 |
| Glenn's Journal for 9-16-02 - Berlin Monday morning and our first full day in Berlin. We also felt more rested as we slept better in a quieter place. We arose around 9:00 am so we could catch the Insiders Bike Tour this morning at 10:15 am. We looked into Mike's Bike Tour (the same company we had so much fun with in Barcelona) but they stopped touring at the end of August. The Insiders Bike Tour was recommended and we were not disappointed. Kenny was our tour guide for the 4+ hour tour around the city and he provided a hearfelt review of the history of Germay over the past 700 years (especially the past 100 years). Stops along the tour included the Reichstag Dome atop the Reichstag (Government) building, Brandenburg Gate, remains of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the former "Death Strip", Pariser Platz, Potsdamer Platz, BebelPlatz, and Museum Island just to name a few. Again, I can't reiterate the amazing history of Berlin and the way it was presented to us. Fabulous!!! Just to go through a little history that we learned today including that the Reichstag government building was not occupied by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) including Hitler's reign. The amount of Soviets and Germans that died to protect the Reichstag in one battle mounted to over 17,000. Brandenburg gate was built to parade the military through upon each German victory but Napoleon was actually the first to do so. The many stories of attempts to cross the "Death Strip" and the Wall during the almost 30 years that the wall was up. Bebelplatz was the site of the Nazi book burning of over 20,000 books. Or that 6 of 7 buildings were destroyed during WWII and the amazing rebuilding process that is still taking place today. We completed our tour around 3:00 pm. We had also paid to keep the bikes all day so we took off towards the Zoologischer garten area before making our way back down the middle of town on the Strabe des 17 Juni. We made our way past the Reichstag and Brandenberg Gate and finally found our way back to the hostel a little after 6:00 pm. One of the places we did stop was a shop selling used clothes. Not a big deal except that the clothes were costumes from the local opera and were exquisite, especially for the price. If we didn't have so far to go I am sure that Erin would have bought a costume. Oh well, maybe next time. After spending the day on the bikes (our butts were sore) we dropped our day packs off in the room and headed downstairs to check e-mail. We were hoping for an e-mail from Paul and Kim to verify their stop in Berlin for tomorrow night. Sure enough we received their e-mail confirming their approximate arrival time. We also reserved a space at the same hostel that we are staying at so they would not have to worry about that. Next is dinner. The Prater Biergarten, a local German restaurant, was within walking distance and recommended. We had a traditional German meal before making our way back to happy hour at the bar attached to the hostel. We finally got to sleep around 2:00 am. |
| Here is me on a Bike Tour of Berlin. What an Amazing History!!! |