Travel adventures - BERLIN - Day 3

in #travelfeed6 years ago (edited)

There is still one more day in Berlin with me! Are you ready to join me?

It's going to be a busy day! We will visit The Berlin Wall Memorial, Museum Island, and The Tiergarten Park.

I can't wait to start the tour!

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The Berlin Wall Memorial

The Berlin Wall Memorial is situated on Bernauer Strasse in the middle of Berlin. It's 1.4 km long and there are many trees lining the street, giving it some kind of a serenity feeling.

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I was feeling uneasy on the way to the Memorial as I didn't know what to expect. Just thinking about horrendous things that happened there in the past made me feel sick. But I wanted to see the wall that changed lives of so many innocent people...

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There are preserved grounds and open - air exhibition behind the remains of the Berlin wall so you can imagine how it looked like until the end of the 1980's when the city was divided into the East and the West Berlin.

The permanent exhibition was opened in 2014 and it explains the situation that led to the Wall’s construction, its fall, and the reunification of Germany.

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The Berlin Wall was cutting a line through the city center of Berlin from August 1961 until November 1989. It was built to stop East Berliners from fleeing to the West. But it didn't stop them completely.

People kept trying to escape the regime and cross the wall to get to the West Berlin. To strengthen the wall the 'death strips' were created by adding more layers of barriers to the wall. Many people risked their lives when they attempted to cross them. A few of them were successful but many of them lost their lives..

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Can you imagine almost 30 years without your family and friends? This was the daily life of thousands of people..

Watchtowers were occupied by border soldiers. They were built 250 meters apart so that the guards could oversee the border area between the towers. They were supposed to recognize people trying to flee and prevent their escape. They had the order to shoot if they unable to hinder their escape.

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There were 90 people killed by the border soldiers in Berlin.

After Mikhail Gorbachev gave up the Brezhnev doctrine in 1988 and allowed the Eastern Bloc states to determine their own national policies there were many protests against the regime.

The fall of the Wall on November 9th, 1989 led to the end of East Germany and its dictatorship.

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It took us a few hours to walk around the exhibition and read all the information. There is also a place where you can listen to testimonies of the Berliners who lived in the East Berlin. Their stories are heartbreaking.

I was instantly feeling blessed to live in a safe environment. This is luxury even nowadays when you think about the conflicts happening in so many countries..

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The Museum Island

I think it's time to visit the Museum Island, don't you?

Museum island consists of five museums: Pergamonmuseum (Pergamon Museum), Bode-Museum, Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) and Altes Museum (Old Museum). We came to the island to admire the architecture and not to visit the museums as we didn't purchase the tickets in advance and there were hundreds visitors queuing to get their tickets.

At the beginning of the Museum Island there is The Berliner Dom

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It was impossible to take a good photo because of the reconstruction work taking place on the building.

It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Berlin. It is also the most important Protestant church in the city. We usually attend the Catholic service on Sunday morning. We were close to the Dom on Saturday evening and thought it was a good idea to attend the service at 6 PM instead of waking up early in the morning.

We only had a few minutes before the service and were in a hurry to get there without noticing that it was a protestant church.

We sat down and the service started. We realized quickly that it was a little bit strange and I wondered why there was a sculpture of Luther in the church. We were just looking at each other unable to move. It was so quiet that we didn't dare to leave the church. We stayed there until the end of the service and we are still having a good laugh about how silly we were not to check it in advance.

On Sunday morning we woke up early and went to the Catholic church instead 😊

Back to the Museum Island..

The Altes Museum (Old Museum) was the first museum on the island. It was opened in 1830. It gave access to collections of art and historical objects. The ensemble of all five museums was completed in 1903.

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My favorite building was the Old National Gallery.

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The main architect was Friedrich August Stüler . He was inspired by Acropolis in Athens. It was opened in 1876.

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The building was damaged during the World War II. It was renovated but it wasn't opened until the reunification of Germany in 1990.

This monument was created by sculptor Alexander Calandrelli. It represents Friedrich Wilhelm IV as he came up with the idea of creating the Museum Island.

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In front of the Old National Gallery there is a green area with various sculptures.

The sculpture on the left was created by Reinhold Felderhoff and it's called Diana - Goddess of the hunt.

The one on the right was created by Adolf Brütt and it's called The Fisherman (‘Saved’) - a fisherman is holding a girl that he just saved from drowning.

This one on the left was created by Ferdinand Lepcke and it's called Female Archer.

The one on the right was created by Atelier Van Lieshout and it's called The Monument.

There were a few more sculptures but my favorite one is Hercules and the Nemean Lion created by Max Klein. This sculpture was the most complicated one and it was difficult to understand what it is. I had to walk around to see the details of the fight between Hercules and the lion.

