After arriving Thursday and checking into the flat we rented, we made our way into the city center to do another free walking tour. Yep, these are my new must dos when we travel to new cities! This time around we had Paul from Australia! While he wasn’t much of a lively guy, he was a self proclaimed nerd that taught us a great deal about the history of Berlin. Unlike the other cities we have visited within Europe, this city’s apparent history is much more recent. I think for that reason it hit me a little harder. Unfortunately, I am not a huge history buff, even with history that happened within the last century, but after this trip that will change!

On our tour we saw the Brandenburg Gate, The Holocaust Memorial, the sight of the bunker where Hitler committed suicide, The Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and Museum Island, home to five of Berlin’s museum, as well as Berliner Dom.

Holocaust Memorial

Checkpoint Charlie

Berliner Dom

After the tour we went to a true German restaurant (which surprisingly are difficult to find) as recommended by our guide, where we had our first German beers of the trip and first German meals.

Day two we had reservation for Berlin’s parliament building, The Reichstag. There is a audio tour that explains the sights of Berlin as you walk to the top of the dome. Unfortunately, it was a foggy morning in Berlin, so most of the sights weren’t visible, but the building itself was interesting. 

Reichstag

The dome was designed with these mirrors in it so that the politicians would look up and see those above, reminding them of the people who they are actually representing.

The rest of the day was spent at The Holocaust Memorial, The Berlin Wall and then a trip to The Jewish Museum. The Holocaust Memorial is a block of Berlin with 2711 concrete blocks of various sizes dedicated to the 6 million Jews who were killed in The Holocaust. The museum underneath was just amazing as it told stories of many of these individuals. It was my favorite place we visited, which may sound morbid, but it just fascinated me that this tragic event happened when my Granny and Papa were in their twenties and that my Papa fought to stop Hitler! It was so insightful, sparking my curiosity to learn more about it!

Holocaust Memorial

Holocaust Memorial

Seeing The Berlin Wall was also a highlight of my trip as I remember watching the news coverage of it being torn down. We were able to see one of the three larger sections that are still standing! 

Berlin Wall

Our trip to The Jewish Museum was unfortunately very disappointing, not what we had expected. However, they did have one nice exhibit of photographs from Fred Stein who left Germany with his wife and made his way to Paris and then onto New York. Nick was also disappointed in the building itself, one of the main reasons that we visited.

Our last and final day in Berlin consisted of visiting Museum Island, I visited the Berliner Dom, which I feel is more impressive on the outside than inside. I think that living in Italy and touring some of the oldest and most beautiful churches in Europe has spoiled me. But nonetheless I’m glad I was able to see it.

Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom

We then visited two of the five museums on the island, The Neues, which houses one of the worlds largest collections of Egyptian artifacts and then The Altes.

Afterwards we made one more trip to The Brandenburg Gate and then topped our trip off at the worlds largest chocolatier, as recommended by Luca! Whole not the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had (thanks Florence for ruining all remaining experiences), the chocolate dessert was pretty tasty!

Brandenburg Gate

Mmmmm

We have had a lovely time on our independent travels, but are exhausted and ready to get back to Genova and to “our” bed! We have a few big weeks coming up with several visitors from the States, a trip to Barcelona and then our third week long travel with Giudi and the students. It is going to go by so quickly and before we know it, it’s back to reality!