4/23/05

Did we see Berlin, ir did we see BERLIN? Holy touring Batman! We got lucky and had beautiful weather for our sightseeing megathon today. We started off by going to the Pariser Platz where the Branderburger Tor(=gate) lies. This is the only surviving city gate from WWII and markes the western side of the main road. Unter den Linden. It was once the boundary beteen East and West Berlin. There was a huge children's festival going on all day so we walked around the gate to walk the length of the festival. Cool music and lots of fun stuff to look at. We stopped to have a Frickadelle for a early lunch. At the end of that blocked off road we saw the Siegessäule, a 67 meter tall tower/obelisk. Bulit in 1873, it commemorates 19th century prussian military adventures. Than we walked back thrugh the Tiergarten, a central Park equivalent for Berlin. Next to the huge Tiergarten was the Reichstag. Another landmark. It is a miyture of modern(the glass dome) and a more classical style of architecture. It bacame the seat of the German reunified Parliament in 1990. We wanted to go inside but the line was 100 meters outside the door. Then we walked to where a portion of the Berlin wall is still standing. They had an outdoor museum called Topography of terror that recounts the actions of the Reich befor and during WWII and the aftermath of the East/West Berlin, Germany and wall(built in 1961) It was very upsetting. Germans didnt have a chance once Hitler took control. Anyone who resisted was simply killed. Jewish or no. Then we walked just 200 meters to checkpoint charlie. The checkpoint remains in the middle of the street. It was eery to see. So many, over 1000 were killed trying to escape east berlin. There were black crosses setup on each side of the street to signify each person killed. A picture with their name and how thex were murdered was on each cross. I began to cry. Caleb and I signed this giant, no really, guestbook right next to checkpoint Charlie. A lift had to raise us off the floor ro sign it. It was the first time I ever signed my soon to be married name and I got very emotional. hehe
We walked back towards Unter den Linden on Friederichstrasse and came across a film that was shooting right on the street. They had blocked off a section of the road. We watched for a bit, interesting. Next we saw the Berliner Dom. Built in 1905 in the New Renaissance style, it is a former court church of the Hohenzollern family. We walked through an art fair and then continued across the Schlossbrüke, 4 marble statues line each side of the bridge. We kept walking until we came to the MarienKirche, a red brick Gothic style church. Just beyond is the Neptunebrunnen, a huge fountain on which king Neptune sits atop, hence the name. From there we could see the Rotes Rathhaus. We were also next to the 365 meter tall Fernsehturm(TV tower) Anywhere you are in Berlin you can see it, sort of like the space needle in Seattle. We got some groceries quick because everything will be closed tomorrow(crazy Europeans take a day off!) and continued onto AlexanderPlatz. It was bombed in WWII and reconstructed. This is where nearly 1,000,000 people rallied to have the Berlin Wall torn down and the GDR regime done away with. Thew were successful in 1989 the wall came down! We walked across Alexander Platz to see the world time clock. By then we were hungry and pooped so we went back to our hostel to eat, rest befor our Techno fest tonight. WOO HOO!
We went out to the Icon Club. They dont open until 11:30 and we got there just a little early and the guy at the door told us to come back in 3 minutes. It was getting cold by then so we just shivered until he let us in. The Place was like an underground bunker totally made of bricks with several different rooms and leather couches. The DJ started at 12 and it was nice D&B beats. It started out loud and as the night went on it just got louder. We met some nice people around 2 in the morning and had a nice political (among other topics) "discussion"(shouting is probebly a better word). We had a very nice time with good music until 4A. We were planning on closing down the bar but we were both exausted by this point and the music showed no sign of stopping. We missed an S-bahn and got on the wrong one so we didnt get back to our hostel until 6a.