Day 18 - Berlin

Our first ride on an overnight train went smoothly. We had already fallen asleep by the time the conductor came around to check passes and passports, but I'm sure they are used to groggy tourists fumbling around for their documents. Then we actually slept fairly well until we approached the city of Berlin. It is somewhat disorienting to wake up from a night's sleep on a moving train with the suburbs rushing by.

We arrived during the early morning rush at the Zooogischer Garten station and it was bustling. It took us a bit to get our bearings. But after finding a seat, checking our guide books and maps we stowed luggage in a locker and headed out into the early morning light. Immediately upon exiting the station we could see the ruins of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church in the warm light. We wandered about the empty square and then returned to the station to get a daily bus/train pass.

We decided to take the self-guided tour recommended by Rick Steves, so we hopped on the #100 bus and headed off to the Riechstag. We got there just as it opened and zipped up the elevator for wonderful views of the city and beyond. We were very happy that we arrived early, because as we left there were hoards of school-aged children in long lines at the entrance. If we would have arrived 15 minutes later, our wait in line would have been much longer.

From there we walked past the Brandenburg Gate which was almost entirely covered with construction scaffolding and banners. You could hardly see the structure and no tours were available due to the on-going restoration work. Near the gate was an interesting, international art display. Identical, life-sizes, polar bear caricatures had been distributed to and painted/decorated by different artist from around the world. Each bear represented a different country and all the bears were arranged in a giant circle.  They did not look like the one pictured here, with the portrait of Albert Einstein, but were standing on their back legs with front legs reaching to the sky like a jumping-jack pose caught in mid-motion. It was fun and interesting to see what each artist had done with their piece.

We continued down the Dorotheen Strauss to the campus of Humbolt University and the sobering Memorial to the victims of war. There were not many people at the memorial and we had it all to ourselves at one point. It was moving and sort of emotional to see the sculpted mother figure cradling a child under the single skylight.

Then we jumped a bus at Alexanderplatz and headed down to the famous Checkpoint Charlie. We grabbed a nice lunch in a deli/cafe and strolled around the area then checked out the Wall Museum, which was very interesting - packed with information (and people - it was busy). Nearby, one of the sections of the wall is still standing. You can see the wall in its pilfered, dilapidated state and there is a nice display on location.

By this time is was mid-afternoon, so we made our way back to the train station, retrieved our luggage and set off in the opposite direction to discover our accommodations for the night. We found our hotel without too much trouble in the middle of the Kurfurstendamm shopping district. We wandered around a little and found a nice place to eat dinner. The menu was entirely in German and we were struggling with the translation. About the time we decided to just be adventurous and pick something to order, without knowing what it was, a friendly waitress came to our rescue. She spoke very good english and was a great help with her recommendations. But this was not before I had ordered a sweet, apple-tasting (weiss) beer thinking is was something totally different! I enjoyed it anyway!