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I hope you have can still walk as we're going to the Tiergarden now!

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Tiergarten Park

The Tiergarten Park is the green heart of Berlin. It is a park that cover 210 hectares of forested grounds.

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The park is the perfect place for walking, jogging, cycling, skating or just relaxing with your friends and family.

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It was cold and windy so there were just a few people in the park. It was also raining for a few minutes.. I can imagine that this meadow is crowded during hot summer days..

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There are also a few small lakes in the park. I'm not sure if it's permitted to swim there but I didn't notice any signs saying it was prohibited. As it was cold we wouldn't go to the water anyway 😊

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Do you want to learn a little bit about the history of Tiergarten?

Before the 17th century the park served as a royal hunting ground. Friedrich III turned it into a “park for the pleasure of the general population”.

The park was damaged during the World War II but it also suffered after the war when Berliners cut down what was left of the trees to use it as fuel during the winter due to the lack of coal. The park was almost deforested. In 1949 Berlin started with planting new trees.

There are many monuments in the park like this one on the Luiseinsel.

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The park is so beautiful that it's hard to believe that the trees were planted not even 70 years ago.. Various flower beds add to its charm too.

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As I said at the beginning it was a long day today but I hope you enjoyed it. We loved Berlin and we are already planning another culinary trip there as we didn't have a chance to visit as many vegan restaurants as we wanted. I'll share my vegan experience with you soon!

PS: My hair is the proof that it was very windy! 😊

All pictures are taken by my Nikon D3200 AF-S NIKKOR 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II (except of the ones indicated in the text)

Thank you for reading,

Cheers,
Martina

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Great post and pictures as always from you Martina! Indeed walking in Berlin is like an open air history lesson. We are so lucky to live in times of peace and freedom, we all should be grateful for this every day.

Absolutely! We are so lucky to live in safe part of world. There are too many people who are afraid to lose their lives every day.. people will never learn from their past mistakes..

Thank you for stopping by and supporting me! 😉

Wonderful post as always @delishtreats So many photos and so much information. This is what quality content looks like! I visited a museum with a section of the wall and several displays on the history. It is hard to believe how recently the wall stood. I love the trees along where the wall stood, great contrast to the history. Museum Island architecture is amazing. My wife took a survey of religion class in college that resulted in us sitting through several different church services in some gorgeous churches. Once you get over the beautiful buildings, you do start to feel a little uncomfortable as an outsider or even "non-believer" haha

Thank you for your valuable comment Steve! I'm pleased that you believe that my content represents quality!

Exactly, it's not even 30 years from it's fall.. It's however sad that people didn't learn from this experience and there are still so many conflicts around the world!

Oh, you are right! It's so awkward to sit there when you don't share the same belief! And when you're non believer it's even worse, lol!! You have no idea what to do there..

This was so informative, and the pictures that you took look so amazing! I kinda laughed when you were talking about your service in the other church but at least you were able to experience it. Anyway, Thank you so much for sharing this!

Thank you for your comment!

Well, we are still laughing about that :) It was also good, we were tired and we could rest for an hour listening to music (could have been a bit softer though, lol) I'm glad I made you laugh! :)

Have you been to Berlin?

You're most welcome!

No I haven't been to Berlin yet but your pictures made me feel like I was there, it just showed how beautiful it was. Hopefully in the future Steem would make me go there HAHAHA

It's a pity you haven't been there yet! I hope for you that Steem will help you to get there :)

WOW - thank s for doing Berlin for me. I have been around Germany over the years to various parts but never did Berlin. This is such a brilliant blog so heartfelt and complete it has been as good if not better than visiting there myself. Which is exactly what the very best travel blogs should do. Your attention to detail is unbeatable - the time and effect that goes into your work is clearly visible and hugely appreciated.
I just noticed you have sneaked over the 500 followers mark. Many celebrate this point and if you are not personally going to do that then let me crack open a bottle and put my dancing shoes 👠 on to congratulate you on passing a certain milestone on steemit. I hope the next 500 flood in fast and furiously clammering to read your fabulous works. You leave “ROUGH GUIDE TO ... “ looking a little shabby 😆🌈🦋💛🌴🍀

You should go to Berlin Sallybeth! There is so much to visit and see. And the FOOD! Paradise! :)

Thank you so much for being so kind to me! And I'm glad that you see the effort that I put in my posts.. :)

Yes! That was unexpected!! I'm planning to celebrate my anniversary next year and list the achievements.. You know I'm not that kind of a person talking about it too often :)

THANK YOU for cracking open a bottle! I'm with my in laws and there is no alcohol in house but I'll have a glass of bubbles next week :)

Let's see how long it will take to get attention of next 500 :)

Thank you for sharing another piece of your travels. I imagine I would have some similar emotions to you traveling to a place that symbolizes such loss and many years of fear and pain. It is history worth learning about though, lest we forget and repeat our wrongs yet again.

