Berlin in one day

Brandenburg Gate

Holocaust memorial, has no signs or explanations
its up to the individual to interpret

Hitler's Bunker is now a car park

Berlin Wall bits are everywhere

Its freezing cold, would hate to be here in winter

Love this shop

On way to show

Outside the Palast Berlin

The Wyld, what a show!

Today is the day for big buildings and monuments. Lets go find the meeting point for the Insiders tour. Our guide Jim is originally from Minnesota, USA, can speak fluent German and studied german history at the Humbolt University here in Berlin. He finished his degree 10 years ago and somehow forgot to go home.

Jim’s knowledge of history is phenomenal, a great way to understand Berlin from 1237 as a trading port, to nobility, kings and emperors. Bismarck bringing all of Germany together in 1871 and then the demise into democracy with the results of the two world wars and the cold war.

There is so much to see on the insiderstour, some of the highlights:

• The victims of war memorial with mother and son is very moving
• Book burning site memorial is perfect
• Hitler’s Bunker is now a car park
• Checkpoint Charlie is like Times Square and in no way authentic
• Bullet holes are in every old building
• The architecture of Berlin is fascinating through the different time periods
• All the big buildings have eagles or bears on them
• A common theme is the Germans confronting their own history, one of the first projects after reunification was to build the holocaust memorial.
• The Brandenburg Gate area only finished being rebuilt in 2008 when the American embassy was finished

They are still rebuilding, currently the State Palace that was blown up in cold war, most Berliners think it is a waste of $500million to replace with a replica of the old building, as a tourist I disagree!

My overall impressions are the same as after seeing Washington DC National mall monuments. How can anyone start a war when you see the pain and suffering everyone goes through?

We are now in the CheckPoint Charlie museum, there are amazing stories of people escaping from East Berlin, I especially like the hot air balloon and the machinery that was used to smuggle people inside right through the checkpoints. However many of the stories do not have good endings and there is only so much of this I can handle. On we go for some retail therapy at Amplemann my favourite shop in Berlin.

There is just enough time to walk back to base and funk up our wardrobe for tonight’s event.

Now we are walking along the River Spree on our way to the Palast Berlin. River boats are going by, pushbikes are screaming down the paths and Vespers are everywhere. Three bridges and we are here.

Hordes of people are on the same way as us we settle in for the entertainment. Lights, camera, action there are dancers, singers, acrobatics, weight lifters and dogs! Lots of poodles that do amazing tricks I can't explain how great this show is. The whole crowd enjoys every minute of it. What a night, what a day!