More detail about our first day in Berlin...

Took the ICE train from Berlin to Munich today and are about ready to go to bed. We wanted to give you more info on what we did on our first full day in Berlin...

During our first full day in Berlin, we went on the "Discover Berlin Walk" with our tour guide Johanna. Now that we are on the train to Munich and I have some time, I will recount some more of our walking tour.

At the start of our East Berlin tour, we walked through an area called Museum Island and the Lustgarten. This is a complex that houses the Pergamon (classical antiquities), the Atles Museum (with the Egyption collection), the Old National Gallery (19th-century German Romantic paintings), and the Bode Museum (statues, coins, and Byzantine art.) During our stay we were never able to get to these musuems, but the open space in front called the Lustgarten was a beautiful place to relax in with a gorgeous view of the Berlin Cathedral.

Along Berlin's main street running East-West, called Unter den Linden (which means "under the limes"), we visited Babelplatz, the site of the Nazi Bookburning of 20,000 books, saw Humbolt University where Eistein taught, and the Opera House. (The Operncafe is supposed to make the most exquisite desserts and have the longest dessert bar in Europe. We never made it back, but that is probably just as well because I don't think Jason and I would have been able to decide! We would probably still be there!)

We took a detour into the "ghost subway stations." During the Cold War, most underground tunnels were blocked at the boarders of Eastern and Western Germany. But a few lines went through Eastern sections to Western sections. In order to make some money, the East German goverment rented the subways to the West. Western passengers could take these subways, but when passing through the parts owned by the East, they would see nothing but eerily empty subway tunnels with Eastern soldiers holding guns. No one in the East was allowed down in these subways should they try to grab hold to a passihg subway and escape to the West.

Continuing the walk along Unter den Linden, we reached the Brandenburg Gate, which is the last surviving of 14 gates in Berlin's old city wall. It's crowned by the Goddess of Peace and Napoleon liked it so much he took it to the Louvre in 1806. When Berlin got it back, the statue on top was renamed the Goddess of Victory. Nearby is the Hotel Adlon, made most famous as the place Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window. It was a famous hotel before that fiasco though, as Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin used to stay there as well. Across from the new American Embassy there were Iranian protesters, which we would continue to see in the following days. They were peacefully sitting, singing, and playing music, but to what effect, I don't know. From here would could also see the glass dome of the Reichstag, Berlin's Parliment Building.

Our tour took us past the remains of the Berlin Wall and the bricks in the street that mark where the Wall once stood. Our guide gave interesting history on the construction of the Wall and how in some places it divided buildings so that people in an apartment in the East could jump out the windows into the West. We walked along the former "deathstrip" where guards, dogs, and minefields would later keep people from crossing over.

We walked above the former bunker of Hitler, which is now a simple dirt parking lot with a big garbage can on top. It was also interesting to see how much of the course of the former wall now is running through parking lots. Berlin is a city in constant construction and nearly every one of our pictures of important sites and interesting buildings has cranes, bulldozers, piles of bricks, and construction workers in it. Our tour guide was very skilled at pointing out interesting arcitechure and how it relates to the history and feel of the city. She also discussed the ongoing debate in Berlin on just how to rebuild the city, what buildings should be reconstructed, what should be built new, and just how many memorials the city should contain. Berlin could easily become a city of memorials.

We walked past Checkpoint Charlie, the Nazi Air Ministry and the site of the SS and Gestopo headquarters called the "Topography of Terror" which has been left a pile of rubble. We got lost in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This is a very self-reflective memorial because it does not have any statues or plaques explaining the intention. It is simply gravestone-like pillers of varying heights on a rolling ground. It is meant to leave the viewer open to his own interpretation and thoughts.

We ended our tour in Gendarmenmarkt, a square many Berliners consider the most beautiful. It is bounded by two churches and just around the corner is the Fassbender and Rausch chocolate store. The store has the most amazing chocolate scupltures of such things as the Brandenburg Gate, an exploding volcano, a Harley motorcycle and a giant bear. There were 250 different chocolates to choose from but unfortunately it was a hot day and we were afraid anything we bought would just melt in minutes.

After all the walking, we were hungry of course. We decided to be like the Germans and grab a snack and a drink at one of the carts along the road and people-watch. I remembered that one kind of sausage was pretty unappetizing, so we decided a classic "weiner" (pronounced with a "v" instead of a "w") would be a safe bet. What we got for 2 euros was a thin, pale "hotdog" about 8 inches long. The outside had a disconcerting snap when you bit in and the inside was a bit too mushy for me to handle. This was served with a hard roll and a squirt of ketchup and mustard. We weren't sure if we were to just bite right into it or break off a piece to eat with the roll. Jason decided to break it apart and half of his weiner flew across the table and into the dirt. I very generously offered him half of mine to replace what he had lost.

At this point in the evening we figured we better start heading back. We weren't quite sure how to work the bus/tram/subway system and walking just seemed the best bet. We retraced some of our tour and took a rest in the Lustgarten. I saw some people walking up the steps of the Berlin Cathedral, so we decided to see if we could look inside. We were lucky enough to be in time for an evening organ concert.

From there we walked in what we thought was the direction of the Circus Hostel where we were staying, but we took a detour to Alexanderplatz. Berlin has a giant, shiny TV tower that was our beacon and guide during our stay. It is similar in shape to our Space Needle, but more like a disco ball in the middle with a tall red and white spike on top. There we found a Neptune fountain which made for some fun photo opportunities and statues of Marx and Engels, founders of socialist philosophy.

The final adventure of the day was crossing through Hackescher Markt. We stopped to watch some dancing and acrobatics by some street performers. For some reason we were singled out in the crowd and asked to tell everyone our names. Then the guy told us we were going to be making the "backstage" for his grand entrance. We had to hold up our arms like doors or curtains and swing them open for his entrance. He rewarded Jason with a warm hug, but gave me only a polite handshake in fear of what Jason would do to him. :o) It was a very charismatic performance, and their change was well-earned. It was a fun and light-hearted way to end a very busy day.