Weekend in Berlin - Part Two

Sunday dawned bright and clear and another tour of Berlin was on the agenda.  Although our Viking included tour duplicated many of the sights but we learned many new things.  Lothar was again the guide on our bus with our Group A of about 30 people.  We enjoyed it all and had so many personal stories of life in the East and the West since he was seven years old when the Berlin Wall was erected. We did go to some outlying parts of the city to where the Jewish community was living and there is currently a new synagogue.  Elva and I decided that since we will be experiencing the Ghetto sites in Poland on our extension we would skip the museum and so we did not go back to it after the tour ended.

When our bus reached the center of town again we stopped for a comfort break.  Elva and I took the opportunity to visit the new church that replaced the one that was destroyed but left as a reminder to have no more wars.  The new bell tower is closed for renovation and rests under a bright orange tarp and is nicknamed The Lipstick.  On the other side of the old church and tower is an octagonal black and dark windowed church nicknamed The Powder Box.   But when you enter the church the tiny windows are in reality the most brilliant Cologne Blue and the cross is resplendent against it!

We stopped at the Brandenburg Gate and could clearly see how closely the gate stands behind and to the side of the Reichstag. Lothar pointed out the spot where President Reagan made his famous 'tear down this wall" speech.  The platform actually had to be in the middle of the street in order to see the gate behind him and be in the West Berlin territory.  To his right was the building that was the heartbeat of the Eastern Government.

Elva and I both needed some 1 and 2  Euro coins for tipping so we each bought a cone of delicious gelato with a 20 Euro bill.  Mine was excellent lemon flavored.  Back at the hotel, now that we had had our dessert so to speak, we put our feet up for a while, ate our sandwiches, and took a few minutes to regroup before setting out once again on our own.

We simply crossed the street in front of our hotel and in the Gendarmenmrkt there was a demonstration being held.  The square is named because there was a time when some 20% of Berliners were French.  The Gendarmes were based in this square.  None were needed today because this was a celebration of 60 years of  the EU.  Children and adults were waving small flags and speeches were greeted with cheers.

You know from before that the center of the square is the Konzerthaus and either side has the matching German and French churches.  The Deutsch Dom is a museum exhibition about the architecture of the city of Berlin.  It was quite interesting as we followed the winding staircase down the ground floor.  Paper and wooden models were on the top floor, then pictures, lots of pictures. I liked peeking out the window to take pictures of the back of statues with lightening rods adding extra support, and the ground below.

As we walked through the city on our way to dinner, mostly in search of where Elva had the delicious soup the other night I enjoyed taking a few Farewell Photos of Berlin as we are leaving in the morning.

 I do like to take photos of the reflections of the old in the facades of the new.

We didn't find the soup kitchen, as they are called, and many places were closed.  Berlin is a very religious city and so many places close early on Sunday if they are even open at all.  We joined the throngs at the McDonald's by Checkpoint Charlie and then headed back to the Hilton. 

It didn't take long to organize for the early putting out of our luggage tomorrow morning.  At last we head to the Viking Beyla!