Getting To Know Berlin

This Hotel 4 Youth (I’m not sure why they call it that . . . There is no age restriction), had the best breakfast that has been included yet. There was a nice assortment of breads, cheeses, meats, hard boiled eggs, vegetables, cereals, etc. What a nice way to start the day. Tom and I figured out the subway system and headed down to the area known as Alexanderplatz. Here we were hoping to catch a city circle tour, but since we were right at the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) we decided to do that first. The TV Tower is the tallest building in Berlin at 368 meters high and has an observation deck. No stairs to climb this time! An elevator took us straight up and offered a 360 degree view of Berlin. It was kind of a grey, hazy day so not the best for viewing, but still a great overview of the city. Berlin is quite different from the other cities we have visited thus far as 70% of the city was destroyed during WWII. There is so much new construction, that you almost feel like you could be in any American city. In addition, when the Wall came down it opened up a whole new areas for development. After we were done with the TV Tower we found where to catch the City Circle Hop-on-Hop-Off tour and hopped on. We weren’t on the bus long when we got off to view the Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the Reichstag Parliament building. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was an extremely interesting memorial and the information center below the memorial was extremely well done. It is just sickening to read in details and see the pictures of the atrocities committed against the Jewish people, but this memorial and museum was very tastefully done. We hopped back on the bus and continued the tour. We next hopped off the bus when I spied a restaurant at the bus stop that looked like it would have authentic German food. I wasn’t to be disappointed. I had the wiener schnitzel and a glass of Berliner Kindl pilsner beer and Tom had a sausage of sorts (can’t remember the exact name) with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut on the side. I would like to thank Tom for reminding me why sauerkraut is on the top of my hated foods list. I can’t even stand the smell! My meal was excellent, while Tom said his was ok, but he wished he would have gotten what I had instead. So after lunch/dinner we hopped back on the bus and completed the tour. Tom was particularly interested in Checkpoint Charlie and the museum on The Berlin Wall – History and Events. The museum is open until 10:00p.m., so this was a great way to spend our evening. What another outstanding museum. We spent about 3 hours learning about the history behind the Wall, how people escaped from East Berlin to West Berlin, and the personal stories of those lives affected by the Wall. We spent a lot of time in that museum and still didn’t cover everything. Tomorrow we’re going to try and do a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of the Third Reich, but it might rain so we’ll have to play it by ear.