Berlin

Berlin is arguably the most important city of the 20th century. The decision to invade Belgium during World War I was made in Berlin and that brought Britain into the War. World War II began and ended in Berlin (Japan held out longer in the Pacific but the biggest part of the war ended here). The Cold War ended here with the fall of the Berlin Wall, reuniting East and West Germany. It was really cool to see such an important city.
About 85% of the city was destroyed in the Allied Bombing of Berlin during World War II, making Berlin a relatively new city. Construction is everywhere. I have never seen a city under so much construction and our guide during the walking tour in the morning said that it is almost done.
The walking tour was a really good way to see the city. Most of it took place in East Berlin, because that is where all the sights were.
Our first stop was on Museum Island. The Germans get quite a bit of grief for being extremely literal and in their capital you can see why. Museum Island is literally an Island of Museums. The oldest museum in Berlin is called the Old Museum. It all makes perfect sense.

Berlin Cathedral is also on Museum Island. It is actually a Lutheran church which is really strange because Lutheran churches are usually very plain, as they do not like the grandeur of Catholic churches. This church is the exact opposite of most Lutheran churches as it's grandiose exterior is breathtaking.

Berlin is covered in buildings designed by the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The Old Museum was an example of his work and many buildings throughout the tour were his designs as well, including this armory and guardhouse, which are example of early Schinkel architecture.

Within the old guardhouse is a war memorial to "The Victims of Fascism and Militarism". German has been very careful to not cash in on its unpleasant history so they have to be very politically correct with all of their war memorials and things related to World War II. Inside is a statue of a woman cradling her dead son and she is exposed to the elements through a hole in the roof making her a very moving monument.

After this, we walked over to Humboldt University where many great minds studied. Carl Marx studied philosophy here. Albert Einstein studied here and there are 40 nobel prize winners affiliated with the university. It was also the location of the infamous Nazi book burnings. There is a window in the ground that allows you to look down into the library and see empty bookshelves that are supposed to be able to hold the 20,000 books that were burned in this square.

Next, we walked over to a square where you have virtually identical churches facing one another. One of them was built for the Huguenots fleeing France during the reformation by the Catholics as a welcome to Germany gift. The Protestants were so grateful that they turned around and built a church for the Catholics in the same square. The main facades that are almost identical were added later but it is nice that each church was built by someone of a different faith. Both churches were destroyed in WWII but they were rebuilt following the war. Also, standing in the middle of the square is the Opera House which is another example of Schinkel architecture.

After the reunification of Germany there were some growing pains, especially in the city of Berlin, because it had been divided in four parts for so long. East Germany (where Berlin was located) was basically absorbed by West Germany and that meant that a lot of the Soviet things had to change as they switched to a capitalist system. One thing the East Berliners liked from the Soviet era, was their pedestrian crossing lights. The West Berliners didn't think that they would like them still so they had all of them removed and replaced with simple stick figures. East Berlin staged a massive protest and in the end most of them were returned and put back in their proper places.

The next stop was Checkpoint Charlie. Our guide calls it Disneyland Berlin because nothing there is real. The sign that is there is a replica and the soldiers uniforms on the billboards have inaccuracies. The American soldier has a medal on it that could only have been received in the First Gulf War. The Russian on the billboard has a spelling error. This being said, it is more or less in the right location for the border of East and West Berlin and looks more or less similar to what it would have looked like when the Berlin Wall was still up.

No visit to Berlin would be complete without a visit to the section of the Berlin Wall that still stands today. What we saw was a section of the East wall because the Berlin Wall was not just a wall. It consisted of two walls, one on the East Berlin side and one just meters from the border of West Berlin. The wall encircled the entirety of West Berlin, enclosing it so that people from East Germany could not enter West Berlin and escape. Between the two walls there were land mines, beds of nails, no cover from the guard towers where the guards were told to shoot to kill, and random patrols. The Berlin Wall became the most dangerous area to attempt escape from East Germany and most people stopped trying. The graffiti that most people associate with the wall would have originally only been on the west side of the wall, because the east side would have been whitewashed. Today however, the wall has graffiti on it and is very different looking than it would have been back before the wall fell in 1990. On the streets of Berlin there is a double line of bricks that marks what would have been where the eastern wall would have been located.

About 85% of Berlin was destroyed by Allied bombing during the Battle of Berlin in WWII. Wilhelmstrausse was an important Nazi street and was largely destroyed in the battle, however one very important building remained standing. The building housed the location of the Nazi Air Force and was the location of the plans for the Battle of Britain. The Allies destroyed numerous buildings by accident but one that was a huge target for them was completely missed and today it is one of the largest buildings from Nazi Germany remaining. It is still being used by the government and all Nazi items have been removed. 

Later, we headed over to the sight of Hitler's bunker, or as our guided described it "the most important car park in the world". Most of the bunker has been torn out but the concrete foundation is still buried under the area that is now a car park. For years, there was no way to know it was even there unless you had a guide but there is a plaque now telling everyone what it is. Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide at this location and their bodies were burned beyond recognition by Nazi retainers right above the bunker.

Nearby, is a memorial to the murdered Jews during the Holocaust. It is a bit controversial because it is just for the Jews and not the other groups of people murdered by the Nazis but it is a nice memorial. It is very abstract and you can walk around inside of the area. It consists of 2,711 concrete slabs all of which are different and is supposed to be abstract so that you can draw your own conclusions of the monument. I found it very moving.

The next stop was the most important symbol of German Reunification: The Brandenburg Gate. Conquerers of Berlin had been marching through it for years going back to Napoleon. After the reunification, it has been a great symbol for a united Berlin and a united Germany.

This was the end of the walking tour. After that I walked around Berlin and had lunch. I eventually made my way down to Alexanderplatz where the Berlin TV tower is located. This was created as a symbol of East Germany by the Soviet government and is one of the biggest symbols of Berlin today.

I also went for a walk in Tiergarten. I didn't make it all the way to the center unfortunately, but the park itself is pretty.

To end the day, I went to a sauna. It was a very relaxing way to end the day. They had a large pool and a number of different hot tubs of different temperatures. 

Tomorrow, I will be headed to Copenhagen, Denmark; a city I have heard nothing but good things about.