Berlin in a Day

We strategically arrived in Berlin very early in the morning and grabbed a bite to eat at the hostel before meeting up with the free Berlin tour we had looked up in Munich. 

Our walking tour was put on by New Berlin Tours, which comes highly recommended.  Our particular tour started at the Brandenburg gate and was led by a cheery Irishman named Barry, who we came to love very much and who did an absolutely fantastic job leading us through the city on this cold drizzly day.

Our tour took us around Berlin highlighting important places and points of interest in the history of the city both in relation to Nazi power and World War II as well as its later importance in the communist race and obviously leading up to and finishing with the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Barry showed us the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, The Holocaust Memorial, and dozens of other museums, monuments and memorials.  Barry entertained us with a half hour or so rendition of the story of the fall of the Berlin wall from the steps of the [protestant church at the end].  In addition, he gave us a very interesting visual of what it would have been like to try and cross the Berlin Wall from East Berlin to West Berlin including dozens of booby traps, armed watchmen, snipers and electric fences. 

One thing I found extremely interesting was the similarity of stories between the walking tour we received in Munich and the one here.  Both guides spoke of a terrorist attack on a building in their respective city by the communists that led to the beginning of Nazi power and eventually World War II.  When we were in Munich, we were informed that the Commy’s set some old building on fire which led to Hitler being given power to imprison anyone.  When we were in Berlin, we were informed that the Commy’s set some old building on fire which led to Hitler being given power to imprison anyone. We asked Barry what he thought about this and naturally, he said the guy in Munich was lying.  I guess I could Wikipedia it, but I’m lazy.  So if anyone figures out which story is correct, let me know.

After our walking around, we did what we are famous for on this trip.  We ate dinner at the hostel, started drinking, and never left.  We started with the most amazing cheeseburger I think I’ve ever had.  It had 100 things on it that I can’t remember: avocado, fried egg, beets, god knows what else.  We ended up playing a combo game of quarters and “I have never” and drank way too much Jaeger and that was that.