We enjoy heading into the bright lights of a big city but do not pride ourselves on being talented tourists and think we are even poorer at touristy write ups. We tend to pick a place or two that interests us and find a way to get there. So anyone looking for a "24hours in Berlin" write up that provides the ¨must dos¨, this blog entry will not be it.
Our list for today included a couple of big name sights - Museum Island, the Berlin Wall Memorial and visiting a couple of neighbourhoods - Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. Tying it all together was the necessity of mastering the U-Bahn - the Berlin underground. That said, we did enjoy our day in Berlin and had a really fun time.
Volleyball players at Gendarmenmarkt, in front of the steps leading up to the former Royal Theatre, today a concert hall. Off to the right is "French Church of Friedrichstatd".
Pat leads the way entering the U-Bahn train. We took several trips and transfers around the Berlin underground. It can be tricky to find the right track , the right direction and the right ticket.
An original section of the Berlin Wall. This was last line of defense between East and West. We spent quite a bit of time at the numerous displays providing information on the development of the area as well as watching a couple of films on the subject. We really found the history of this cold war conflict interesting and troubling at the same time.
Potsdamer Platz. The development of Potsdamer Platz is considered one of the most important developments after reunification. Important architects won awards for their work on the buildings here.
The Palace Bridge was destroyed during the Second World War, but fortunately the statues had been dismantled and stored in a depot. After the war and the division of Berlin, the bridge ended up in East Berlin. It wasn’t until 1981 before the statues were handed over in a deal between East and West. A renovation project was undertaken and by 1984, repairs were complete, and the figures were returned to their rightful places.
