The Cougar Patrol

Berlin was the last stop on the tour. It is also the stop where I probably got the most done Of course, you really feel like you’ve accomplished a lot when you arrive in a city at 5 in the morning and are told you can’t check into your hostel until 2 in the afternoon.

I got into the station early and upon reaching the hostel, dropped off my bags, so there were a full 8 hours to kill before check-in. Fortunately, the guy behind the desk had some good ideas on things to check out. Any dark looking pictures are from this early morning tour.

The first stop on the tour was the Berlin Wall. Well, part of it, at least. It’s something like 160 miles long, or was, at least, before they started pulling it down. There’s still a few long sections standing, so I went to check them out. The good thing about seeing it at 6 am is the utter lack of tourists. I’m sure the fact that I was in a very, very seedy side of East Berlin helped that fact.

The East Side Gallery is this first section that I visited, and today it’s famous for beign the graffiti epicenter of Berlin. This is the only part left that’s over a mile long. Sort of appropriate that I saw it on a gray morning.

Along the day’s route, there were more individual sections with the more well-known graffiti works preserved on them.

In areas where the wall was completely destroyed, there is a commemoratory line in the street demarcating the original route of the border. It’s pretty interesting to see what landmarks this line runs in front of.

By this point, it was still about 7:20 in the morning, so I hopped onto a train and rode into the city center. After swinging by the Brandenburg gate (more on that later) I headed over to the government center, where the parliamentary buildings are located. These are pretty much brand new buildings, since the Soviets had the presence of mind to bomb the area to the grounf in 1945, and never really got around to fixing it up while the wall was up (the wall cut through the area). The top of the Reichstag has a giant glass dome that allows you to both look down into the parliament chambers (the US would NEVER do something like that) and it also has a ramp that takes you up to the top for a panoramic view of the city. Being up this early, I was 20^th in line, and I was told later the wait can be up to three hours. Go me.

Elsewhere in the city, there is a sign marking the spot of Hitler’s bunker. It was bombed out by the Soviets as well after the war. To get a feel for it’s importance, you should watch the movie “Downfall”, which I reviewed over at FlickFool.

A very cool museum I visited in Berlin was the Pergamon. I was told that if there’s only one museum you have a chance to see, see this one. I thoroughly agree. It’s main attractions are the altar of Babylon (yeah, THAT Babylon) and the Ishtar Gate, which was the main gate to the city. It was a very cool thing to see, seeing how it’s over 3000 years old. The Ishtar gate (in blue) was a no-photos area, but I’m crafty and snapped a quick one.

After the Pergamon, I visited one of the palaces of the royal family. This one is called Schloss Charlottenburg. It was massive, and pretty well done, even though they had to fix it up as it too had been bombed to the ground in WWII (noticing a pattern here?) The grounds were very scenic, and as you can see this day had some of the best weather I encountered on the entire trip. It was definitely a nice place to visit. The photo of the gardens is one of the better shots I took on the trip.

Ah yes. Booze. I got to Berlin on a Friday morning, so I had three nights to party. I did so. You can drink anywhere in Berlin. On the train, on the bus, walking down the street. Anywhere. It was great.

I met a few Aussie chicks along the way enjoying their last hurrahs before getting too old to be single anymore. They were a bit of fun.

This is the Brandenburg gate, which is the equivalent to the Arc de Triumphe in Paris. It’s neat to look at for the most part. While the wall was up, the Gate was stuck between the two walls that formed the “death zone” between East and West Berlin. If you set foot inside it, you’d get shot at, and the guards would let the dogs loose on you. Sounds like fun. For 28 years, no one went near this thing. It looks like they fixed it up since then.

This is the Holocaust memorial. It’s pretty non-descript, but it’s size makes it a pretty powerful place. It sits next to Hitler’s bunker, where the old Reichschancellory (Nazi HQ) was located.

Here’s Checkpoint Charlie, which was the gate that led from East to West Berlin during the Cold War during the Cuban Missle Crisis, tanks faced off here about 50 feet from each other.

This is the largest church in Berlin, the Berlinerdom, with the Fehrensturm tower behind it, which is the tallest structure in the city.

This is the Sate Opera house. I got to see the State Orchestra perform Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony this afternoon, while sucking down some German beers and enjoying a brat. Yeah, Berlin was a fun stop.

Yes, I went out with the Aussie chicks on the last night, and no, nothing happened. Awesome. Perfect ending to my trip.