Day 38- Berlin, Germany

Day 38- 22 September 2008 Today we got up and took advantage of the free breakfast and then headed out to a free walking tour of Berlin. After a short train journey we arrived at the Brandenburg Gate which is an impressive archway with a very long history. The famous 4 horses and venus were stolen by the french (by napolean) and put in the louve and then later taken back by Berliners and made into the god of victory and war. Of interest is the Hotel Adlan, ýes that hotel that Michael Jackson had his baby dangling out of a window. Our tour continued to the Holocost memorial which consists of a few thousand large concrete blocks (similar to a gravesit with tombs) which is like a maze which you can walk through and reflect about the atrosities that occurred. From there we walked to Hitlers Bunker which is demolished and a carpark which is built upon it. The only reminder a small sign noting the place. Interestingly, Hitler married Eva and then the next day killed his dog with cianide, then his wife killed her self, he killed himself and got his soldiers to burn him. The Soviets who were around the corner found the partly burnt body and took it back to moscow and eventually flushed the body remenants down the drain. From here we went around the corner and down the street to see one of the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. It is a small 2 metre high wall with no barbed wire but fancy tubing over the top. It was not what we had imagined it would look like but still a stark reminder. We also went to Gendamenarkt which has the german and french churchs which are identical in every respect from the outside. From here we went past Check point charlie and then off to bableplatz (the square where the books were burned during the reign of the Nazis). there is a memorial of a small 1 mtr square hole in the ground with a glass covering and when you peer down under the ground you see large empty bookcases. We also had a quick look at Humboldt Universitz near the square which is where the brothers grimm studied and where albert einstein gave lectures. We then went to the War Memorial which has a statute of a mother holding a dying son which is exposed to the elements by a large hole in the roof. From there we went to Museum Island and checked out the Berlina Dome church which is quite impressive. We also climbed to the top of the dome and had fantastic views of the city. We then retraced our steps and visited checkpoint charlie again, as we hadn't been able to spend much time there during the tour. We got our passports stamped with checkpoint charlie stamps and then went to the Berlin wall and the prior site of the SS and Gastapo and looked at the memorial and information exhibition the topography of terror which is extensive and looks at the atrocities of the war. We also got our piece of history and got a piece of the Berlin wall from a souvenir shop (with certificate of authenticity).