On our second day in Berlin, we did some more sightseeing. Since I'd never been to Berlin, I definitely wanted to see the Berlin wall. We went to Bernauer Straße, because a huge chunk of wall (60 meters) still stands there.
The first thing that popped in my mind when I saw it was that I really can't imagine what it was like back then. The wall was still there not that long ago, you know? WW2 was over and all still wasn't alright in Germany. I thought of my hometown being torn into two parts and not being able to go to the other part, not able to see family and friends.. Crazy!
The first thing that popped in my mind when I saw it was that I really can't imagine what it was like back then. The wall was still there not that long ago, you know? WW2 was over and all still wasn't alright in Germany. I thought of my hometown being torn into two parts and not being able to go to the other part, not able to see family and friends.. Crazy!
At Bernauer Straße there's a documentation center you can visit, a chapel and a memorial park with an exhibition to teach people more about the history of the wall and what it was like back then.
This wall of pictures saddened me so much. To actually see the faces of people who died while trying to escape. Pictures of toddlers, babies. I just can't imagine. I really can't.
I also had to see the Brandenburger Tor of course. There was a man playing some sort of hurdy-gurdy music box in front of the gate. He was dressed in an old fashioned costume and very proper looking, but he had a face tattoo, which was a weird combo. It looked a little like this, so maybe the guy was just from New Zealand ;).
We had tickets for the adjacent Reichstag dome, but they were cancelled at the last minute. Boo.
From Brandenburger Tor it's a short walk to the memorial for Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It was very impressive. The rectangular concrete slabs reminded me of graves, and walking around it really felt like walking around a graveyard. The floor is uneven, so it seems the slabs are all more or less the same height, but you actually see people disappearing as they walk further into the concrete maze.
We then headed back to Potsdamer Platz for some architecture. And shopping. Hahaha.
This is the Canada House (embassy etc.). It was designed by a mouthful of architects (Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, Gagnon Letellier Cyr architectes and Smith Carter Architects + Engineers), but with beautiful result. They used different kinds of materials all from different regions in Canada, which I love.
The building has a green roof, and (this is a bad picture, I'm sorry, I only brought my old compact camera) even a waterfall! It really is a nice place to walk through, pretty and calming.
Quick Starbucks break. At first glance that looks like a d, but when you look closely you can see it's actually a t and you know what that means right? The barista spelled my name correctly, without me having to spell it out to him first!!!! Christin is a more common name in Germany though, so maybe that's why he got it right.
Across the street is this pretty building by Gnädinger Architekten. It reminded me so much of those fancy stores in Tokyo, but it actually is a science center you can visit for free. The center represents the medtech company Otto Bock (a prosthetics company), so the permanent exhibition shows you all about movement. It's not suprirising that the façade of the building was inspired my muscle fibers.
We then went to the Mall of Berlin (is that a wordplay on Wall?) for some shopping and food. The mall is huge! It only opened in 2014 and it's 76000 m² worth of shops! There aren't any shopping malls in the Netherlands, so this was really nice.
We went upstairs to the foodcourt first, and opted for some nice, hearty German meals. I went for the bratwurst & baked potato with lots of sour cream. Yes.
This doesn't look like much, but it was a potato dish with cheese and cream and lots of veggies and it made you feel all warm inside. So good.
And there you have it, our two days in Berlin! So much fun. Of course there's still so much more to explore in Berlin, but I'm 100% sure I will in time. And remember: no matter how long I'm somewhere, there's alwayssss more stuff I want to do, haha!