Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great time ringing in 2010 and that your year is off to a great start! Although we had a quiet Christmas here in Frankfurt, we decided to live it up for New Year's... by heading to Berlin! The New Year's festivities held in Germany's capital are very reminiscent of New York... a million people or so crowd around the Brandenburg Gate, waiting for the countdown to midnight, followed by fireworks. It's a pretty exciting way to spend New Year's Eve, but I am getting just a bit ahead of myself....
On Wednesday, December 30th, we drove to Berlin, arriving that evening with just enough time to do a little shopping and grab some dinner before hitting the hay... we knew we would need to rest up for a full day on New Year's Eve! To kick off our visit to Berlin, we had heard there are free tours if you go to the Brandenburg Gate, so that was our first stop Thursday morning. After being assigned to a group, our tour guide gave us a brief history of Germany while also sharing about the sights around Pariser Platz, including the Brandenburg Gate, and the Hotel Adlon... this hotel has become infamous because it's where the late Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window. As for the striking Brandenburg Gate, it is the last surviving gate from Berlin's old city wall. Once the symbol of divided Deutschland, it now seems to stand for a reunited Germany brimming with potential.
The next stop on our tour was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial is considered controversial because it is only dedicated to the Jews killed in the Holocaust and no other people group targeted by Hitler. Regardless of who it was built for, as you wander through the maze of concrete pillars, it does cause you to pause and think about the atrocity... and then pray it never happens again. From the memorial, you also get a glimpse of the Reichstag, Germany's Parliament building.
Not far away is a seemingly insignificant parking lot... until you find out this is where Hitler's bunker was located. Though there are some remaining artifacts from the bunker still underground, the government will not open it to the public because they do not want to memorialize Hitler in any shape or form... can't say I blame them. Then it was on to the German Finance Ministry, which was once the Nazi Air Force building. It's the only Nazi building to survive the World War II bombardment of Berlin intact. It's a pretty imposing structure. During the Cold War, the Communists also used it as a government building. A lasting relic from this time period is a mural on one of its exterior walls... it shows everyone dancing and singing a patriotic song. I am guessing this was not an accurate portrayal of life in East Germany....
Around the corner is the defining icon of the Cold War... the Berlin Wall. There are only three remaining segments still standing. While the wall was once incredibly formidable, our tour guide joked that it is quite ironic there is now a fence "protecting" the wall from tourists! It was very interesting to see this tangible piece of history.
Another famous landmark of the Cold War is Checkpoint Charlie. I am sure it was once a very intimidating post, but today there is quite a festive air about the area. There was even a Christmas tree :) Soon we were on our way to Gendarmenmarket, which Berliners consider their city's finest square. It is home to the matching French and German Cathedrals, and it was also hosting Berlin's Christmas market while we were there.
The tour continued on, heading toward the Bebelplatz, where Humboldt University is located. Marx, Lenin, and the Grimm brothers studied there, and Einstein also taught there before he fled to America in 1932... and science is forever grateful he got out of Germany when he did! The square is where the Nazi book burning took place in 1933, and it is also home to St. Hedwig's Cathedral, which Frederick the Great built for the Catholics of Prussia, as well as the German State Opera, which was destroyed twice during World War II!
As the tour was winding down, we stopped at the "Neue Wache" memorial, which is dedicated to victims of war and tyranny. Inside the memorial is a solitary statue of a mother with her dying son. The occulus above of the statue allows the weather to affect the setting inside... somehow the snow on the statue makes it even more thought-provoking. After the tour, we decided to put our feet up for a while before heading out to celebrate New Year's Eve, and on the way back to our hotel we passed the TV Tower. This tower is a widely recognized sight in Berlin... it was built by the East German government in 1969 to show off their "technological prowess" to West Berlin. Funny thing is that they had to have the Swedish come help them built it!
After resting up a bit, we headed back towards the Brandenburg Gate for the New Year's Eve celebration. On the way there, we snuck a peek inside the Sony Center. Not too far away, most of the crowds could be found along the "Party Mile," which is staged between the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate. Drink and food vendors line the entire way, plus there are some carnival rides, including a huge ferris wheel. Our main objective was to head east so we could get as close to the Brandenburg Gate as possible. It took a little while to get there, but we were pretty happy with the spot where we ended up. The lighting around the gate was very neat, and there was a stage with a bunch of entertainers performing... they were all Europeans though because we didn't recognize any of them. Before we knew it, the countdown began and then... HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Following the fireworks, it was time for a New Year's brat :) On the way out, we snapped one more shot of the Brandenburg Gate. We had a lot of fun celebrating the start of 2010 down there, but we didn't stay too late because we wanted to do more sightseeing on New Year's Day.
On Friday morning, we headed east again... this time to the East Side Gallery, which is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing. It is almost 1 mile long and now displays murals painted by artists from around the world. It is routinely whitewashed so new murals can be painted from time to time. Here a few samples of the different murals there now....
After checking out the East Side Gallery, we made our way to the Berlin Cathedral, one of Germany's largest Protestant churches. Although it might look quite old, it was only built about 100 years ago. It is a very pretty church. We also climbed up to its dome, and even though we couldn't go outside because of the weather, we still had a pretty nice view of the city through the dome windows.
Just around the corner from the cathedral, many of Berlin's museums can be found. We decided to visit the Pergamon Museum. It gets its name from its main attraction... the reconstructed Altar of Pergamon, built by the Greeks in Asia Minor. It's pretty impressive. They have a lot more Hellenistic statues and architecture throughout the museum too.
Another wing of the museum is dedicated to antiquities from the Middle East. This collection includes reconstructions of the Market Gate of Miletus, which is from an ancient city in Turkey, and the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. The Ishtar Gate was built by King Nebuchadnezzer in 575 BC... interestingly, Saddam Hussein actually built a new Ishtar Gate in Iraq before he was removed from power. In fact, Daniel saw the new gate when he was on deployment there... as you can see, the two gates do look very similar.
Rounding out the museum's compilation of works are more Middle Eastern as well as Islamic pieces, including the facade from the Mshatta Palace in Jordan. All in all, it was a fascinating museum.
They allow tourists to visit the Reichstag's modern glass cupola, so we decided to check it out... little did we know that we would be waiting in the freezing cold for almost 2 hours to do so! Oh well... we survived :) We eventually made it to the top... the dome has a very futuristic look to it, and it provides a great view of Berlin as well as a look down into the legislative chamber.
While I am glad we had a chance to see the Reichstag, we were ready to call it a day after seeing its dome. After, we had some excellent sushi for dinner, which was a very nice way to end our trip to Berlin. We had a great time visiting Germany's capital, and we hope to go back someday... preferably when it's warmer! Saturday morning we were back on the road toward Frankfurt. The snow was coming down pretty heavily most of the way, which slowed us down quite a bit... after 8 hours of driving (when it normally takes 5), we were back home. At least the snow made for a pretty drive!
So now we are back to the grind here in Frankfurt... Daniel will be traveling a bunch for work this month, and between substituting gigs, I plan to be blogging a bunch myself... I have a lot of trips to catch up on! So please stay tuned for more posts in the very near future. Until then, God bless you in the new year!
