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Berlin, Germany
Monday, Aug 16, 2004

The Third Reich

David Murray
2007-02-21 18:48:57

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it had been covered in snow. The sun was out, and there were people queued up to go inside, we did consider lining up ourselves, but we decided to come back in the morning. Schoolboy error, as we were to find out. A quick beer and some more pork, and back to the hotel we went

After the normal hearty German breakfast, we hit the road. Illegally catching the trains of course, and we were there at the Reichstag. It took around 45 minutes to get to the doors, and once in, we were able to get to the top. Last time we were here, it was covered in snow, this time, the views were superb. We stayed up there for ages and took it all in. The sad thing was that if we had gone up the previous evening, we could have watched the sun go down.. Once down, we walked past the Brandenburg Gate, and not far from it, the locals are now building a huge memorial for the Jewish people. It will be amazing when its finished. We tried to find where Hitler's bunker was, but all we found was an old East German control tower. We pushed on and ended up at Potsdamer Platz. 3.5 years had passed, and now everything was built. The Red Box had disappeared, quite sad really. We found another cake store and then moved onto the Topography of Terror. In 1998, we didn't know it was called this. My mate at work had given me a load of stuff about this place so it was more realistic. Just around the corner was Checkpoint Charlie. Back in 98, there was the museum and the visitor shop. Now, both sides of the street were shops and they had rebuilt Checkpoint Charlie. It was hideous. We walked off in the direction of the Zoo, and found the festival, still in full swing, so we had more pork and beers. Time was coming to a close, so we decided to catch our train to the airport. Sometimes, you get a feeling inside that says, buy a ticket. I bought 2 tickets, and once on the train, was confronted by the dreaded inspectors. Luckily, for once, we had one. Overall, I still find Berlin one of my favourite cities. As much as it changes, it still has the same relaxed German feel.