Checkpoint Charlie with fake American guards |
Our last stop of the day was the Berlin Wall Memorial. This is not as close to everything else but easy to find via public transportation. On the way the kid's got sidetracked by a park, when I went to get them this is what I found. Perhaps they aren't in a such a hurry to grow up!
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| Rachel, AJ & Stefanie |
The Berlin Wall Memorial is the only place in Berlin with a fully intact section of the wall. It's good for perspective to see what it looked like with two walls and the no man's land in between. You can go to the roof of the Document Center and look down and really see what it looked like to be on one side.
The document center didn't have an overwhelming amount of information but interesting stories and an art section for people to create their own art about the wall. Rachel and AJ both created something while Stefanie was on the roof photographing with the Steve.
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| AJ's art |
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| Rachel at work |
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| Rachel's finished project |
Next we spent time walking through the city seeing more of it up close. We walked through the Holocaust Memorial. It is a very engaging space. And as you look at it, it seems flat but as you watch people walk through you see them disappear into the blocks. I think it is an amazing.
Next we headed to the Brandenburg Gate. This is last of the 14 gates that originally surrounded Berlin. What we hadn't know that it was completely unused during the Cold War because the wall surrounded it. The street heading down from Brandenburg Gate is Unter den Linden. There are embassies and shopping and sites to see along the way.
Eventually you find yourself at Museum Insel where the major museums are all located. The Berlin Cathedral is also here. I had been looking forward to exploring the inside of the Cathedral but as we walked up we noticed a tv camera and several guards. Oh no.... Yep, closed. They were preparing it for a state funeral TWO days later. Apparently it will be televised if I would like to see the church that way. Not my favorite thing to hear...
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| Berlin Cathedral |
The kids were tired so we sent the back to the hotel to chill. Then Steve and I were going to go to the Pergammon Museum but we got there and found out the Pergammon Altar room is closed until 2020 for renovation. Awesome. Between that and the cathedral I was all done, no museum. Steve and I did a little shopping and stopped for a coffee and hot chocolate!
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