Let me say of all the tours I have done, up to this point my tour of The Forbidden City in Beijing and the Cu Chi Tunnels tour in Vietnam have been my favorites. This bike tour of Berlin is now my favorite. This tour had such great sites, well explained history, the fun and exercise of the bikes and great great humor from our tour guide Alex.
We are pumped for our bike tour.
The tour meets in Alexander Platz right under the Berlin TV Tower.
To the bike tour!
St Mary's Church.
Alexander Platz!
Notice the cross that came out on the ball. Top right. The Eastern Germany officials didn't mean to have the cross show up in the reflection. Not exactly in line with communism.
St Hegwigs Church. Berlin's first Catholic church. And that in front of it is a modern day crane...
We are in Babelplatz where the Nazis stripped these shelves in this library and burned over 20,000 books in this square. Crazy being here.
The library.
Across the way is Humboldt University. Over 29 Nobel peace prize winners went here. Karl Marx and Albert Einstein are two of the famous students that went here.
It seems everywhere in Europe I've been to is under construction. what can you do?
The most beautiful square in Berlin, all under heavy construction. This square was 80% destroyed in WW2.
On the left is the German Church. Across from the French Church. It is two meters taller haha. very creative names here...
French church. Interesting to learn there was a time when France and Germany got along.
The statues on this church were put in rivers and lakes when Berlin was getting bombed to preserve them. They stuck them on this church later. Kinda cool.
Alex out tour guide gave us a great run down of leading up to the Iron Curtain. This was in preparation to going to Checkpoint Charlie. Alex did an awesome job. I love learning!
Where Checkpoint Charlie was, heading over.
Some display to commemorate the checkpoint.
What is this???
The Berlin Wall!!! No way! One of only 3 parts where it is still up. Crazy crazy.
I'm standing on the former death strip area by the way. They had 2 walls and in between barb wire, dogs, watch towers and other crazy stuff.
Lastly, see that little cobblestone path in front of me? That is the exact line the old wall was on. These paths are all over the city.
Through the Berlin Wall here are the remains of the former SS and Gestapo Headquarters.
Behind us at the wall is the former Nazi Airforce building. Allies didn't bomb it because it was a good marker for the center of the city. It was converted into the tax building since no one wanted such a dark historical building haha. Who says the Germans don't have a sense of humor.
The Wall!
Back to Potsdomer Platz where Jefe and I came last night.
Watch tower that was in the death strip. They shot other people trying to escape from East Germany to West Germany.
See that dark cement? Outline of Hitler's former bunker.
The Memorial for the murdered Jews. Done by a Jew from New York. Wanted a sense of an Anti Memorial where there is nothing specific to memorialize (cause how can one sufficiently memorialize the murder of over 6 million Jews). He wanted this to be abstract where each person can come away with his own meaning from the memorial to the murdered Jews.
As you will see in the pictures it is extremely general with no meaning.
Having been to the Holocaust Museum in DC twice, the holocaust museum in Jerusalem and having seen many many memorials to those who died, I have to say this is my favorite memorial to those murdered in the Holocaust. I think the no meaning except what you make is awesome.
As you can see there is no consistency or anything to induce any kind of specific meaning.
The Brandenburg Gate!
In front is the fan center where they broadcast the Euro Cup. Wish so bad Germany was in the final so I could watch it here. I will still watch the final here though.
Riding through Tiergarten Park. This is where the final battle of WW2 was fought. Beautiful park now.
Victory Column. The monument celebrating when Germany very first became a country.
Lunch was German style meatloaf.
The Reichstag!! The German Parliament Building. So much history here. It was one time lit on fire and that is really how Hitler convinced the German President to grant him Martial Law and all power.
As you can see we got real close with our tour guide Alex haha. This guy was sooooo hilarious. From Toronto originally.
Jeff struggling to get on his bike haha. The washing machine building behind him. Government workers including the German President live here. She has been in the news a lot lately.
Last stop was Museum Island. These buildings are nuts!
This is called the Old Museum.
And that wraps up the tour. Best tour ever! The bikes are just a blast. Berlin is fascinating! I highly recommend this company. Fat tire bike tours.
Last couple poses on Hamburg. Hamburg had a mind of his own but he was steady and true and got me through.
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