This tour started out the front of the Reichstag government building, built in the late 1800s and was the sight of Nazi propaganda during the lead up to WWII. This building was heavily bombed during the war and was reconstructed to its current state and is still used as the main parliament building today.
It was absolutely fascinating seeing the former sight of Hitler's bunker and final days of his life. The bunker was destroyed many years ago by the government, but you basically stand on top of the land where it was. Plans on a board nearby give an excellent depiction of the size of this area and detail of the rooms.
The Holocaust memorial was a somber place to visit and an amazing place to reflect on the persecution of the 6 million Jews during this time, as well as the many gypsies and homosexuals killed at Hitler's command. The German people and government have gone a long way to repairing the damage and are now very much a proud and unified country in the main.
Our next stop of note was the Brandenburg Gate. Surprisingly, this iconic Berlin monument was minimally damaged in the war and is an important part of Berlin's history. At the beginning of the Cold War straight after WWII, this opulent toll gate lay between the sectors dividing the Russian controlled East Berlin from the 3 sectors in West Berlin controlled by America, France and Great Britain.
One of our final stops on this very in-depth tour, took us to the Topograph of Terror area. This place was built specifically in grey underwhelming tones, to actively discourage people from forgetting the atrocities of the time.
We headed off on our own after the tour and took our time cruising around. The Bugatti Veyron shop was definitely a little distracting and got us wondering about new higher paying careers. Just a cheeky $2 mill required for the fastest production car getting up around the 400km/hour. Reasonably fast!
The earlier tour was so great that we felt we could have a bit of a shop without feeling like we would miss out on something important. So it was off to have a look around and find things to fit our limited spaced backpacks.
Eyes pealed and meandering along, we spotted the Berlin Food Lounge in a good looking spot. Surprise, surprise we found ourselves eating wurst again, but this time it was local specialty called currywurst. It is a bratwurst that is cut in sections, then covered with a tangy sauce and loads of curry powder sprinkled on top. The country seems to use a lot of potatoes with their main meals, so it was nice to have a potato salad with our currywurst. Delicious and something that we recommend people to try, if the opportunity arises.
After lunch we headed to the popular Alexanderplatz shopping area. We seemed to be in the mood for it and had quite a few successes! Space is really becoming a big issue for us now, but we have some ideas that we might investigate. Speaking of space, our limited array of clothes needed washing desperately, so heading back to the hotel earlier was imperative.
Another couple from our group were heading out at the same time, so going on the journey together was a good idea. Unfortunately, the directions from the hotel were very sketchy and we ended up going about 6 bus stops too many! It was so ridiculously far regardless, but this made the situation very tight for time. We managed to spot the waschsalon returning from the other direction and got out just near a street where we suspect many good times are had. See picture below - wink, wink, nudge, nudge!
Thankfully we managed to get back with 30 minutes to spare for quick showers and getting ready for our Ampelmann theme party. Ampelmann is the stop and go walking figurine that was synonymous with the East German traffic signals. He is quite different to regular signs and has become a highly recognised character of the area.
Clearly a few people from the group had found some good Ampelmann souvenirs and so off to dinner it was. We were all dropped off at a popular restaurant area and given an hour, before starting the pub crawl. This was actually an optional tour, but everyone was keen to go out and dance up a storm.
As you can tell from the pics below, we clearly had a fun night going to two bars and two nightclubs. The second club had seven dance floors, so we definitely had our needs met. MANY good times!
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