Time in Berlin

Wednesday September 11

I hated to leave Rothenburg.  It's such a picturesque little village, with so much to see and tempting things to buy, but Berlin calls to us.

We are early risers and fast breakfast eaters, on the road  by 8:15am.  The fields and pastures are green, green so you know they must get a lot of rain here.  It's lush with farmland and deep forests.  The weather was yucky, with rain most of the way and cooler temperatures.  The weather didn't seem to bother some drivers.  They thought they were on the Auto-baun.  Some sped by us so fast it made our heads spin!  We made it to Berlin by about 2 pm and found our hotel (with much help from Stella, our GPS).  Our hotel here for three days is really an apartment.  Really nice with a small kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath of course.

Much more room than we would have had in a hotel for about the same price, and it has a nice view too.  It is in Berlin Mitte, the heart of the old city.  We settled in and went in search of lunch.  We found a great Vietnamese place, the food was delicious!  Still raining, but we're off to scout out the neighborhood.  Fun window shopping.  We are in a funky designer area.  There are lots of clothing, accessories and trinket stores.

Thursday September 12

After a breakfast of croissants, juice and coffee we made our plans for the hop on, hop off bus.  We walked to where we thought we could join the Berlin City Tour bus.  After a long wait we finally realized we were waiting in the wrong place.  When we found the right place, we hopped on.
Berlin is a very new, modern city because three fourths of it was destroyed in WWII.   There is so much construction even today, because everything changed after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and reunification in 1990.
The 1207 foot TV tower is a symbol of the new Berlin.

A few old buildings remain and they kept some just as they were as a remembrance of the ravages of war.

The Reichstag-Seat of German government now and before the war.

The President's residence.

Frederick the great.  King of Prussa 1740 to 1786.

This one is a new church being built around what was left of the original one.

This one is a shell of a church which was bombed and left as it was.

There are monuments everywhere to those who died before and during WWII.

The Brandenberg Gate is very impressive, as is the Tower of Victory.

There are parts of the Berlin Wall remaining as well as Checkpoint Charlie.

There is even a relatively new discovery (1948) of the original wall that surrounded the city.

There is a huge population of young people in Berlin.  It is truly a lively,  thriving Capitol.