Exploring Berlin's History | Travel Tales

3/16/2020

See my city ranking, non-obvious recommendations, and the one place you MUST check out!

Thursday, June 15th, 2017
Weather: High 85 / Low 68 sunny
Distance: 21,846 steps, 9.9 miles

When I landed in Berlin I had to navigate between the bus, and three trains to get to my Airbnb. I got 75% of that down before getting lost but ended up walking through the Okomarkt which was in Kolkwitz Platz. After checking in I headed to the Brandenburg to start a Sandeman tour. During my walk I was able to see St Marienkirche, the Berlin dungeon, the Berliner dom, and Humboldt University. Before the tour began I stopped by Backer Wiedeman for a baguette schnitzel and would only recommend it if you are in a hurry.

When the tour started we stopped by the Reichstag (parliament) and then the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I felt it was one of the most powerful memorial I'd been too. As you walk through you enter in a single file line, you may hear different languages or other people but it feels like you are alone and can get lost easily. It tries to let you image how it felt to enter in to the concentration camps.

We then went to this random parking lot, which was right above Hitler’s bunker. It was kind of disappointing but also appropriate. It didn't need or deserve the honor of having a statue or any memorial.

The Brandenburg

We walked by the The Nazi Air Force Academy, which is now a government building and stopped at The Berlin Wall. The wall was about three meters high. They had one wall on each side and in between them were spikes, trip wires, and mines. The next stop was Checkpoint Charlie, Konzerthaus (concert house) Berlin, a French church from 1709, and a German Catholic Church. The last stop was Bebel platz where the book burning happened right in front of the law school. The law school was where Albert Einstein went before coming to the US and as a Jewish scientist got out in time.

After the tour was over I grabbed dinner at Schlogl's which was pretty good. On my way back I stopped by Alexanderplatz where they were having an African festival.

The Berlin Wall

Friday, June 16th, 2017
Weather: High 73 / Low 59 rainy
Distance: 11,180 steps, 5.3 miles

I had a lazy morning and started my laundry and it began to rain. I then went to grab lunch, I wrote down what I had but not where I went apparently. It wasn’t that great anyways!

It was still raining as I left so I headed back to the apartment and didn’t venture back out until dinner. I went to Shisho Burger and thought it was good. They have communal style seating and I sat outside across from a family and this little girl that was at least tri lingual. I heard her speaking French, English, and was practicing Spanish. The family was very friendly and we had funny interactions and when it started to rain pretty hard and we all had to huddle on the umbrella together.

I then walked to a super divey bar, Gaststatte W. Prassnik, and had a Prassnik dunkels which was not my favorite I needed a different taste in my mouth and headed over to Kaschk, which is a craft beer bar and had an Aegir raspberry pale ale and was a way better experience!

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Berlin Beliefs

Getting Around: 7/10
The city offers both a U-Bahn underground subway system but also an S-Bahn which is an above ground for regional train. I walked a lot of the city and felt it was right on the cusp of almost being too big to do that. I was also not exploring huge parts of the city.

Things to do: 5/10
There were a lot of significant historical sites but I wasn't too interested in those. The only thing that I felt truly blew me away was the memorial.

Food: 5/10
Nothing stood out as being awful but it wasn't amazing either.

Overall: 4.25/10
Berlin has numerous historical sites like Check Point Charlie, The Berlin Wall, or Hitler's Bunker. But, there were all kind of a disappointment. Which if you think it about it makes sense. They aren't trying to make it a tourist destination so Hitler Bunker is below a dirt parking lock or Check Point Charlie is in the middle of an intersection. I would highly recommend the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe though.

While in Berlin there didn't seem to be a whole like to do and coming from the Munich even the beer gardens just didn't feel the same. As my tour guide shared the wall had only been down for about 27 years so the city as a whole was still trying to find it's identity. I only went to a couple restaurants but I wasn't blown away by those. I had a hard time figuring out whether this was just my experience because they showed Berlin in the show Killing Eve and it looked way cooler than what I experienced. You can see where that ranks against the other places I've gone here.

My Non-Obvious Berlin Recommendations:

I enjoyed my Sandeman tour as I did in most cities I went.
I'd recommend checking out the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

What To Bring

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What To Do

Berlin Facts
The Brandenburg is the goddess of peace and Napoleon stole it when they won the war of 1813. Germany eventually took it back and changed the name to the goddess of victory. They also changed the name of the square to Pariser Platz so they can have victory over France.

During World War II 70% of inner Berlin was destroyed.

By the end of the war Hitler was taking cocaine, morpheme, and crystal meth. He married his long time girlfriend 30 hours before his death and they burned his body so it couldn't be a war trophy. But, it takes about 48 hours to burn with gas and Hitler's body was never found.

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