Wednesday, Sept 1, 2010: Berlin Day 2

Today was a walking day – we probably walked 12-15 miles by the time everything was said and done. At the end of the day, we were exhausted! The day started in the Tiergarten, which is like Berlin’s Central Park. As we walked along the weather changed from cool and overcast (jackets required), to clear and sunny (t-shirts), to cloudy and rainy (jackets and umbrellas required) all within a matter of 2 hours. Our little tour took us past the Siegessaeule statue (under renovations), Schloss Bellvue where the Chancellor Merkel lives, the main train station (Hauptbahnhof), the Reichstag Parliament building, and the Brandenburg Gate. The Gate is such an impressive monument, and it is crazy to think that just over 20 years ago, the Berlin wall ran only a few feet from where it stands.

Tiergarten


Schloss Bellvue


After that trek, we took a break for lunch at Café Einstein, which is near Humboldt University where Einstein taught before the war. Lunch was delicious, and the homemade apfelstrudel we had for dessert was even more delicious. From there, we set off east and passed the Bebelplatz, which was the site of the first major Nazi book burning. The square is a very nice looking plaza directly across from Humbolt University, and it is difficult to imagine a big crowd of people standing around burning ~20,000 books. After crossing the Spree river, we reached the Berliner Dom - a nice church on Berlin’s central Museum Island. It also had a stairwell that you could take up to the dome to get a nice 360 degree view of central Berlin.

Bebelplatz


Berliner Dom


And again... this time with a rainbow


The sun was starting to fall in the sky when we left the Berliner Dom, and I really wanted to make it to the Holocaust memorial before sunset. After a quick stop at a chocolate shop near Friedrichstrasse that has some amazing chocolate sculptures, we hustled our way over to the memorial. As anticipated, the memorial was very striking at sunset. Although much of the city has moved on from the war, these monuments make it impossible to forget the darkest elements of that time period.

That's a lot of chocolate!


Melinda in the Holocaust Memorial


At sunset


We finished the day with another trip to the Brandenburg Gate right as the sun set. For dinner, we went to another German restaurant across the street from our hotel. I can’t get enough of the German food!