Sightseeing in Berlin

Saturday 6th August 2016

The weather is looking quite overcast this morning and after our muesli in our room, we ventured out at a bit after 9 am with the thought of walking to many of the attractions, and taking a boat ride along the Spree River to see more of the city from the water.

All of the boat operators are late starters, so rather than wait around for 10.15 am, for the earliest start on the cruise we liked the look of, we decided instead to walk to the Brandenberg Gate.

Our path took us back through the museum district and onto Unter den Linden, a major avenue that runs all the way to the Brandenburg Gate. The distance is a bit over 2 km. The first prominent building we came across was the Deutsches Historisches Museum, an old building with a modern touch. Apparently it has an excellent record of German history exhibited inside.

Next we came to a more sombre place, The Neue Wache, built in 1816 to 1818, The New Guardhouse, was built to house the Royal Guard in the reign of King Frederick William 111. It was redesigned in 1931 used as a memorial for those fell in WW1. It now stands as a Memorial to all of those who fell in war, and suffered as result of persecution and tyranny of the Totalitarian dictatorship.

Inside was very stark

Continuing along Unter den Linden we came to the Humbolt University. It is one of Berlin's oldest universities and was founded in 1810 as Berlin University. It occupies the former Palace of Prince Henry of Prussia, a truly impressive campus.

This is only a very small part of it.

Eventually we were close to the Brandenburg Gate and the level of tourist activity increased dramatically.

And of course, there was the Brandenburg Gate, seen below from the Eastern side. It was originally commissioned as the gateway to Unter den Linden (Boulevard of Linden Trees), which led down to City Palace of the the Prussian Monarchs. It became inaccessible with the building of the Berlin Wall right next to it.

We now needed to make a decision on where to go next and opted for Potsdamer Platz, another km or so South.

Along the way we came to the Holocaust Memorial, about half way to Potsdamer Platz. It is an imposing site covering 4.7 acres of these concrete slabs, all in rows and of varying heights, arranged in rows down a slope. The museum and information centre is underground. There was a long line up, and entry was very slow due to extensive security checks so we moved on.

At Potsdamer Platz it was time for coffee. It is a huge square filled with shiny new buildings and lots of shops. It is a major road intersection and railway station. Anyway, the coffee was good, surprisingly good.

Where to now ? We saw a sign to Checkpoint Charlie, only another 1.5km, so why not. We were enjoying the walk and the temperature is a pleasant 18C, so we continued on.

Just leaving Potsdamer Platz we noticed people looking at the ground and taking photos of the footpath. It turned out they have marked a line with pavers which depict when the wall was located before it was torn down.

Onwards to Checkpoint Charlie was another decent walk. We walked past the  Mall of Berlin and resisted going in.

We walked past the Ministry of Finance, and Memorial to the Uprising of 1953, and finally arrived at Check Point Charlie.

On the Western Side of the Checkpoint you could easily get a clear photo

However, on the Eastern side it was all about photo opportunities

There was a small exhibition area near the checkpoint that we wandered through, and there were many stories of individuals who tried to escape to the West, some successfully, others not. Also there was a small section of the wall on display providing some context on it's size and the difficulty of getting over it.

The round "pipe" section on the wall was designed to stop people getting a handgrip so the could pull themselves over the wall.

Now we have only been in Berlin for a day and a half, but it is already clear that Berlin is a City of Museums. We have seen more museums here already than we have ever seen in other cities, so we should really not have been surprised to discover that they also have a Currywurst Museum (surely that is a first).

The challenge now is to find our way back to our hotel, we have happily followed signs to all the attractions and now we need to get back. It seems relatively simple so we head off in a direction that will get us back onto Unter den Linden and from there we will be fine.

We saw an impressive building along the way and decided to take a small detour, which took us to one of the nicest squares in Berlin. It was Gendarmenmarkt and consisted of a large square with a Concert Hall on one side, a French Church at one end and a German Church at the other. A Stature of a famous German Poet was in the centre of the square.

French Church, where a wedding is taking place

Concert hall

The German Church

Back on the trail to our hotel, we managed to get back onto Unter den Linden and eventually back to the vicinity of our hotel. We were starving, so had lunch nearby and we then ready for our afternoon adventure, a boat trip on the River Spree.

Our preferred cruise operator has a boat leaving at 2.45pm (it is now 2.30pm), so we sign up for a 2.5 hr cruise for euro 24.50 each. The boat is not crowded with the top deck only half full. 

The crew cast off on time and we head up river past the cathedral on our right. Many of the older buildings are right on the rivers edge.

Soon we are approaching a lock, which will lift us about 1.5 m.

Just after the lock, was a very low bridge we had to go under. The Captain was able to reduce the height of his cabin to allow us to get under. We only had about 150mm head height sitting on the top deck.

The boat in front of us was quite a bit lower than us (only single level)

On this leg of the trip the commentary concentrated on the West side of the river, and it was pretty much a constant story of old communist regime buildings having been renovated and now  put to good use.

Now the Dutch Embassy

We soon entered East harbour, which was an important trade port for East Germany when the City was divided. It is now being transformed into a recreation area.

Molecule Man, a large aluminium sculpture in the river

There is even a swimming pool built in the river

The Oberbaum Bridge marked the end of our upstream journey

Having turned around at the bridge, focus is now on the eastern side of the river. The longest standing section of the Berlin Wall that was left as a reminder runs along this bank from the bridge up past the Mercedes Benz Area. It is now covered in graffiti.

On the return trip, commentary focussed on the Western side of the river. There were lots of new buildings where architects had a field day.

We headed back under the low bridge, through the lock and past our departure point and toward the city centre.

The weather was starting to look a bit concerning, and then it started to rain heavily. We all rushed below and watched the next 15 minutes of the cruise from the lower deck under cover

Fortunately, the rain cleared and we spent most of the return journey to our base back up on the top deck. 

The landscape is dominated by grand new buildings, with lots of glass,

Berlin Railway Station

Friedrichstrassse Railway Station was the major crossing point from East to West during the Cold War

Reichstag Building

We wound away back down the river and Museum Island came into sight, signalling we were nearing the end of our trip.

It was a great cruise. I can't remember how many bridges we went under or how many important buildings we saw, but there was so much to see and I couldn't think of a better way to see it all.

By my calculations we have walked around 14 km today and been up and down the river taking in most of the important sights of berlin in one day.

I am sure we will sleep well tonight.