Category: Berlin

The weather today was probably the worst weather I have seen during my time in Europe. Throughout the day it was around 65 degrees Fahrenheit with a cloudy sky and light rain.

But the weather didn’t stop me. Since I basically saw all the major landmarks yesterday, I spent the day seeing a few landmarks that weren’t on the tour.

My first stop of the day was the Berlin Zoo. For months I have been hearing and reading about Knut, the new star of the zoo. Knut is a polar bear that was born in captivity at the zoo on December 5, 2006, and later rejected by his mother. He became known world-wide when a couple animal activists called for the zoo to let the bear die rather than raise it as a domestic pet.

The zoo didn’t let that happen. Instead they used some well-played PR to introduce Knut to the world. It was hard to convince the public that the bear must die when there is footage on all the news channels of him running around being cute.

Knut was basically the only thing that interested me at the zoo. I had heard so much about this bear that I wanted to see him for myself while I was in the area.

The weather was still crappy when I left the zoo so I headed down to Unter den Linden, Berlin’s “Main Street,” to do some shopping.

Several credit card swipes later, I was headed back to the hostel with all my gift shopping for friends and family successfully completed.

I will probably go to bed early since I am setting my alarm for 5 a.m. tomorrow. My flight doesn’t leave until 10 a.m., but I’m not exactly sure how to get there so I don’t want to chance it.

Today I took an eight-hour walking tour around the city. What a day!

It started at 7:30 a.m. when I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. My alarm was set for 8 a.m., but I got up thinking that I might be able to find a place to get some Frühstuck (breakfast).

Scratch that idea. I forgot that it was Sunday. Apparently Sunday is the day when Berliners don’t open their businesses. So I instead just enjoyed a nice morning walk through the ghost-town-like streets of East Berlin.

The walk wasn’t that bad besides the fact that I couldn’t find any food along the way. During the entirety of the walk, I could see the Fernsehturm (TV tower) looming over the neighborhood. Being my first full day in Berlin, I found it interesting to be able to see a relic of the Soviet era looming over the city. This wasn’t the only Soviet relic that is still visible in East Berlin as I would find out later.

My tour started at 10:30 a.m. The tour guide picked us up at the front entrance of the hostel. This was the number one reason I chose this particular walking tour. The fact that I didn’t have to walk but only 5 steps out the front door to join up with a tour was great.

The tour itself was definitely worth the money. Our guide was very knowledgeable about Berlin and the world politics that has shaped the history of the city. Not only could he answer any of our questions, but he also led us to all the major landmarks in the city.

During the day we saw the Jewish district, several embassies (including the spaceship-like Czech Republic embassy), the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, a remaining piece of the Berlin Wall, the site of Hitler’s bunker (where he comitted suicide in 1945), Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Cathedral just to name a few.

After the tour, I went up to the top of the Fernsehturm for a look at the city. It was neat to be able to see the city, but it was not worth 8.50 Euros. From atop the tower, it was very apparent what part of the city was East Berlin just because of the architecture.

It’s been nearly two decades since the wall opened, but so much of the Communist block-style architechure still exists most likely because it is literally everywhere. After WWII, the Soviets rebuilt the east side of the city so they put up ugly, prefabricated buildings all over the place.

In the end, the tour was a great way to get the absolute most out of the day. When in Berlin, I highly recommend taking one of Brewer’s Berlin Tours.