Berlin, Germany

This week my daughters had what they call Fall Vacation here in The Netherlands. Years ago my husband and I went to Berlin, Germany, with two friends, and we thought it would be nice to go back there for a couple of days, because it's a great city with good vibes. 

Here are some highlights

Brandenburger Tor

Approaching from the west

Eastside, at the start of Unter den Linden

The quadriga on the Brandenburger Tor (quadriga being Latin for a four horse chariot)

Neues Museum

My nine year old daughter is bit into Ancient Egypt, so we had to visit the Neues Museum, of course. Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to takes pictures of their most beautiful piece: the bust of Nefertiti. Nonetheless: it was great! Really something I would recommend to anyone who's visiting Berlin.  

My favorite piece was Nefertiti, but of course this mummy was the favorite piece of my daughters. To see a real mummy was on their wish list for quite a while. They only were a little, just a little bit disappointed they couldn't see its real face :-) .

Checkpoint Charlie and The Berlin Wall

When I was young, the wall was still there and we grew up with the wall as a fact, not really knowing the how and why as a child. I can still remember the news flash that told about the fall of the wall, the images of people climbing over it, the happiness. Maybe that's why I'm still so impressed every time I'm in Berlin, thinking about something like a wall to prevent people fleeing from east to west could exist. 

 

  

Russian Soldier facing the West side (on the other side of the board sits an American soldier facing the east side)

 

East Side Gallery, the longest remaining piece of wall (1,3 km). Throughout the city are pieces of wall to find everywhere, but only for a couple of meters. 

Peace

West Side

Where the wall was teared down you can follow these cobble stones as a ribbon throughout the city

Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche

This in WWII heavy bombed church is kept in its miserable state as a reminder to us all.

 

 Damaged Ceiling

The plaque before the statue says: 

Forgive us our sins like we forgive those who sin against us

Random Pics

Old and New (Fernseh Turm and St Mary's Church)

Bears are the symbol of Berlin

Subway Station

Fernseh Turm at Alexander Platz

Trabant Cars from East Berlin, made of a mix of plastic and old shirts, are real collector's items

Man made mural art

Natural mural art