Today, we played tourist in my own hometown and showed the kids some historic and important sights belonging to Germany´s capital. We started our tour off by meeting my mom in the city center at the Traenenpalast (Palace of Tears). The Traenenpalast is the Berlin colloquialism for the former border crossing at Berlin Friedrichstrasse station, where East Germans said goodbye to visitors going back to West Germany (source: Wikipedia). Today, it is a museum and brings back memories to those who remember. I was only 8 years old when the wall came down but I vividly remember the event and my mom remembers shedding lots of tears at the Traenenpalast when she hugged her cousins and other relatives from West Germany goodbye.
The kids listened to stories told about those suitcases and what they contained. Some of their owners never returned to East Germany.
Despite many East Germans escaping the country thru the Hungarian border in August 1989 after finding out about the faking of election results in the spring, a strained East German republic celebrated its 40th anniversary on October 7th, 1989. Only a month later, on November 9th, 1989, a few sections of the Berlin Wall (built August 13, 1961) mistakenly were opened and thousands of people crossed freely into West Berlin that night, which led to the unification in October 1990. Here, one could listen to the historic TV announcement proclaiming that East Germany had opened its borders to everyone.
After the museum, we went to nearby Checkpoint Charlie, the best known border-crossing point and allied checkpoint (today a magnet for tourists).
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| Crack thru the wall in 1990 |
A piece of the Berlin Wall next to the Checkpoint. And a photograph of a Mauerspecht, a person chipping away at the Berlin Wall in 1990.
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| At a train station in Berlin; famous quotes about the Berlin Wall |
From there, we made our way to Potsdamer Platz, a bustling hub for shopping, business and sightseeing. Using the fastest elevator in Europe, we made it to the panorama deck within 24 seconds and enjoyed a spectacular but albeit cold view over Berlin.
An old East German car: Trabant:
Legoland near Potsdamer Platz:
From Potsdamer Platz we took the double-decker to Zoologischer Garten, where we passed the Emperor Wilhelm II Memorial Church and the "Elefantentor", the magnificent entrance to the zoo.
On a plaza next to the church, Amelia tried for the first time this bungee trampoline and loved it.
Also, my children ate almost every day one of these freshly-baked pretzels. They liked the different foods in Germany and what is considered fast food there.
While it rained a bit, we took shelter in the biggest department store in Europe: KaDeWe. The kids were mesmerized with their toy section:
Afterwards, we took another bus that drove along many sights in Berlin (all the embassies, the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate,etc) such as Berlin's Victory Column and the Castle of Bellevue (where Germany's president, Joachim Gauck, lives).
We exited the bus at the Reichstag building, the second most visited attraction in Germany. This building houses the parliament and offices but is mostly known for its huge glass dome on the roof that is open to the public. Due to extra security and time restraints, we decided not to go up to the glass dome this year.
Just a stone's throw from there is the most known landmark in Germany - Brandenburg Gate. It is also one of the most important monuments- a symbol of peace and a symbol of a divided city during the Cold War.
Right next to the Gate is the U.S. embassy:
And Mickey Mouse was there too:
We completed our long day by meeting Opa and headed back to Alexanderplatz, the former East German city center and location of the famous TV tower and the Urania Worldtime Clock (lots of people meet here).
Berlin also has one of the best transport infrastructures in the World and one of the city's major advantages is its exceptionally broad and state-of-the-art system of modern transportation. Thus, using public transportation is both quick and comfortable and the only way my kids wanted to see the city. From subways to above ground trains to Regional Express trains, ferries and lots of buses, Amelia and Elliot could not get enough of using public transportation.
Even though I know the ins and outs and all the sights in Berlin, this day still was very interesting and brought back memories from my childhood. It felt good to show my children where I grew up and what my hometown has to offer. They are still young and might not remember much but starting to educate them about their heritage and show them different cultures can't begin early enough. I hope we will have many more of these Berlin sightseeing trips in our future.
