After Switzerland, we headed north to Germany. We decided to go straight to Berlin to meet up with MC (canadian that we met in Venice). We booked a train in the morning with just one stop on the way and should've been about 9 hours all together. About 2 hours into the trip, we found out someone jumped infront of a train 10km down the track from us which meant all northbound trains were cancelled or delayed at least 2 or 3 hours. We sat at that train station for just over 2 and a half hours before we could head northbound. There were no announcements or anyone to help us to find out how to get to Berlin, except two people at an information desk. I appreciate that this situation probably doesn't happen that often, but a bit of common sense and use of the speakers in the station, could have helped. While we waited in the cue, we met a women who was desperately trying to get home to berlin in time to tuck her kids into bed. If anyone was going to find a way, it would have been her. We stuck with her for the rest of the trip, and ended up arriving in Berlin about 5 hours later than planned, but made it there nonetheless. We met up with MC and had some food and some drinks, played a bit of kings cup, then headed to bed around 2ish.
The next day we went to the Sandemans free tour that met outside the Starbucks infront of Brandenburg Gate. Our tour guide was Rob, he was about as British as I t gets. Well dressed, educated and a posh accent to boot.We started next to the most expensive hotel in berlin. This hotel is atually the one where michael jackson is pictured hanging his baby over the ledge. I had no idea that happened in Berlin. He explained to us a little bit about Pariser Platz (paris square) and then we headed down to the holocaust memorial. When this memorial was created, the artist wanted people to come to their own conclusions about what it was supposed to look like. To me, it looks like rows and rows of coffins, but everyone interprets it differently. Matt and I later went back here to go into the museum. This museum is so moving because it starts with the history of the war and holocaust then moves on to individuals and families telling their stories. A lot of this was through letters or from the very few people that actually made it out alive. It is very moving and definitely worth going to.
Back on the tour with Rob, we then walked to the parking lot above Hitlers bunker. There is no way of actually going into the bunker, the closest you get to it, is the carpark. They have done It this way, so it doesn't turn into a Hitler shrine. Rob explained a little bit of hitler history, which included that when Hitler knew the war was over and he would have been killed, he decided to get married and then 30 minutes later for his honeymoon, commit suicide.
Moving on, we walked to the Topography of Terror. Infront of this is actually part of whats left of the Berlin wall. Wherever the Berlin wall once was, know there is double bricks on the ground. The wall is pretty muh completely destroyed. He showed us a picture of what the wall used to look like, it had loads of barbed wire, and then a concrete wall. If you managed to cross the barbed wire however, you probably would have been shot. Matt and I later came back and went into the Topography of terror museum. It has lots of pictures and stories about the war and the holocaust in detail.
Matt and I squeezed in some time for the local food as well. Germany is known for its sausage, so we tried some. Matt got currywurst which is a sliced sausage covered in a spicy tomato sauce with curry seasonings and powder on top. Its delicious, definitely try it!
We continued into the big square that had the opera house which had been destroyed 4 times and Hitler even ordered them to rebuild it during the war. It was obviously destroyed again shortly after. This square is the place where the library was broken into and any piece of literature written by someone who was jewish, was burned. There is a glass square on the ground with empty book shelves as a memorial to that night.The tour was about 3 hours all together and included a lot more than what i've mentioned but those parts were my favorite. We decided to book another tour through them to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The next day we went here with a guide named Seb. This camp was made as a satellite camp with the headquarters here for most of the other camps. There is not much of it left today but what is there is eery and worth seeing. Next to the camp, is now a functioning police school. The reason the old headquarters are used for current cops, is so everyday they see what can happen when governments Abuse power. Most of the barracks are gone now, but the special prison still stands. There was a prison within the camp to separate people that the Nazi's didn't want speaking to the others. One of these people was someone who try to set off a bomb to kill hitler. Hitler left the building 15 minutes early though, and was lucky enough to miss it. There were a lot of different attempts to kill hitler though, this was just one of them. We walked around the whole camp, including the gas chambers. These were bombed so not much was left, but was is there paints a clear picture.
Berlin is a very interesting place to go and see. There is so much history here and I think in order to not repeat history, we need to be educated on the horrific crimes that were committed during this time. There are still things like this happening in the world and I dont think turning a blind eye and ignoring history will help to change that.
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