JFK gave a speech in West Berlin to show them support from the US but said this phrase with an awesome American accent.
Catriona and I visited Berlin last weekend! Berlin is completely different than Munich. It is the capital and actually one of the 16 states of Germany. It didn't even feel like we were in Germany anymore because it is such an international city with people from all over. It doesn't really have a city center like most others because it was originally a bunch of different towns that grew in together and then it was seperated after WWII. The city has an artsy and creative feel to it. We met so many different characters out at night, it was a good time! We took a walking tour (my favorite!) on Saturday morning and got to hear all sorts of great stories and briefly of the extensive history from this great city! And then we did our own getting lost touring strolling through the awesome city.
Us at Brandenburg Tor.
This was originally the gate way back in the day that people had to pass through to go into the city when it was under Prussian power. The statue ontop is the goddess of Victory. When little Napolean defeated them in Berlin, he stole the statue on top and took it to Paris. But after Napolean was conquered it was taken back to Berlin. This area was severely damaged in WWII, but was restored to its original design to remain a magnificent symbol of the city. And the hotel across the street is the place Micheal Jackson held his baby outside the window...yikes.
Brandenburg Tor chocolate goodness. Yummy!
Reichstag building- where the German parliament meets.
Humboldt Universitaet.
Einstein was a professor here just before Hitler came to power.
This is the library and the plaza where one of the campaigns of the Nazi book burnings took place. They burned 20,000 books from here.
Spree River that goes through the city.
Berliner Dom on Museum Island.
Checkpoint Charlie.
My favorite part of the Berlin Wall East Side Gallery.
After WWII Berlin was split up into 4 sections - US, French, British, and Soviet. West Berlin (the US, French, and British sections) was blocked off from East Berlin and East Germany in 1961 and completely surrounded by this blockade. The Berlin Wall gathered quite the interesting collection of stories over its nearly 30 years of existence. The Wall was also a symbol for the tensions in the Cold War. It came down in 1989 and then Germany was reunified in 1990. There are so many more fun facts to this that were so interesting to hear about while we were there! History Lesson :)
So there are bits and peceies of the Wall around the city and there is also part of the weathered down original Wall too. But this pictures above is the famous Berliner Mauer East Side Gallery. After the Wall was taken down in 1989 the city invited over 100 different artists to come paint it. So now it is an open air art gallery that stretches for about 1km on the side of a road. It represents well the past and present spirit of the city!
Straddling where the Berlin Wall used to be.
We had such a great time in Berlin! It has a different atmosphere than here in Munich. It has more of an edge to it, I think. I like how it's history wasn't hidden but preserved. Walking around the city was a great time and the people are quite friendly ;) Thank for being my travel buddy Catriona!
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