Brandenburg Gate and area

 One of our stops was the Brandenburg Gate. The gate is the monumental entry to the boulevard of linden trees which formerly led directly to the city palace of the Prussian monarchs. After the 1806 Prussians were defeated, Napoleon was the first to use the Brandenburg Gate for a triumphal procession and took its Quadriga to Paris. Reagan stood in front of the gate and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall..."

A short walk down the street leads to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The 5 acre site makes for a very powerful visual monument.

There are 2700 concrete slabs or stelae. According to the architect's project text, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.

The ground is uneven inside the area and all the slabs have different angles

 

It does produce a strange feeling as you are walking through the stones.

 

And yes - there is a dunkin donuts right by the Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin Bears

 The bear is the symbol of Berlin. We had a good time with a contest where everyone tried to be the first to spot a new bear.

 Once we all were yelling "Bear!" throughout the city - Mom decided the game was over.

 I think Julia was winning with about 25 but David, Brian and I were not far behind.

 

Businesses sponsor each bear and decorate it with a theme or their brand.

Bears also turned out to be the favorite souvenir.

Visit to the Reichstag

One of the best sites we enjoyed in Berlin was the Reichstag or parliament building. The dedication Dem deutschen Volke, meaning To the German people, can be seen on the architrave.

Originally designed after the unification of Germany in 1872, the building had an incredible history including being heavily damaged after WWII. A fire in the building in 1933 provided the Nazi's with a justification for suspension of many rights of its citizens.

The building was basically in disrepair after WWII. after reunification, it was decided to renovate the building.

The large glass dome at the very top of the Reichstag has a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The main hall of the parliament below can also be seen from inside the dome, and natural light from above radiates down to the parliament floor.  Construction work was finished in 1999 and the seat of parliament was transferred to the Bundestag in April of that year.

The views of the city were incredible.

Berlin

For the kids' week break in February we decided to visit Berlin. Some of the sightseeing included the Berliner Dom or Berlin Cathedral.  The church dates back to the 1400s and is still a parish church. You also see the huge TV tower in the background which is one of the symbols of the city.

 

Behind us here is the new museum which is on 'Museum Island'. The boys were not too impressed. They wanted to go back to the hotel pool.

 We visited the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. It is the most visited zoo in Europe and claims to have the most species of any zoo in the world.

 This was getting better than the museum island according to Brian.

 

Our tour of the city included brand new complexes like the Sony Center which boasted its own big animal outside of the Lego store.

 We traced the old wall throughout the city. It was hard to explain to the kids how different the world looked in 1989. We explained that when we were kids, the city was completely cut in two.

 We also visited the natural history museum where they maintain one of the largest collections of dinosaur bones in the world.

 The hotel pool was the highlight according to several of our participants.