Berlin, Germany: (13 pictures) – Day 24


Reichstag -  I like this building and picture a lot.  I don't know why though.  I was able to go inside and climb all the way to the top of the dome in the background.  The Reichstag is now Germany's Parliament building, and has a lot of history surrounding it during its short hundred year life.



East Berlin from top of Reichstag Dome - Berlin is a huge city and covers an area eight times larger than Paris.  A lot of it is still under construction though as they continue to rebuild the city after most of it was destroyed during the World War II.


Brandenburg Gate - This famous gateway between East and West Berlin is now under renovation, so no, it's not actually wearing socks.  The entire thing is covered by painted tarps until it is finished.  I was still able to walk through a small opening in the center of it though.


Berlin Cathedral and TV Tower - The TV Tower on the right is the tallest structure in Berlin (even taller than Paris' Eiffel Tower).  It was too expensive to go to the top though.  The Berlin Cathedral is not really that special other than being a big German looking church.


Rassbender & Rausch - This is supposedly Europe's largest chocolate store.  I ate a couple really good truffles from here, but I didn't think it was that big (it is bigger than what this picture shows though).


German Cathedral and French Cathedral - There was a pretty good museum in the closer German Cathedral I went to that told all about the history of Germany.


Berlin Wall and Topography of Terror Exhibit - This exhibit is right along part of the remaining section of the Berlin Wall.  I thought it was boring though because it wasn't in English.


The Berlin Wall - This is part of what the Berlin Wall looked like.  It's 13 feet tall and it would have had actually two walls, separated by a sixteen foot deep tank ditch, and a dead zone of 30 to 160 feet wide where guard towers watched to make sure nobody crossed.  It was originally 100 miles long and constructed to stop the outward flow of people from East to West Berlin.  It was in use from 1961 until 1989.  To answer your question, no I didn't take a piece of the wall for myself.


Checkpoint Charlie from the Wall Museum - This picture was taken in a great museum about the Berlin Wall.  The museum was located right next to Checkpoint Charlie, which was the famous border checkpoint between East and West Berlin.  The gate used to be right outside the window in the picture.  The sign is the original that people who were allowed to cross saw as they went from West Berlin to East Berlin.  The museum was mostly filled with stories about different ways people ingeniously were able to get over, through, under, or around the wall.


Spree River with a Rainbow -  It started to rain a little bit while I was in Berlin, but once it stopped I was rewarded with a pretty rainbow view over this river.


Berlin Wall and East Side Gallery - This is the longest remaining stretch of the wall.  It's about half a mile long and is now home to "the world's longest outdoor art gallery".  It's mostly graffiti and big political murals though.


Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - This bombed out church near the train station was left as a memorial to the destruction that occurred to Berlin during World War II.


Victory Column – This monument is in the middle of a huge park in Berlin named Tiergarten.  It was moved to this location by Hitler in the 1930s from the Reichstag building because he thought it would serve a better ending point for his victory parades in the middle of the park.

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