Wilkommen nach Berlin

Well we’re actually not in Berlin anymore, rather we’ve made it to Frankfurt, but here’s our take on Berlin.

We arrived Tuesday on time and purchased the 48 hour Welcome Berlin card that would allow us unlimited travel on the U-Bahn (underground subway), S-Bahn (above ground subway), trams, and buses throughout the city and Potsdam. One word of advice, push the green button on the subway doors when you want to exit. We arrived at Mohrenstrasse expecting the door to open, but instead we stood there as the train pulled off to the next stop. Needless to say we felt pretty dumb as we had to take the next train back to our stop.

Later that day we did the free walking tour, Sandemans New Europe, and highly recommend it. We visited Brandenberg Gate, the Reichstag (German Parliament), parking lot above Hitler’s bunker, Holocaust Memorial, book burning memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Berl in Wall. We learned a good deal about Berlin’s dramatic history in this 4 hour tour and all they ask for is a tip if you felt you go something out of it. We’ll post a journal entry on the website with a bunch of the interesting facts we learned from this tour as well as more interesting tid-bits on Germany.

The next day was spent exploring Potsdam after an hour or so of figuring out how to get there since the S-Bahn to Potsdam was kaput. Finally, we found the RegioExpress train that replaced the S-Bahn route to Potsdam and we were off. With no real agenda we walked around and stumbled into the city market were people sold fresh meat, cheese, and produce from stales and vans. We continued to visit the Schoss (Palace) Sanssouci, Orangerieschloss, Neues Palais, Ruinenberg, Schloss Charleottenhof, and Schloss Cecilienhof. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos in the Neues Palais as there were beautiful rooms covered from floor to ceiling in marble and other gem stones, absolutely amazing!

After returning from Potsdam we went to the top of the Reichstag. Definitely go after 8:30pm as the queue is shorter and you can get sunset / night panorama shots of the city. The Reichstag houses the German Parliament with a dom on top that allows everyone to come and keep an eye on their government. This was designed to allow the parliament to remember who they are working for as well as to keep people involved in the government. Afterwa rds we dined on schnitzel and beer (perfect end to another day in Germany).

On our last day in Berlin we visited the State opera house and the German histo ry museum. Although not the biggest opera fans, it was interesting to take a 1hr tour completely in German. We probably only understood 10% of what was said, but it’s a start. After the educational experience we watched the back of our eyelids for a couple hours in our room. Afterwards we had a nice German dinner at Maximilian’s, including some weinerschnitzel and beer.

The next stop for us will be Cologne for a day then onto the Rhine River for a cruise to Mainz (where the Guttenberg printing press was invented).