38 Hours in Berlin - A weekend trip with all the sights
Sightseeing and shopping worked up our appetites, and we stopped for dinner at an outdoor café, where we had a quick Italian meal before wandering through the Ku'damm back to our hotel
Saturday
Rise and shine! This was to be our big day in Berlin, and we did not want to waste most of it asleep. After breakfast at our hotel, we head out toward the Siegessäule (Triumphal Column). Most people might recognize this column from either a U2 video, or as the hub of the Love Parade. We walked down the length of Strasse de 17 Juni, past the tree covered Tiergarten, browsed through a weekend flea market, and at last made it to the column to take in the view (quick note, the walkway at the top is not very wide).
We continued down Strasse de 17 Juni, with the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) looming in the distance. First, however, we came upon the Monument to Soviet Soldiers, a memorial to the 300,000 Soviet soldiers that died in the battle for Berlin in World War II. The memorial was built within six months of the Soviet arrival in Berlin, and it features the first two tanks that entered the city. Ironically, the memorial eventually ended up in the British sector of the divided Berlin, but Soviet soldiers posted in East Berlin were given access to the site.
As we got closer to the Brandenburg Gate, we could see the Reichstag in the distance. We could also see the enormous line of visitors waiting outside the building. Better check back later, we both agreed. So on to the Brandenburg Gate, passing over a reddish line etched into the sidewalk demarking the path of the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Berlin for almost 30 years. The line stretches throughout the city, and as the day progressed it was odd to see how many times we criss-crossed its path.
The Brandenburg Gate beckoned, and through it we went straight into the former East Berlin. And what did we then see? Things have changed in the former East Berlin, as we noted by the busy line extending from a Starbucks Coffee shop, which being from Seattle we found immensely funny and weird. We strolled down the Unter den Linden, stopping in shops for post cards and eventually for lunch (Italian again...)
Rejuvenated and rested, we decided to wander back to the Brandenburg Gate and head toward the Checkpoint
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