Today started early in the city of Hamburg, and we were to leave early to get to Berlin by mid morning. Upon arrival, which took about 2 hours, we were still about a quarter mile from the train station from our hotel. We decided that it would be best to leave our luggage at the hotel, though our check in time was not for more than 3 hours from then. Once we confirmed we could leave our luggage, we decided to head back to the train terminal and head into the city.
Once we had entered the center of the city, we casually explored the various architectures of the building as we walked, however our goal was to get to the World War Memorial, and the Holocaust memorial exhibition that they have on display all year. There are various parts of this exhibit, ranging from historical contexts,a ndphotos, to memorials honoring and remembering the tragedy of the Holocaust. As you can see below, as interesting as it is…it is still a very sobering site to see, and realize that this is where the whole German actions of World War 2 were planned.
Though we found these sites interesting, yet somber… we continued onto the government buildings that feature incredible, massive scaled architecture. The Brandenburg Gate, and the Reichstag building shown below, are great examples of Gothic European architecture. Since we were not allowed to go into the buildings as they are still the house of Germanys political leaders….we headed southward into the metro part of the city to explored an area called the Gendarmenmarkt, which features two large Cathedral like domed buildings, and a courtyard for public gathering.
From this market are we walked into the Grosser Tiergarten and the Victory Column area of town, which is located in the central park of the city. This site was actually a surprise, as we were intending to find the public squares that feature the Berlin Needle, and its primary Cathedral. Either way, this was a stunning, and beautiful site to see the gold goddess on top of this pillar. I recommend everyone to see this site.
It was starting to get late, and we had not had much to eat all day. With only a couple of things left to see, it was time to finish our sight seeing and head to dinner. The last two sites on our list, was the Berlin Needle, and the Berliner Dom, which was the primary Cathedral of Berlin. Both of these are within close walking distance of each other, but I only one did we have time to go into. We decided to go to the Berliner Dom, as it was one of the most ornate cathedrals we had encountered on the trip. Though there was only a one way traffic flow to the church visitors, we were able to get some great pictures of the church, and enjoy the solace that thousands of people find every week in this building.
It was time for the day to end, and it was a great day indeed. We still had to get dinner, and had one more bar on our list to explore. We decided to get dinner at a local steakhouse in Berlin, to which the name has availed my memory, however it was our anniversary dinner this evening, so we enjoyed steak, and drinks, then decided for a night cap at a bar that we had our eyes set on from the beginning of the trip. This was rated on of the best speakeasies in the world, and we were lucky enough to get in with no problem, and make a new friend. To this day, my friend Jokshaw, and I are still on Facebook together as friends. This experience of a secret bar, after a great dinner was one for the record books, and I highly recommend checking this bar out called…Buck and Breck (Speakeasy). After this, it was time to head back to the hotel, and get ready for the next day….Potsdam!
Train
July 21,6:36-8:19 ICE 1507)
Sites This Day
Berlin Central Station
Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe
Berlin Wall Memorial
Gendarmenmarkt
Brandenburg Gate
Grober Tiergarten park
Charlottenburg Palace
A/O Berlin Hauptbahnhof
-scotch and sofa bar
-die letzten Instanz
-buck and breck speakeasy
-Markthalle Neun
aando berlin Hauptbahnhof $59.35
Day 21- Berlin
EXPENSES
2.45 coffee
15.40 train tickets
1.90 snacks
13.25 lunch
4 snacks
68 anniversary dinner
21 beers
Total- 126.00 (76.18+44=120.18