Walker Hanlon's Travel Journals

Berlin, Germany

Berlin is a classic travel destination that we just couldn't pass up. Of course, we had to do it a little bit different than the average traveler, so instead of booking a hostel or hotel, we decided to camp. On a boat. Right next to the remains of the Berlin Wall. It was cool. Here's me modeling the tent, and yes, that is the Berlin wall just behind us. The boat is an old ferry called the Eastern Comfort.

The best part of camping on the boat, other than that it cost about 20 bucks a night, was that we had a great deck for sunset dinners and a spectacular view of the river.

OUr first day in the city, we started at Alexanderplatz, an old central plaza that had become a communist showcase during the East Germany days. Near the plaza is the giant TV antenna that towers over the city.

We visited the DDR museum, documenting life in the communist East Germany during the cold war. It was a great introduction to the communist past that I'm sure we will see more of in Eastern Europe. We also visited the Berlin Dom, a historic and very interesting church. Like much of Berlin, it was badly damaged at the end of WWII, but it has been wonderfully restored.

We climbed the Dom for some great views of the city. Too bad we had cloudy weather.

I've never seen a city with as many great museums as Berlin. With so little time we decided to pick a couple that sounded particularly interesting to hit during our short stay. We visited the outdoor museum located in the remains of Hitler's Gestapo headquarters to learn about the role of the secret police in the Third Reich and in the Holocaust. We also visited the National History Museum to learn a little bit more about Germany's early history. This was the most amazing medieval museum I've seen, with an incredible set of artifacts. It made me realize that I know a lot about Germany after about 1900, but almost nothing before. We started our second day by visiting the Jewish Memorial, composed of an undulating field full of tall coffin shaped blocks. Walking through the memorial was supposed to be disconcerting. We found it interesting but I didn't think it was very effective because they had accidentally created an amazing playground and anyone under the age of 15 couldn't seem to resist the urge to run across the tops of the blocks. I can't blame them, as a kid I would have found it to be a great playground.

In the afternoon we finally got a sunny stretch of weather, and after a long wait in line we made it into the Reichstag. This is the house of the German parliament, the seat of government. It is a beautiful and imposing historic building with an interesting history. After WWI this was the seat of Germany's weak democracy. A fire in the building in 1933 allowed Hitler to blame his communist opponents and seize power in the country. However, Hitler's sham parliament never sat in the building. It was heavily damaged at the end of WWII but was incorporated into West Germany. When the Berlin wall was built, it ran right behind the building. The building was finally restored completely in the 1990's with the completing of its glass dome, enclosing a giant funnel-shaped mirror arrangement. This is some truly amazing architecture, which was designed by a Brit, which I find a bit ironic.

The mirrors looking down from near the top of the dome. The parliment meets just below the point.

The mirrors from below.

Views from the roof and of the dome.

We also had a great dinner with our German friend Franzie our last night in Berlin. Its always great to see a familiar face when traveling. The next morning we set off for a new country, Prague, Czech Republic.