Around Berlin in 7 hours

What a mammoth, exhilarating and fabulous day it's been! Having discovered I had to change dorm rooms, I got up reasonably early - 8ish and packed up my stuff and headed on downstairs to await my tour. I decided to go on a Brewer's Walking Tour today to take in all the sights, be social and generally get a feel for Berlin. I'm so glad I did. This tour company (there's at least 10 similar companies offering spookily similar tours) picks up from the hostel, and as such there were at least 8 people from my hostel on this tour. 2 Aussie couples - one from Melb, and one couple from Adelaide. There were 3 other random people from Canada.

The tour guide was a lanky fella from Wales and it was clear that his style was relaxed, studenty but seriously knowldegeable! We walked the length and breadth of predominantly what was East Berlin, which is the district I am staying in, and we took in sites including:

Old Jewish Quarter including plaques of murdered Jews in front of their old houses

Neue Judisch Synagogue - absolutely amazing! On Oranienberger Strasse where the Night of Broken Glass (Kristalnacht) was. I remembered the famous story where a German police officer saved this Synagogue from being pillaged on that night.

Alexanderplatz TV tower, a symbol of East Berlin... tall like a giant floating discoball amongst a sea of communist brown

Parisier Platz where the Brandenberg Gate stands watch. It is currently covered in Coke adverts - so inappropriate! Also interesting for it's resemblance to the Champs Elysee (like I know what that actually looks like!... yet) It was also interesting for its new American Embassy Development and the DB bank wacky building.

The Reichstag. For me more than any other this was THE German landmark I wanted to see. It was the Weimar Republic parliament building that got burned down and Hitler used it as an excuse to pass his Emergency Decree, thus enabling him full dictatorial power to pass whatever the hell crazy rules he liked. I had seen this building in so many photos, that for me this was more Germany than the Brandenberger Gate. I wasn't prepared for how big it is. I will go back in the next day or two to check out the inside and definitely go to the top to get the high view of Berlin.

We got to see the current (but ridiculously secured) US embassy, the old Soviet current Russian embassy(complete with embossed hammer and sickle insignia) and the strange looking titanic-like UK embassy. Also the tree lined (with numbered trees) Unter Den Linden (Boulevarde of Lime Trees).

We stood on the top of Hitlers Bunker - worth a whole entry in its own right - now a carpark, and I learned SO much about particularly post WWII german history. I realised how little i knew about the DDR and the GDR. We saw the almost entirely fake 'disney style' Checkpoint Charlie, and saw what remains of the outer west wall of the Berlin Wall.

Also the Museum (The old Museum) where Hitler did so many rallies, the plaza where most bookburning happened, Humbolt Uni (with proud rainbow flag prevailing) and again I went to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe.

It was an amazing day. Ive chatted lots to the Melbourne couple and found we have much in common. The fella, Kev and I even lived 10 houses away on Beaconsfield Pde at the same time!! Freaky.
They are lovely. May go out with them tonight.

So much to write. I took a bucketload of pics and am feeling sore footed, but happy. Content in fact. And totally sun burned. What did mum teach me about sunscreen!! Anita needs to listen to that advice cause now I look like a lobster!

Hope everyone is well. I love getting the comments on here... it makes the space between us not seem so vast. Hope you're enjoying the updates.
xxxx