Berlin Mitte: Walk with me

Walk with me on this fantastic day to see the hart of Berlin.

My day started off quite early with meeting my old neighbor from Sint Martin here in Berlin. She had fled after the hurricane with her son (which was smart at that moment), and is all settled in in Berlin at this moment. Our last conversations back then were on the day before Irma and ended with a 'stay safe'and a hug on our mutual driveway.

You can imagine it was good seeing each other again! While arranging this meetup I asked her what was convenient on where to meet up. She responded with the 'Weltzeit Uhr aber natuhrlich!', which means 'the worldclock ofcourse!!'

For me this was not so super ofcourse because I had to look it up, but it is on Alexanderplatz and is actually a famous piece of art. It has all different timezones on it, and lots of tourists gathering around it.

That might even be the returning topic of the day, tourists

Because wow, I always thought I was used to living amongst tourists, but being in the center of Berlin has a whole new dimension of the amount of tourists. Especially on a sunny day like this eveybody seems to be outside with a selfiestick. (I admit, I made some selfies as well :D)

Okay back to walking: Alexanderplatz

This gigantic square has shops on it, a small beachclub even but apart from that, to me it is not that nice. Its convenient yes! But talking in terms of looking good, I would say go somewhere else maybe for nice views. One of the reasons for the square not having an identity is because it was extirely bombed back in WW2. It had a a shelter underneith the square and this made it a big target.

Do you see the tower in the background there? This is the TV tower of Berlin, and apparentely you can even go inside. Im not really a person of heights so I skipped this one :D

Brandenburger Tor

Going over the Unter der Linden Strasse towards the Brandenburger Tor you really find yourself in a piece of history (and yes this means you and the thousands of people around you). So many films/documentaries were recorded here, and I think it is safe to safe that 'everybody' know the Branburger Tor from a picture or two right?

At this moment the Unter der Linder Strasse is under construction, because a subway is being built underneith. Good for in the future, but not so nice to see now actually. So you could skip this maybe and take a bus to Branderburger Tor, it will save you a lot of walking ;)

Anyway, this citygate also suffered a lot during WW2 with only one of the horses still standing, but it was rebuilt after again. An iconic place to be!

Walking through

Walking through Branderburger Tor and taking a left you will pass the holocaustmonument. I didnt take any pictures of this because I find the monument hideously ugly and not at all reflecting the losses that were suffered. If you want to see how it looks like? Google it, it aint aint flashy.

On the other hand it was a perfect place for hide and seek with the 3 year old that was with us. Also maybe not to respectful, I know

Potsdammer Platz

Quickly you will reach the Potsdammer Platz after this. This is a place I do actually like a lot.

A piece of wall reminds us of that not too long ago this city was still divided into two parts, with not too much access of crossing and visiting your loved ones. Imagine, this isnt even 20 years ago. Berlin has changed so much afterwards.

In some streets they also left some remaining pieces of wall, just to remind us that this wall was just randomly set. Strange to see right?

The Potsammer Platz now is actually 'just'a square but to me it is mostly the Sony Center. This is a half indoor, half outdoor square with highrisers all around it. Inside some terraces have been made, a really chill place to sit. In between the high risers a roof is made. I find it super impressive to see how much effort is made 'just' to make a closed off square.

Here you also have the Linderbrau Brewery. At this moment is more of a restaurant/bar with Linderbrau Beer, but my neighbor told me back in the days the kettles were also outside there. Now with all this activity here this isnt possible anymore. I had a fantastic ginger beer here, and these Germans understand the quality of having a good afternoon beer ;

Walking back up north

Walking back to the north you will find on the 'musuemisland' the big Dome, currently under construction(isnt it always?), with the TV tower in the background. You can see it was a lovely day with so many people just chilling in the grass, reading a book, socializing. My fellow Asian students say that this is a weird habit of Germans, lying down into the grass when the weather gets nice.

I like the habit I guess ;)

Art

One of the cool things is that you will always find some art in the streets somewhere. In the areas of Friecrichstrasse I found this statue.

Actually it is a beautiful statue made out of bronze, but the story symbolizes again a horrific scene of children being deported to camps. You can even see on the statue the kids holding stuffed animals thinking ther are going on a nice trip. The positive thing about this statue is that in the end it is made to recognise the Kindertransport. A mission to save kids from camps, and secretly send them to safe places in London. The first train left Friedrichstrasse station with 196 saved kids.

I saw a lady sitting down on this statue and taking a super happy selfie. I was bugged a bit by the fact that she wasnt thinking about what this statue stands for, and that it is very direspectful. On the other hand, I was playing hide and seek myself with a 3 year old in the holocaustmonument. Apparentely I am also that person then I guess?

All in all

Mitte is a fantastic area in Berlin to have a good walk. But Berlin also has so much more than just these city icons. Dont forget to get out of Mitte and enjoy all the other parts of what Berlin has to offer you, and see how the actual Berliners live.

Thank you for walking with me!!

Do you want to see other stuff in Berlin I wrote about? Check out this beautiful but super sad musuem at the Wannsee

This post was made on masdacs which allows you to crosspost on Steemit, the Whaleshares page and Golos. With only one button click posting on three pages at the same time. Cool right??