Berlin {Day 2}
1:12 PM
We woke up with specific plans for what we wanted to do today. We wanted to go to Alexanderplatz and purchase a Berlin Welcome Card and then go to the City Sightsee Yellow bus which is a double decker bus taking you all around to popular destinations in the city. We had a list of specific stops we were going to stop at after translating them all to english the night before. We had map and everything prepared to know where to get everything. But once we got into the city, it was harder than we imagined. We were easily able to find the tickets for the Berlin Welcome Card but the bus pass was a different story. We followed our map and literally walked around for close to two hours looking for it. We tried to follow our maps but many of the streets don't have signs posted so it was a challenge of trying to match our maps on our phone to the paper map and searching for spots where our service would load long enough to give us our current location. The entire time we just weren't walking far enough by one block. But the good thing is that Mackynze and I were really calm about everything. There wasn't much we could do but be patient and keep searching. Very very few people speak english and even if they do, it is very difficult to understand so we had to be able to find it ourselves.
Once we made it on the bus, we rode it a few stops listening to the history of the locations we passed. We decided to get off to go see the Pariser Platz and the Holocaust Memorial (Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe). It was definitely an amazing sight to see. Not only did we look around outside but we decided to go into the underground museum which was well worth it. It was very interesting to see so much history.
We also decided to stop at the U.S. Embassy which is right outside of the memorial. It was very interesting to see as well. After that, we hopped on the bus again and went a few more stops. We got off at the Prince's Palace (super cool) and took some photos before walking across the street to have lunch in Tiergarten which is a beautiful park in the heart of the city.
After our late lunch, we hopped back on the bus to ride the last 10 or so stops to get us back to our original location. While riding the bus, you are able to listen (in english, yay!) to the history behind everything you are seeing. It is amazing to me how much of the city was destroyed during the war and how it has completely been rebuilt since then.
On our ride back, we also passed remains of the Berlin Wall, another sight with so much history that was very interesting to see. It is definitely eye opening to think about all that has happened here in just the past century.
Once we got off the City Sightseeing Bus, we stopped for dinner just outside of the TV Tower at a restaurant called Mio. We ordered real food and drinks (that we could understand!!) for the first time since we have been gone. It was great.
Now we are back at our flat for the evening and going to relax and have some wine before getting some rest and getting ready to go explore the area around Alexanderplatz more tomorrow!
1 comments
Such fun... and for us too, but now I am a lot less worried, but getting a little bit envious !!! Can't fathom all you are getting to see & experience. Love you much Rosie
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