Berlin was a work trip, so not much site seeing done and my iPhone rear camera went out, so some of the sites are very unflattering selfies only, so won't be posted.
On Saturday night, I headed up to the Reichstag for a walk up the dome. You have to book online in advance due to security concerns, but the website is fairly easy to navigate and I booked about 4 hours before I wanted to go. After an amazing dinner at an RS recommended restaurant (and scoped out some other places for potential dinners the rest of the week), it was off to the Stag.
The Reichstag is free to go in and they give you an audio tour. It's open late so you can see the city lit up at night. I went about 9:30PM and surprisingly, it was still packed.
On top of the Reichstag with the Brandenburg gate behind me. That's the one time I think I've taken a decent selfie.
Then on the way back to the hotel via the subway, I stopped for some pictures of the Brandenburg gate lit up. The subway was really easy to navigate as well, but equally, it was definitely the most cab friendly city I've seen. They were everywhere and pretty cheap.
Brandenburg gate
After Saturday night, it was wooooorrrrrkkkk. And lots of it. There were good times and stressful times, but thankfully made it through in mostly one piece. I used an RS restaurant for dinner one night with coworkers and looked like a hero - a beer hall in the centre of the city with great food and beer.
On Thursday before I left, I did a bit of site seeing:
Bombed out church near the hotel. The back side of the church had the rebuilt new church. A lot of the city has been rebuilt since the war and the wall fell, but there are some areas that are left as is to remind the world what happened there.
After that, it was off to Checkpoint Charlie. I can remember the wall coming down when I was a kid. I really just remember my mom being happy about it and the history of the time after the war wasn't really taught in my school. I really didn't know much about it. The museum was interesting - a bit too much information. I've never seen a museum crammed with that much stuff and solid boards to read in about 20 rooms. I didn't get through it all, but I did get a taste for just how bad life on the East side was before it fell and how far Berlin has come since then.
Signs that still remain from the crossing point.
Covert picture I took in the museum. So sad and poignant.
Russian Charlie
After that, I met a coworker and we caught a cab to the Jewish Memorial, which is very poignant. We had an odd incident where the cabbie told us before we got out that the Holocaust never happened. I think he was trying to wind me up, but I didn't get into it with him. Very weird and disturbing.
Then it was off to the Brandenburg Gate during the day time and a non-selfie photo:
Then continuing on our tour of all things sad, we visited the memorial to the Roma which was much smaller than the Jewish memorial. It was beautiful and serene, in the park near the Reichstag.
Finally, we saw the Reichstag in the day light.
Berlin was amazing and definitely a repeat trip when I don't have to work. The city feels like Austin, but a bit cooler (don't throw stones!). The city feels reborn with all of the new construction everywhere and I think in 20 years time, I wouldn't recognize the city. It just feels like a place where you can be creative and make your own way. Capitalism at its finest. I liked the areas behind the wall better than West Berlin, precisely for that reason - it felt like people were excited about opportunity and embracing challenge.
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