Today was a “let’s play tourist” day. After an early night last night we were both up and at breakfast before most other people. At 9am we were driven to the start of our walking tour, we stopped to buy umbrellas as it was rainy and dreary weather. The walking tour guide was named Alex (an American) and he was a wealth of knowledge but 4 hrs for a walking tour is a bloody long time! If the one in Venice is that long I think we will give it a miss.
On the walking tour we went to museum island, the Berlin cathedral, the university where the book burning took place, the Brandenburg gate, part of the Berlin wall, the holocaust memorial and checkpoint Charlie – plus the site of Hitlers bunker which is now a car park for luxury apartments (see pic below).
After the tour we had maccas for lunch (very cultural, I know) and then a group l us (Emma, myself, Bec, Cameron, Claire and Amelia) walked up to the Reichstag and through Tiergarten Park. On the way we stopped at the “Topography of Terror” and walked through the displays which are all about Hitler’s rise to power, the Gestapo and the persecution of minority groups. Fascinating to a history geek like myself. Much excitement was had when a squirrel came to say hi in the park. We then came back towards Alexander Platz which is where our hotel is located. On the way back we stopped in a German restaurant for dinner and I had currywurst! It was AWESOME!
We are now letting our feet rest after 9hrs of walking before we head out on an eye spy tour tonight where we see lots of cool things about people communicating through the wall, how they smuggled things (not to mention people) across the border and finally we will end it with a pub crawl.
Tomorrow – Prague!
Mel's Travel Blog 