Welcome to Berlin! Yes, believe it or not, I am actually posting pictures from our trip last summer! Still have Paris, Cape Cod, NJ and Christmas to post...not to mention our currently super exciting lives. I am so behind!
Anyway, Nate had the opportunity to present at a genetics conference in Berlin, so Anna and I tagged along. We stayed in Berlin for 1 week before moving on to Paris for another week. It was a FABULOUS trip for so many reasons.
We're happy Berlin was first on the itinerary. It was very quiet and calm compared to Paris and a good way to start the trip. And we loved Berlin. The people were so very nice and they DOTED on Anna everywhere we went. It was really fun. And the city is so interesting. And beautiful. They've done an amazing job rebuilding. The 20th century history is fascinating. That was our favorite part.
We stayed at the Hilton on Gendarmenmarket, a very cool plaza in Berlin. The plaza itself has two cathedrals and the symphony hall of Berlin. The surrounding neighborhood is very posh, and the 5th Avenue of Berlin was one block from our hotel. We were just a few blocks from Unter den Linden, a beautiful avenue with amazing OLD buildings. Our hotel was part of what was East Berlin, right near where the wall was and walking distance to Checkpoint Charlie. The hotel was great. We had breakfast there every morning, which was fabulous. The location really could not be beat. Here is Anna enjoying our King size bed which she, unforunately, enjoyed every night with us. Yes, this is when Anna's nighttime spoiling began, later necessicating
Operation Cry-It-Out, which was actually picked up for syndication and published in 10 newspapers...but I diverge. :)
Here is the outside of our hotel.
That is one of the Cathedrals...one is French, the other German. I believe the German cathedral was right next to our hotel. We looked out on it every morning at breakfast. It was lovely. The building on the right is the symphony hall, which was BEAUTIFUL inside. Oh - and note how all of the buildings look "splotchy" - yeah, that's thanks to WWII. It's sad to think how so much of the city was destroyed, but they really have done a nice job rebuilding things.
Gendarmenmarket continued...
More Gendarmenmarket...seriously, how beautiful is it?!?!
I think this was the prettiest thing on the plaza.
Okay, moving on. So our first day in Berlin we decided to just start walking, explore the neighborhood we were in. We didn't do much research or planning, just wanted to set out and explore. Well, after not too long of a walk we look up and see this:
Yup, the Berlin Wall. It was so cool to just happen upon it. This is the wall near Potsdamer Platz, a big subway station in Berlin. Potsdamer Platz is now home to the Sony Center and many other super modern buildings. During the war it was the location of Hitler's bunker, so it was completely leveled by bombing. Then when the wall was built, the West Berlin trains would travel through this station without stopping...you know, the Wall and all. Anyway, there are pieces of the wall all over the city. I think they're lucky they have any of the wall left, actually. After it came down, people destroyed it. I would. But then they started to realize they might actually want to KEEP some of it, so there are pieces of it here and there...as well as a few spots with the wall still intact. It's just so FASCINATING. Here's the International Relations major soaking up the history.
Here is part of the wall...which happens to be near where the SS headquarters were.
In many parts of the city...at least where we were...they have this brick line showing where the wall once stood. Oftentimes it runs right into buildings. It is seriously amazing how the city has built itself and grown in 20 or so years.
Okay, we had to act like tacky Americans at SOME point, right?
This is Charlottenburg Strasse, a big royal palace in Berlin. It was cool, but we didn't feel like paying to go inside...Versailles was on our horizon, so you know, what palace beats Versailles? But the grounds were lovely and we spent a nice time wandering around. We met a nice American couple who actually live in United Arab Emirates...they snapped this picture for us...the only one of all three of us together in Germany.
Yeah, um, I think this girl is grumpy. She was such a good sport. Let's not try to count how many hours she spent in this stroller in two weeks! Seriously, Anna was AWESOME on our trip. And this stroller saw a LOT of miles.
This is just a cute happy shot of Anna.
This is a statue near the TV Tower...and I think the picture can speak for itself.
The walk signals were ADORABLE in Berlin. Everytime we crossed the street it made me smile.
