24,000 steps in Berlin

Across the river from Museum Island

You would think with all the joy I shared yesterday about having unlimited access to public transport in Berlin for 72 hours that we would be lucky to achieve the suggested 10,000 steps in one day.  However, you would first have to factor in the way Alan and I can travel and possibly get carried away! This was one of those days!

Our daughter had visited Berlin a while ago and highly recommended the Sandeman's free walking tour so I booked this online. However, it is an informal free walking tour and you don't really have to book in advance!  The English speaking tour started at 10am so we took our time arriving at the Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate.

There are three eating places right at the Brandenburg Gate, Starbucks, the Backer Wiedeman and Dunkin Donuts. So this morning we went to Dunkin Donuts!

Then we all congregated at the meeting point and met our tour guide, Chris from Canada.  He has done these free tours for 5 years and is so knowledgable about this city.

Sandeman's also does other tours that are not free, and the next time we are in Berlin, I intend to do one of them!  Let me also point out free does not mean you don't put your hand in your pocket at the end of the tour.  What is suggested is to give a tip for what you believe the tour was worth.  He is free lance and depends on tips.

After learning so much about the history of the Brandenburg Gate itself and also the Quadriga - the four horses and Goddess at the top of the Gate.  We moved on to the Holocaust Memorial.  I am not going to repeat all we learned since it was just so much and also, I think the best way to learn about Berlin is to go there!

This shows the location of this Memorial.  Next to the
American Embassy, which is next to the
Brandenburg Gate with the Reichstag  just across
the street from the Brandenbug Gate.  

I have mentioned this Memorial before and cannot stress how moving and special the area is. What Chris pointed out was the central point of valuable real estate it is located on.  Front and centre for all the world to see! There is also an aura of respect here, with all welcome to simply walk through and spend as much time as anyone wants.  Chris was clear that respect is due though and told us that standing on these stones was absolutely forbidden, it is just too disrespectful.  Sitting is ok though.  One person - not in our group - was spotted standing on a stone and she was shouted down.  There are no signs stating what this location is meant to be and what the rules are, but once learned, never forgotten.

We then walked to the parking lot where the bunker where Hitler was meant to commit suicide is under.  There is nothing there to indicate where it was or what it was.  This is also intentional.

There is no indication that these stones get so high when you enter.

See the double cobblestones running
right into this part of the wall....

We stopped for a lunch break at a little cafe called Typisch Berlin. But it was right across the street from a museum about the SS and also a big part of the wall that is still standing.  Chris pointed out the double cobblestones along the roads, sidewalks, through parking lots and where ever visible is where the old wall once was.  It is a very visual way to get an idea of where the wall was when you can't see it any more.   Alan and I were more interested in this than eating, big mistake since we then missed a chance for lunch at all due to what we hoped to accomplish the rest of the day.  It is not in my nature to miss a meal and was certainly not planned, but it happened!

This tour did not solely concentrate on WWII and the division of Berlin though.  We also learned about earlier history of Berlin, but it is all intermingled with present.

Konzerthaus in Gendarmenmarkt

We were told why the Gendarmenmarkt has a French/German name - it is a result of the French Cathedral - built for the Huguenots I think, although Chris never used that term, and the German Cathedral, with the Konzerthaus in the middle.  Later, my cousin asked if we had visited the largest chocolate shop in the world, the answer was no. But I looked up where it is located and it is near this Gendarmenmarkt. So this shop - Rausch Chocolate House - is another addition to my must see list when we return next year!

Humboldt University
This building used to be the library 

Our time with Chis ended at Humboldt University.  Boy does that have an interesting history!  So many famous people attended or taught there, including Einstein.  There is also a very sad chapter of the Nazi regime where the first book burning was located.  They burned 20,000 books, some of which were original manuscripts with no other way to retreive the information lost. The rational for these burnings was that they were written by "degenerates and opponents of the regime".  What a tragic waste of valuable knowledge.

In the centre of this square is a glass memorial that looks down to a room with empty bookshelves, enough bookshelves to hold those tragically lost 20,000 books.  It was raining at this point and is difficult to see.  I am not sure if this is made to look like the bookshelves or is an actual peak into a very sad room.....  I think it is an illusion though, but very poignant.

