It was early when we got up and out to head to Berlin. Many people in Amsterdam hadn't even made it home for the night when we were leaving for our train. It was early, dark and we were sleepy. We made it to Centraal Station and walked up to where we had learned we needed to be a few hours ago. Because it was so early, we didn't think about the fact that we were the only ones waiting for the train to the airport on that track. It wasn't until a few minutes before the train was to arrive that we realized that we were on the wrong track. We all woke up from our sleepy state and high tailed it down the steps, through may of passerby's, back up a flight of steps just before our train got there.
We made it through the Amsterdam airport pretty quickly and were landing in Berlin in no time. The airport we landed in in Berlin was surprisingly small and we easily made our way to a bus ticket line. There was a super nice man in the airport that helped a great deal figure out what we need and how to get there. He even walked us to the bus to make sure we got to the correct one. It was a fantastic first impression of Berlin.
The walk from our bus stop to our hotel would be a nice walk if we weren't carrying all of our luggage but after about 8 or so blocks, we had found our hotel. We were ready to get checked in, drop our stuff and start exploring. After a few hiccups at the front desk we managed to get rooms early and off we went.
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| View of our hotel |
Berlin is full of history and we were ready to check out as much as we could. Our first stop was the Brandenburg Gate. It was pretty surreal to be standing in front of such an historic structure. We took the typical pictures and went to check out a hidden secret that is right inside the Gate.
The Room of Silence was opened in 1994 and is just that. A room that is intended for silence. We walked in and were greeted by a sweet older lady that volunteers her time there. We welcomed us in and we walked into the room, and just sat. It was so peaceful and such a neat opportunity to do as we have all been processing lots of things what we have seen, experience and learned over the last week or so as well as to prepare us for the hard things that we anticipated to see in Berlin.
The Room of Silence came at a great time as our next stop was the Memorial of the Murdered Jews. Having just left the Anne Frank Haus 24 hours earlier, it was pretty overwhelming to experience this Memorial. We spent the time to go into the underground museum and went from learning of one family's story in Amsterdam to hearing about the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It was powerful.
After our time at the museum we went out walking to find lunch. Along the way we passed Checkpoint Charlie. Another huge historical landmark but this one was definitely overly touristy. We paused for a few pictures and headed around the corner to Taz Cafe.
After regrouping, we headed back to Checkpoint Charlie to take it all in, read some of the information and stand in amazement that we were here, this was there and what had transpired in this very spot decades ago.
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| Godfather of the Berlin Wall graffiti |
We were off on foot again to find Rausch Schokoladenhaus. We had heard great things about it and we wanted to just see all of the chocolate. They had all kinds of chocolate sculptures. They are really impressive and after being WOWed by it was decided that we had to try it so we headed upstairs to get desserts and we were not disappointed.
Not far from the fantastic chocolate shop was Gendarmenmarkt. They say it is one of Berlin's most magnificent squares. It was very pretty and we got there just in time to go to the top of the French Cathedral in the square.
We continued to explore different parts of the city and stumbled upon Sony Center/Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz was a large World War II historical site. This was known as the center of town and the Berlin Wall cut right through the area. It was also completely destroyed during World War II. Now it is the site of a huge entertainment center full of restaurants, shops and entertainment.
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| Original Ballroom still intact after WWII Bombings |
It is wild to wrap your head around the old world and new world of each location we had visited. It is crazy to think of all the things that had happened in the locations we were standing.
It wasn't long before it was time to find dinner and Audrey had a great place up her sleeve, Schwarzwaldstuben. We grabbed a table in the back, tried all kinds of food, pulled our all or maps, guide books and touristy stuff and planned out the next few days in Berlin over great food and a fun atmosphere.
With such an early morning, we decided that after our evening walk and subway trip back to the hotel, we would grab a drink and just relax in the hotel lobby before calling it a night. Day 2 in Berlin had us up and out early and we wanted to be ready.
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