Deutschland!

Berlin is AWESOME!

We arrived on Tuesday late at night - amazing hostel, best yet. Then yesterday we went on a walking tour. Such an amazing way of seeing all the major sites. There were only 7 people on our tour and the guide was great. It was really good seeing random things and then having their significance explained. So day one in Berlin was history day. It was like a 3D version of first year uni. Cooool!

Berlin has an amazing history. Its been torn apart and put back together so many times, and the scars are visible. There are lots of places where its really obvious that bombs have left holes. Or museums that are half old, half new because of war damage. And on most of the old buildings you can see bullet holes in the facades. Its not a very picturesque city, lots of cold war era architecture. And the place is always changing and under construction. Its an amazing place.

This is the most famous university in Berlin -Humboldt University- Einstein went here! Its also where the biggest book burning in Germany occurred. In the square outside the uni. They feel really bad about it. Theres a memorial in the square - an underground empty bookshelf representing the presence of absence - and they also sell second hand books at the front gate. Including many of the once blacklisted titles.
Above is where Hitler once gave a rousing speech to 20,000 Nazis. Its the Old Museum. And out the front is a huge granite bowl. It was said to be the largest single piece of granite in the whole world - the 8th wonder of the world according to the Germans. It was supposed to go inside the museum, but it was too big, so they put it out the front. And in 1933 when Hitler organised a rally there, he had it moved around the other side. Later, when the Soviets controlled the area, they tried to move it and dropped it. So it is now in 3 pieces. A pretty crap 8th wonder of the world really.
Jess and Niki with huge granite bowl.
Checkpoint Charlie. You can pay 1euro to have your picture taken with a Soviet and a US 'soldier'. Our guide - Espin - informed us that the soldiers are actually part of a strip dance troop. Awesome.
The Berlin Wall. The brick bits in front are excavated Gestapo torture chambers. There was also an amazing museum here called 'Typography of Terror' - it only opened last week and it has heaps of amazing photos and documents about the atrocities of WWII.

The Reichstag - famously burned in 1933, allowing Hitler to blame the communists and this contributed to his rise to power (year 11 flashbacks anyone?) then it was largely disused,Hitler didn't really have any used for a parliament building did he... it also was damaged during air raids....then there was the battle of the Riechstag in 1945 where the Soviets did even more damage... but now its been restored and given a flash dome and its used as the parliament building once again. History rules man.
A chocolate Reichstag.
The Hotel Adlon. Where Michael Jackson hung his baby out the window. Cool!
The Brandenburg Gate - a famous famous gate that's on the back of German euros. Napoleon stole it for a while I think. What a dick.

Walking around the city also made it really apparent how sorry the Germans are for the whole Third Reich thing. There are memorials everywhere. 21 are planned. To remember all the different groups who were persecuted during the war. Theres only about 3 or 4 finished though I think.
This is the memorial to the Jews that died. Its massive. And controversial. But its sombre and when you walk into it its really eerie and you lose your peripheral vision. Its strange. But evocative. I'm not sure if I like it. It certainly has impact.

Day one was greatly successful. And after 7 hours of walking around we were well exhausted and slept very soundly. Berlin rules!
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