Berlin, Germany
May 24,
The Brandenburg Gate - The original part is on the right with the green roof with the remainder having been rebuilt.
Interesting canopy over the area in which we lunched. The clear potion is plexiglass.
A residual of the wall - West side.
Checkpoint Charlie
This bombed out church as never been rebuilt.
A remnant of the Nazi regime.
Our guide told us this iconic man (Ampel Mann in German) the street light was the only good thing that remains from East Berlin. He’s been copied elsewhere - in NYC?
The Regierungsviertel - one of many governmental buildings, most of which were rebuilt to look as they did before they were destroyed by allied bombs (Berlin 90% destroyed).
The Spree River which runs through the city.
Throughout the city this double row of cobblestones shows where the wall once was. Thankfully not much of the actual wall remains.
This is a huge memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe - stark and very moving.
The Reichstag - the parliamentary building - also rebuilt, including the dome which was redone in 2000. We didn’t have time but you can walk inside it.
Had the throw this one in.
All in al a great “quick” tour of a large city that is intentionally VERY open about its past. It would be interesting to spend more time there to fully understand what it all means. Berlin feels as if it is evolving.
Next up Copenhagen.
Berlin was interesting. The efforts to rebuild, which considering how much was destroyed (over 80% of old Berlin I think) and the relative recency of the wall coming down, means the output is this odd mix of preserving history. "Old" buildings looking like they belong in a Disney park, "new" buildings looking like they are a 1,000 years old (the cathedral), in the end just made it all feel disjointed to me. The memorial you photoed is another interesting place. The artist has never publicly explained what it represents. So many theories, many presume it to be tombs, but in fact it's unknown. The artist purposely wanted people to come to their own conclusions and leave with whatever version of memorial they take it to be. Its also been rife with issues and they are constantly having to work on it as it is settling and cracking in ways that were not planned. When I was there last year, many parts were blocked off and being restored.
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