Where will life lead me?: Berlin for Thanksgiving weekend (11/30/13)

OUCH! Needless to say, woke up aching from yesterday, but ready to go, even if it is still rather dark out. This picture of the Victory Column shows we were still in the blue hour...not quite light completely yet (and overcast skies didn't help matters much).

First real stop this morning is at the Russian Memorial. This was put up after WWII in memory of the Russian soldiers who helped bring down the Nazi party. Needless to say after the Cold War, many Germans were not so happy with this particular memorial, but are still responsible for the upkeep (part of an agreement during reunification). Supposedly one of the tanks and one of the artillery guns was the first to fire during the Russian attack on Berlin during WWII.

This marble portico was taken from one of the Nazi government buildings to be placed on this memorial area.

View of the Brandenburg gate from the street in front of the Russian Memorial. I like the fact that the Brandenburg gate stood for such bad things in Berlin and yet, if you look, there is a menorah right by the gate.

Just a short distance away we come to the German white house...the Chancelor does not live there, but their president does (not the power, just second in command basically)

This is one of the places where the Chancelor lives (although she has an apartment downtown too)

Then the Reichstag (government building)

the patches are for bullet holes

Just behind the Reichstag is where the Berlin wall was located (the wall was just a few yards from the back of the building so it was not used for government work during the cold war...too close for comfort, I suppose).

Across the street from the Reichstag is a memorial to those East Berlin people who attempted to cross the wall and did not make it.

This really had nothing to do with the wall or Berlin, I just loved the older couple holding hands as they walked down the path.

This tells about an art piece in memory of those murdered and persecuted.

Each slab has the name of a victim and where they were sent (and in most cases, died)

Lots of stops on this tour...and our next is Check Point Charlie and the museum (which of course would not allow pictures to be taken argg)

Loved this section of the wall...it has Einstein!

This is a bunch of passports up in the Check Point Charlie Museum (one of only two pictures I could take)

This was just an odd piece of art down in the locker area.

The guy above ticked me off to no extent. It is bad enough that there are Germans dressed as American soldiers, and one of them gets really rude if you don't give them money to take a picture, but worse than that...this idiot doesn't understand that you do not hold our flag with such disregard. Now that ticked me off!

Location where Hitler's bunker was...despite popular belief, the bunker is not still there, and hasn't been for a long, long time.

Fittingly, this Berlin Buddy Bear is located in the American Embassy.

Next strolling place was to the Brandenburg Gate and surrounding areas (by the way the US embassy is just around the corner from the Gate).

And just when you thought you saw it all...there is dunkin donuts with heinken next door.

And across the street is the holocaust memorial

In 1944 many german officials conspired to assassinate Hitler. Claus von Stauffenberg was one of those people involved in Operation Valkyrie. Unfortunately, the attempt did not work and Stauffenberg and the others were captured. It was in this courtyard that they were executed.

We then found ourselves over at Museum Island at the Cathedral of Berlin (not a Catholic church, no, it is Protestant) unfortunately, we didn't get to go into the actual church as they were setting up for a Christmas concert, so we had the choice of not going in at all or having access to the tower and the crypt. With the fun I had with my knee, I went for the crypt rather than the 200 steps up to the tower.

The crypt holds the members of the royal family Hohenzollern that ruled in Prussia, Germany and Romania. Unlike most crypts the family members are housed in sarcophagi in plain sight rather than in wall vaults. While not all of the sarcophagi are on display there are many. Surprisingly, these are in quite good shape despite multiple bombings during the war.

Once we left the Cathedral we went to the Pergamon Museum...assuming we would get in...no such luck. After waiting quite a while in line they came out and said, sorry no more tickets. So we strolled to a couple of the Christmas markets within walking distance of the Cathedral and Museum Island.

And yes, another Berlin Buddy Bear

Sea Life has a really good, and expensive aquarium (or so I was told) but they also have this really cool elevator that is located in the lobby of a hotel in Berlin (of course you can't get access to the elevator unless you have a ticket from Sea Life, but you can see it in the lobby.