Just a cool sarcophagus in one of the museums. Museum Island was good, by the way. Berlin has some good museums!
Okay, again, how cute is this? I LOVE the manhole covers!
This was a little pizza/pasta cafe near our hotel with free internet. I spent a lot of time here...that was when I was still working on the trip. Once I got to Paris, well, I stopped working. I just couldn't help myself. Anyway, the people at this cafe were very sweet...and even helped me identify food I'd photographed for my blog. It was pretty funny...a little embarassing, but I tried not to think that. :)
Another wonderful stop during the week was the Holocaust Memorial. It's located right where the wall was in East Berlin. The cement blocks are abstract and meant to be interpreted however you want. They were very cool. Underground they had a small museum that was SO well done. Very beautiful, haunting, sad. There was just something very moving about this memorial, located only steps from where the Holocaust was planned.
This quote was the first thing you saw in the exhibit and was the inspiration for the memorial.
They had blocks coming from the ceiling which lined up with blocks above ground. Each one documented a family that was affected by the Holocaust and told their story from two perspectives - the family's and the German soldiers'. Anna started flipping out at this point, so we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked. You could spend hours reading these heartbreaking stories. Oh, by the way, when we first got to the memorial, Anna was in the best mood EVER. So, everyone has their little headsets on, listening to harrowing stories...and there's Anna, cooing, laughing, squealing. I was trying to get her to be quiet, but to no avail. One man turned and basically said how sweet it was, how innocent. It was.
Berlin Fashion Week started while we were there. Actually...one of the first days when Nate was at the conference, I went walking with Anna and happened upon the plaza where Fashion Week was to be held. They had put up a temporary sign that told you what the plaza was...it was in fact the location of the infamous Nazi book burning in the late 1930s. As I was reading about it, I had a very emotional response. It was the first time during the trip I really felt the history of the place, thought about what had happened right where I stood. It was a bit overwhelming. Anyhow, when the plaza isn't covered with fashion tents, there is a hole covered in glass with empty bookshelves inside to memorialize all that was lost during the book burning.
So, anyway, back to more FUN things...we got to see some of the fun around Fashion Week.
When this couple pulled up the paparazzi went n uts. Anyone know who they are? We don't.
There were SO MANY DUNKIN' DONUTS in Berlin. Nuts.
This is the Berliner Dome, with the TV Tower there in the background.
Checkpoint Charlie. Again, so interesting.
This is the Bundestag, the legislative building for Germany. Wanna know something cool? Back when Hitler was gaining power, the Communists were so upset when he was elected that they burned the Bundestag. You may think that is unfortunate...but in fact it prevent Hitler from ever working in this building. It has been restored and has always been Hitler-free. Pretty cool.
The line to get into this place was wicked long...when we saw it Nate said, "Markus (our friend) was saying that in Germany if you have a stroller you can cut in line or something." As the words left his mouth a nice German man in a uniform walked up to us and pointed us to this door...where there was NO LINE. It was AWESOME. And the trick worked in other places as well. What a great German policy...letting strollers cut in line. If I lived in Germany, my kids would ride in strollers until they graduate from high school.
They built this dome thing on top of the Bundestag. What is it with Europeans adding modern, weird-looking things to the middle of historic buildings (hello Louvre?!?)? Seriously, strange. But it was still fun to go to the top!
Anna had an explosive situation in the Bundestag. Security hid in the background to keep an eye on things...
This is Kaiser Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, a church that was bombed out during WWII...they've left it as is as a reminder of the war. It was very cool.
This the ceiling inside the church.
And this is the super cute German girl selling dried fruit outside the church...she was really funny. No english, willing to let us try any fruit we wanted. And it was dang good fruit, if expensive.
I think it only appropriate to end this post with the following picture. Seriously, look at the size of that beer!!! Gotta love the Germans.
Berlin really was a fun city to visit. I'm certain I'm leaving pictures and stuff out that we saw and did, but I'm too tired to go on. And you're probably bored. :) Anyway, we loved Berlin. I am so so so glad that I went with Nate. A great week for sure!
