Berlin was definitely one of my favourite cities on this trip, in part because we were able to meet up with friends who lived there. The other part because it is such a big, interesting city with both an old history and super modern feel!
There’s a lot to see and do in Berlin, and we had a lot of fun just walking around. Our first day we didn’t have any particular agenda, so we wandered around. We wound up at the Berliner Dom (the Berlin Cathedral) first.
Finished in 1905, the church was badly damaged during WWII. A full restoration wasn’t completed until 1993, but now you can climb to the roof and get a nice view of the city!
Next, we wandered past the Konzerthaus Berlin. Built in 1821 originally as a theatre, it also suffered severe damage by Allied bombing and was restored and reopened as a concert hall in 1984.
Growing up in country and region that has never had to deal with widespread, significant destruction and damage from war, it’s very eye opening to travel to places that have had some very real shit go down. It’s also amazing to see how these areas have recovered and rebuilt.
The statue found inside the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) has gone through a number of iterations and designs over the years but was rededicated in 1993 to the “Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship”. The statue is titled Mother with her Dead Son, and is a pieta-style* statue that sits under a hole in the roof so it is exposed to the rain, snow and cold of the Berlin climate, symbolizing the suffering of civilians during World War II. (Thanks, Wikipedia)
*Pieta is a popular subject in Christian art that depicts Mary cradling the dead body of her son Jesus. The most famous sculpture was done by Michelangelo and is found in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.
Another famous stop is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. You can walk between the concrete stelae as the ground slopes down and the stelae get taller. When you’re in the middle of the memorial, the street noise is muffled even though you’re in the middle of the city.
On a lighter note, you can also stop by Rittersport and do a build your own chocolate bar! We stocked up on a lot of chocolate, and it was fun to do the build your own!
The next day, we met up with my friend Lasse (shoutout!), who took us to explore even more of the city.
There are some really cool murals you can check out along the Berlin Wall, and it goes on a lot longer than the few photos I show!
We walked by Checkpoint Charlie, which was the best known Berlin Wall crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.
We did a day trip to Sachenhausen concentration camp as well, which is a short train ride from Berlin. I’ll cover visit in another post. Stay tuned!
I feel like we only saw the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Berlin has to offer. While we covered a number of the historical sites and had a lot of fun just walking around, Berlin is most definitely a city I can’t wait to go back to and spend more time in!