Berlin - Germany

Had the most fantastic 3 days in Berlin, we wanted to stay longer but were not really organised and had already stayed an extra day. Our first impressions were that it was so clean compared to the Czech Republic and the people were really friendly. After initially getting lost due to not having the correct map in our GPS we managed to get around with a map and found the public transport really easy. It was a busy time learning about the past and present in Berlin. From simple facts like Berlin being built on reclaimed land meaning all of the building sites have to pump out water, you can see the big pipes in some of the photos. We found out about how Germany came about and the lead up to the World Wars. Much of the German history is dominated by Hitlers rule, however he was only in power for 11 years. We found it fascinating that Germany was basically land purchased by a wealthy family (the Brandenburg's) and later turned into a Kingdom. It was founded on tolerance and anyone could come to Germany if they didn't quite fit in where they came from ... a nation built on unbiblical principals that would later seek to destroy the Jewish population. Just before Hitler came to power German people were enduring many hardships which is how he managed to manipulate and deceive his way into power. Following the end of WWII the division of East and West Germany saw much more hardship. The 2 sections of the Berlin wall that we saw were very sobering. In one section there is a monument called the 'Topography of Terror' showing how the Secret Service treated people and the great division of Germany. Families were separated literally over night and every measure taken to make sure it remained this way. From our experience Berlin is a very humbled place due to its part in the war. The Holocaust monument takes up a whole city block and is designed that you make your own judgements about its significance whereas Hitlers bunker is literally a car park with no signs or indication that he even existed. There were so many interesting things that we saw such as the site of the Nazis book burnings, there is an underground monument with empty bookshelves and a plaque which reads "Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." Heinrich Heine. This quote was written by a Jewish German who had his books burnt. We also saw another monument of a mother holding her dying adult son, this is a tribute to all victims of war. On a more fun note we also had the building that Michael Jackson held his son over the balcony pointed out! Saw the Cathedral, Museum Island, Brandenburg gates, more Christmas markets (stunning), the list goes on ... Berlin is an amazing city that we hope to come back to and explore further, there is still so much to see and do, we only scratched the surface.