We arrived at Berlin train station at 2.10pm. At the station, we bought the Welcome Card which cost 21 Euros. From there, our accommodation at Sunflower Hostel is a one stop ride by S-bahn. After check-in and depositing our luggage at the counter, we are off to Checkpoint Charlie via U-bahn.
Checkpoint Charlie is actually a museum and is very extensive and has lots of information on the wall the separates Germany. It explains on how it was started after World War II. It also mentioned about the founder of the museum and on the attempts by people in crossing the wall. We watched a 2-hour movie on how a family attempted to cross Germany by hot air balloon.
After the museum, we walked to the Topography of Terror exhibition, to Potsdamer Platz for dinner and to Brandeburg Gate. Here we took a group photo.
It is coming close to evening, we visited the Reichstag building to have a view of the city.
We walked past the Berlin library and took the S-bahn back to our hostel.
23rd June (Wednesday)
The first destination for the morning is to take a stroll along East Side Gallery.
We walked to Alexandra Platz where a TV tower is located.
Just next to it is Museum Island where most of Berlin's major museums are located.
The most famous of which is the Pergamon Museum. Entrance to it is 6 Euros. Here is the Pergamon Altar.
The famous Babylon Gate of Ishtar. It is amazing how they moved the entire gate here. The question is why they move it here.
We proceeded for lunch at the Humboldt University which is just a short distance walk away.
From there we took bus 100 to the Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station. It is shopping time. The Museum Philmonie and the Kaiser Wilhem Memorial Church were also visited.
The church is quite an iconic building as it was partially destroyed during the WWII bombing of Berlin and has remained that way ever since. A newer church was constructed opposite which has quite a modern design to it.
Germany will be having a match tonight for the Euro 2004. To catch the match action, we will be visiting the Sony Centre.
Unfortunately there are no commentaries and sounds from the match. But the crowd is equally enthusiastic. The final result is Germany 1 - 2 Czech.
24th June (Thursday)
The 3rd day is an individual exploration. I will be visiting Potsdam which is about an hour ride out of Berlin. Below is the Nikolaikirche and Fortunaportal just after the train station.
There is a beautiful market surrounding the Sanssouci Palace.
Here is Schloss Sansouci, the main sight of Potsdam.
The weather is pleasant and is perfect for a walk around the Sanssouci Palace park.
I got back to Berlin and visited the Technimuseum. Learnt about communications and the textile industries
Berlin has a long shopping street which is along Unten den Linden. While there, I went to Berlin History Museum. Watched a 25min video and learnt about Federick the Great and Prussia. I read about standing tickets being sold each day for the Berlin Philharmonic. There is already a queue when I arrived. Met a Taiwanese traveller named Zhang Ren. The standing tickets cost 10 Euros. Though these are standing tickets, we managed to find seats to sit.
