We arrived Berlin from Prague in the morning by train. It was an early train and we reached to our hotel by 10AM. I wanted to join the walking tour of Berlin , but my dear friends took so long that I did not have time for lunch. The tour was for 3 hours and covered quite a few places like The Reichstag, The Berliner dome, WWII Battlefields, Checkpoint Charlie, Remaining Berlin Wall, The Brandenburg Gate. The guy was awesome and was almost apologetic about Nazi past. He narrated loads of stories about Berlin’s fascinated past.
He showed us the place near Opera Square where on May 10, 1933 – Students and storm troopers started burning books and writings deemed “unGerman.” This was beginning of the phenomenon of book burning ceremony across Germany.
Checkpoint Charlie was a quite unimpressive looking crossing once used as crossing between east and west Germany.
Memorial of murdered Jews was constructed 60 years after WW II. More than 11 million people were killed because of Nazi genocidal policy. 5 million of those murdered were non-Jewish.
We booked a time slot in the afternoon to visit Reichstag dome. It was free but need to be booked in advance. Architect Norman Foster’s iconic glass dome was added to the Reichstag to symbolize the reunification of Germany. It offers incredible 360 degree views of the city.
Finally we walked along Berlin wall memorial, one mile stretch of the remaining part of the wall along the east side of Ponte Rosso. It is like an open air art museum , with graffiti , painting all over.
