Travel adventures - BERLIN - Day 1

When I was a child 'I' could decide which language I wanted to study. Why do I put I in ''? Because it was my parents decision at the end. I wanted to study English as I always dreamed about traveling. But my parents thought it was more practical to study German instead because they believed it would be eventually easier for me to find a job.

And this is how I started to dislike everything related to German speaking countries in general. My first teacher was really bad. I still believe it was her intention to teach us about World War II and not the actual language. I must also say that her German was not perfect and it was very frustrating to attend her classes when I was dreaming about studying English. Every year we had a different teacher and none of them was excellent. I was so happy when I left the secondary school and thought I will never ever have to speak German again.

How wrong I was?! A few years later Love brought me to German speaking part of Switzerland. At the beginning I was refusing speaking German and it was not really needed for me as I worked for American company and my husband is Dutch. All my friends were foreigners so I could easily live without German. Plus Swiss German is very different to the high German so it would mean learning everything from the beginning.

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I don't even know how it happened that I started to pick up some German words and even enjoyed using them. I have managed to overcome my childhood trauma and I'm really happy here.

Why am I telling you this? As I had this issue with German I was never thinking about traveling in Germany. We live so close to the border that we now manage to see a new place in Germany every month. This time we wanted to do something different and explore the VEGAN paradise in Europe - Berlin!

I have never wanted to visit Berlin as I learned so much about World War II when I was a child and I am a very sensitive person so I thought it would be very difficult for me to be there. But Berlin is so different now! It has changed into a big modern city with many foreigners and expats. Our priority was to explore the vegan scene but we couldn't miss the history part too. And it was not that bad at all!

I had a few moments when I was feeling very sad but I'm glad that I have experienced it.

So, this was a LONG introduction! Let's go for a walk if you're still with me 😊

As usually we took the earliest flight possible and arrived in Berlin at 9 AM. We wanted to do the main touristic parts today so that we can just walk around tomorrow. But Berlin is HUGE and we didn't manage all that we wanted in one day. Never mind, we still have a lot of time.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Our walk started with The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe also know as the Holocaust Memorial. It is located in the city center, close to the Brandenburg Gate.

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Building of the Memorial was approved in 1999 and opened in 2005. The Memorial honors the up to six million Jewish victims from throughout Europe.

Firstly, the architect Peter Eisenman wanted to create a labyrinth but this was rejected by the German parliament as they didn't want people to get lost in the complex. Finally there are 2711 concrete slabs of different heights placed on 19,000 square meters. They start at just a few centimeters and raise up to a few meters. The complex is completely open so it doesn't matter which way you choose you will still be able to get out. This should bring the visitors to ease.

The floor is created like a wave so there is no straight place in the entire complex. The uneven floor gives people different feelings. Many say they were feeling on the edge and uncertain. The size and the form of the memorial make you think about what happened during and after the war.

The memorial was placed here because this became a part of so called 'death - strip' after the Berlin Wall was built and the border security systems were established.

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Brandenburger Tor

After our visit of the Memorial we walked in the direction of the Brandenburg gate. It is just a few hundred meters away. We went there during the World cup and there was a huge screen attached to the gate for live streaming of matches so I couldn't get a better picture than this one 😊

It is the symbol of division of Berlin into East and West and also the symbol of reunited Germany after the fall of the Wall. It is a must see place when you're in Berlin.

It is the only surviving historical city gate and it was constructed between between 1788 and 1791. It was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans.

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Reichstag

You might not know that I studied Political science and I'm still interested in the political situation so I couldn't miss visiting the German Parliament building - Reichstag!

I was very disappointed to learn that it was closed today! At least we can appreciate it from outside.

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The building was originally designed by Paul Wallot and the decoration was finished by Otto Lessing.

It was used as a German parliament until 1933 when it was damaged by fire. For many years it remained damaged as it was not used because the West German parliament was moved to Bonn.

It also suffered additional damage caused by Allied bombing during World War II. It was in very bad conditions until 1961 when it was partly renovated. It became a Museum of German history. More extensive renovation took place in 1990 and in 1999 the Parliament was moved back from Bonn to Berlin.

The building is located on a massive green square that invites you to sit down and relax. It was a sunny but rather windy day so it was very nice to sit down for a few moments before we went to the central station. It looked nearby on the map. Well, it wasn't 😊 It was a very long walk..

On the way we passed by Federal Chancellery building. It's completely different than The Parliament. It is very modern with lots of glass and concrete. We have noticed that everything in Berlin tends to be BIG! Look at this big grass field! I know that you don't find it that big if you live in a bigger city but I'm from a very small town and I'm not used to this 😊

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We're finally approaching the ultra modern central station. We will take a tram from there that will bring us to the Television tower.

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But first we have to cross Moltke Bridge over the river Spree. It was constructed in 1891. The bridge was partly destroyed during the Battle of Berlin in 1945 and restored in the mid-1980's. It is not popular among tourists despite of its historical value.

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Many tourists decide to take a boat ride to explore the city.

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As many other people I didn't know about this bridge before so I'm glad that we didn't take the metro to the central station as we would have missed it in this case.

Fernsehturm

After we reached the central station we took a tram that brought us to the Alexanderplatz. From there we could reach the TV Tower in a couple of minutes. I would say that this is the symbol of the city.

The tower is 386 meters tall and it is the highest building in Europe that is opened to general public. You can take the lift that will bring you to the platform just in 40 seconds and you can enjoy the views from 200 meters above the city. We decided to skip it as it was already late and we would have to wait for two more hours plus as the platform is behind the glass the pictures wouldn't be so nice. Maybe next time!

Let me tell you it's not easy to capture the whole tower in one picture! I was kneeling down on the floor (actually almost lying down) to capture it 😊

Just behind the tower there are few landmarks to see. First of them is Evangelical Church St. Marienkirche.

It's one of the oldest churches in Berlin. It was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1292 but the exact date of the construction is not known. It is a museum but it's also still used as a religious building. The architecture is very similar to the churches in Slovakia.

Next to the church there is the oldest working fountain in Berlin called The Neptune Fountain. It was designed by Reinhold Begas and built in 1891. In the middle of the fountain there is Neptune. There are four Goddesses around him that represent the four rivers of old Prussia: the Elbe, the Rhine, the Oder, and the Vistula. The fountain is an architectural masterpiece with a lot of detail.

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On the opposite side of St. Marienkirche there is the City Hall - Rotes Rathaus. It is the seat of city’s government. It was built between 1861 and 1869. It's also a popular touristic place and I can understand why. It's very different to any other building and also very special due to the red bricks used for the façade.

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We will finish our day with the City Hall as we're already very hungry and our legs ache from so much walking. But we love Berlin so far!

Tomorrow is another day and we're already excited to see what it will bring us!

Stay tuned for more stories from our adventure in Berlin!

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All pictures are taken by my Nikon D3200 AF-S NIKKOR 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II.

Thank you for reading!

Cheers,
Martina

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