I have a good friend from Germany who remembers the wall being up when she was young (she was born in 1980). I believe she had family in East Berlin who they would get to go visit on rare occasions. Hopefully I'm not butchering my memory of what she shared, but I believe they would have to spend any money they had while they were over there because they weren't allowed to bring it back to the West. Apparently her family has an abundance of China like tea cups and plates because that's what they ended up buying to use up their money before returning home. I think she has a few pieces with her here living in the US.

I would definitely love to see some of the vegan eats in the city! I keep hearing wonderful things about the food scene there!

Thank you for your comment Katie! I don't remember it being up or how it fell as I was a little child but I heard many sad stories about it.

On a funny note - at least they have a nice collection of cups at home :)

So many people emigrated from Germany because of the regime to save their lives..

It's a vegan paradise! There is so many restaurants that you don't even know which one to go to :D I can imagine living there going to a different place every day! I'll try to bring my vegan guide next week or the week after :) Hope you'll like it!

I have a feeling I will definitely like it! Every now and then I nudge my boyfriend about going to Poland since he still does have some family there, so maybe some day it will happen and we can hit a few other spots like Germany, too!

You should go to SteemFest! Then you can have fun, visit your family and also Berlin when you're there already :)

That would be fun, but I don't think we're going to be able to swing it this year. Are you going?

I don't know yet as I have a planned minor surgery around that time and I'm not sure yet when exactly it will be. I would love to but I'll have to see..

I love Krakow and it would be great to go there again!

Well I hope all goes smoothly with the surgery, and I would be very excited if you go because I know you would do a fantastic write up! ;)

Thank you Katie! I would love to write about SteemFest and Krakow! But let's see :)

how could I ever get bored with this.. You show such beautiful scenery and tell us the history along with it... Its a win/win for us :D

Thank you Dave! All the effort was worth it then!

wow, look at theta marvelous architecture, the museums looks amazing, i almost had goosebumps knowing about the death straps..You did quite a lot in a single day..must be an amazing trip for you..will look for your next vegan post.. :)
Love .swati

Thank you for stopping by Swati! Oh yes, I was exhausted at the end of the day.. but you know.. even though I go for a couple of days only I want to see EVERYTHING and then I end up doing around 35k steps a day, lol.

I am so like you, I would want to see everything, which leave me exhausted at the end of the day.. Now I am trying to be more relaxed 😍

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Thank you for this lovely visit of Berlin! I remember when the Wall was torn down. I saw it on the news the following morning.

It must have been an impressive stopover for you.

Thank you for stopping by! It was a powerful experience..

I was too young to remember that but my mom keeps telling me that she took me to the main square in my hometown to join the revolution in Slovakia - I also don't remember that, lol!

Wow, really? You should ask her to tell you more stories.

My grandmother, who passed away two years ago, used to tell me WWII stories all the time. I'm glad I heard them as I can pass them along now.

For some reason we don't talk about that at home.. maybe I should ask :)

My grandmother told me recently that there were a few Jews in the village and that they were taken away one day.. She doesn't really want to talk about it.. painful memories I guess..

It's good that you grandmother found the strength to share the stories with you..

I totally understand.

It was a different situation for my grandmother.

The thing I love about blogging on Steemit is that everyone have their own perspective of the same place. I wrote about the Berlin Wall Memorial the other one, great to see it from your eyes.

I don't think I went to the Museum Island when I went to Berlin. It looks beautiful. Thanks for the tour

Exactly! I loved the way you described Berlin too. The way we perceive things is so different from one person to another and I love to see other perspectives too!

Museum Island is in the city center so I'm sure that you saw it, just didn't know it was called like this :)

Thank you for your comment!

Just been through my photos, so I have been!!! Now I remember it!!
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Exactly! I thought you couldn't have missed this one! :)

Oh my, the architecture of the buildings is remarkable. That detail and the sculptures of people (I’m assuming biblical) on the first building is nothing like anything you’d see in the US. I wonder how it the inside smelled? If you could also smell the history…?

Always such a nice journey with you @delishtreats and looking forward to your vegan tourism.

Thank you for your kind comment!

Yes, the smell is very special! You can kind of smell the history, yes. But you will need to come to Europe and visit these old buildings to experience it yourself! :)

For sure- it’s on the list. I imagine it to be like a time traveling experience. At least that’s what I’ve conjured up in my head. :)

It's so 'normal' for me to visit such places so I can't even imagine the anticipation that you feel. So exciting! I'm looking forward to seeing your posts and reading about how you experienced that!

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