Berlin, take two

If you remember, last time we went to Berlin it was freezing cold, and that put a damper on all the sightseeing and fun the city has to offer. We decided to give it a second chance and went to check it out last weekend. The weather was a million times better, but Berlin still ranks pretty low on my list.

We did a bike tour of the city- my favorite way to see the sights. Its a great way to get an overview of the city without getting tired, bored, grumpy, etc. The picture above is of a building near Checkpoint Charlie (the gate between East and West Germany). The window in the building was bricked up during the cold war because East Germans would try to escape by jumping out of windows or off of buildings near the border onto West German soil. Residents were relocated to apartments farther from the border to further prevent escaping. One family created a home made zip line to go from a window across the border, and successfully escaped.

This photo is of a long piece of the Berlin Wall that was not torn down. A fence was constructed AFTER the borders were opened, to prevent people from chipping pieces off and damaging the structure. To the right of the sidewalk you can see a line of bricks- that was where the other wall stood. There was not just one Berlin Wall, in many places there were two, with a no man's land in between.

This is the last standing sniper tower out of several around the wall. The tour guide said that typically young soldiers would be assigned to the towers- in theory they would have less connection with outsiders and be less hesitant to shoot escapees and their helpers.

Going back a bit further in history, this parking lot/ apartment complex is standing on top of where Hitler's bunker complex is/was. The bunker was completely sealed and covered shortly after WW2 to prevent it from becoming a shrine for extremists. The apartment buildings were built so that the West Berliners would have a good vantage point to see how nice they were, and be lured back to the East. I don't think it worked.

Lastly, we went to the Berlin Zoo on Sunday. This seal was posing for us... we also saw the famous polar bear Knut and a lot of other cool animals. The polar bears were very sleepy though, I think it is far too hot for them here.