After bidding farewell to Chris (and paying him), our intention was to spend the rest of the day on the hop on/hop off bus but we were in a part of Berlin we did not know. And they do not have any signposts to indicate where the tour buses stop.  I thought we would catch the first bus and also eat lunch!  This was just after 1pm.  But Alan felt we could walk to Museum Island and catch the bus there, whilst also taking a photo he had spotted the opportunity for.

Berliner Dom

We walked and walked and walked until I finally gave up and sat down and waited for Alan to come back.  It was too long and also the bus and/or train could have taken us to this area later.  Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site but there was no time allocated to visit these museums and that is another addition to my returning list.

He got his shot and we ended up catching the U-Bahn to head to a spot where we knew the buses left from - Alexanderplatz.  It was about 3 by then.

Our intention was to simply ride the bus around the circuit the first time, but it was getting so late there was no way to do that and then return to places we would like to visit. So, once we got into familiar territory for me, we got off the bus!

The disappointing scaffolding 

The two stops close together were the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the KaDeWe.  I vividly remember visiting both of these locations. The Kaiser Wilhelm church was more of a ruin when I was it in the mid 60s.  This is hard to imagine but the inside of it is all clean now and has a shop in it.  It wasn't that welcoming then and it felt more sad to see what can happen to such a gorgeous church as a result of a terrible war. The two blue stained glass buildings that took the place of the church were just recently finished when I lived in Berlin in mid 60s and they were so beautiful.  I really wanted to share this with Alan. But I had no idea the bell tower was under repair and covered in scaffolding until we arrived at the bus stop. What a disappointment.

Inside the new church - Quiet and peaceful and
beautiful.

But we did go into the church part of the memorial and it was stunning. I am not certain I had ever been in there before, I only remember going into the bombed out ruin of the original building. It took me a while to find any information on the refurbishment but it appears that the ruin was under repair and scaffolding until 2015 and the article I found said the bell tower would be next. So the scaffolding must have been on a few years now.  I doubt this will be removed by next year.

KaDeWe

We walked to the KaDeWe, which was a favourite place for me to shop with my friends in the '60s.  However, this is now a very upmarket department store, absolutely beautiful but out of my price range, thankfully since my suitcase space is very limited.  We did consider their food court but it was too busy and too confusing too.  Now after 4 pm and still no lunch!



The tour bus stops right at the front door of the KaDeWe so we were able to jump back on and get back to our home base.  Of course, we could also have easily taken the U-bahn back with our welcome card!

Potsdamer Platz

We disembarked at Potsdamer Platz and walked back to the Brandenburg Gate since Alan wanted to be there for sunset.  However, it started to rain and it felt like the beginning of a hurricane. It was tremendously windy and the rain was like buckets of ice water being dumped over our heads.  Absolutely miserable.  I told him to walk on and did the German thing of obeying all traffic lights, getting more and more soaked while waiting.  Oh boy was it cold.

I grabbed this shot just before I entered the safety of Starbucks!

Alan was found sheltering under the gate and we wondered what to do.  But the rain let up a tiny bit and I headed off to Starbucks for shelter, I know, I know....my feelings about Starbucks being everywhere are usually not complimentary, but it offered shelter, a warm drink and also a view!  Very clever of them to get this fabulous location!  So while Alan suffered for his art, I sat and watched the weather whilst enjoying a lovely hot chocolate with whipped cream!

Just taken with my phone but what
a great place to shelter from a storm!

After sunset, we decided there was only one answer to escape the wet and cold and also (finally) get a meal!  So we jumped on the U-Bahn directly in front of Starbucks and this is the express to the Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Main Train Station). This building is huge and we assumed there would be a food court and we already knew we would be under cover the whole time.

This train station is all glass and so beautiful!
It was intended to be finished in time for the
World Cup but they had to stop early and the roof
is not as long as it should be.  I wonder just how
big the building would have been!

My rice bowl

There were quite a few places to eat, but they were mainly fast food and we needed something substantial!  It was now 7pm and we hadn't eaten lunch yet!  We discovered this place called Rice and got wonderful Asian Fusion bowls with whatever sort of rice, protein, vegetable, sauce and toppings we wanted. It was perfect!


After finally having a meal today, we decided to call it a night and jumped back onto the U-Bahn and headed back to our hotel, where we even had to dry out our maps and leaflets.

We got back early enough to catch the
green windows at our hotel this time!

drying out our leaflets!

24,000 steps, what an amazing day!