Berlin Things to Do

There are many palaces and castles in Germany. This large palace is on the outskirts of Tiergarten Park and is the residence of the federal president. Built in the late 1700's by Philipp Daniel Bouman, it was built in the "classical style", unique to that time for such a building. Used as a guest house for the Third Reich, it was badly damaged in WWII. It was later rennovated and converted to the presidential residence.

An impressive architectural expression almost looks like it doesn't quite fit within the same area of the Renaissance feel of the Reichstag on the opposite end of the park. It was designed and built by two Berlin architects after the unification in 1991. The decision to move the capital of Germany to Berlin this building should be representative of the move to rejoin the East with the West. There is usually a long wait to get inside so a reservation is essential.

walk around the turkish quarter, the poor quarter of berlin.
get a doner kebab. shop at the local stores. some of the consignment stores have some great finds!
transportation on the metro takes you right there.

The Holocaust Memorial is a site dedicated to the murdered Jews in the holocaust. This is an erie place because you are standing on what appears to be solid ground, with these rectangular and trapezoid shapes all around you; but you are actually standing on the crest of a small hill, one of many that make up the topography of this memorial. One could also describe it as an art installation. Whether you feel you are standing on the Empire State Building, or being surrounded by gravestones, each person has his own interpretation. Maybe the artist intended this site's meaning, beyond, the obvious memorial, to remain mysterious.

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Berlin's wall extends throughout the city. It is professionally and naively painted with spray paint, or whatever anyone can get their hands on. It is cracked and crookedly standing, and through time, some paint has eroded, only to be replaced with a new generation of patriots. There are two sides to this wall, remember! There are little gates and cracks to crawl through for access to the "other" side. It is well worth the visit. It is a part of the history of the world.

we went to checkpoint charlie, went through the museum that has replicas and original cars and gadgets people invented to get through the wall (smuggling kids in suitcases, hiding in trunks of cars, digging tunnels underground, flying over the wall in a hot air balloon, etc.) i have been using the metro like a champ, after getting lost a few times of course. i walked through this really old turkish community that has the meat of "real" germany. i had a doner kabab. it was so delicious. we saw the Reichstag, the Brandenburg gate and did a lot a lot a lot of walking .... not eating much of their food. truly, the best food in germany is not german. we went to this beer garden last night and my friend ordered a veal brat and it came in a pot of hot water....just a brat in hot water...and it was white. no bun.... it's just different. i had something that looked like 3 really long red sausages, 3 pieces of an unidentifiable brown bread and half a plate of sauerkraut that looked like mashed potatoes. it was pretty damn good though once i put it all together with some mustard.

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i understood this as the most important symbol of freedom when i was in berlin. i unexcusably didn't know much about the history of this landmark, and that is due to my laconic attention span in regards to history. it's one of the checkpoints (or entrances) between east and west berlin. it is heart wrenching, inspiring and it sets your priorities straight, if only for a couple of hours.

Only a 45 minute trip outside of the city, this grim reminder of Europe's dark past awaits. Saschenhausen was the model camp of all other nazi era concentration camps and, sadly, many of the survivors here went on to be exterminated at Auschwitz. I took the self guided tour with the headphones available at the front desk and would suggest this for others. You can speed along in sections where you aren't as interested and listen to more stories at parts where you are more interested. It's quite a sad experience, but life changing in its own way. I think all the racist folks in the world should be forced to tour a concentration camp, it may change their way of thinking. Seeing the execution platform and the ovens is something I will never forget.