3 DAYS IN BERLIN
Day 2. Berlin's main hotspots
The alarm clock rings loudly and I hurry to turn it off. To speed up and to do everything I planned to do, I give up and I take the subway. Shame on me! :) Sometimes time worth more than fitness and a 2€ ticket. In Alexander Platz there is an Easter market. If you like go shopping, this is the area for you. I don't, and after a quick look from below to the 365 m high Fernsehturm, the Berlin TV tower, I keep on going toward the East Side Gallery. On the way I buy my lunch at Lidl, which will consist in some bakery products + a carrot-honey juice. The latter is such sweet I feel like I'm becoming a lump of sugar. In a sort of hangar (actual name is The Institute) I realize there is a photo exhibition of David Bowie: what a great surprise! I pop in (free admission) and I spent few minutes carefully watching at each picture portraiting him. I go ahead and I'm finally here, at the East Side Gallery, which is one of the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall, become famous due to the presence of astonishing graffitis that many artists painted. It's almost impossible to get a nice picture, as it is very crowded. Here I have my lunch, and then I walk back again till the Brandenburg gate, passing by the Galeries LaFayette. In front of Starbucks just by the gate the Sandeman's free tour starts! Here we meet our wonderful tour guide George Carrillo, a funny guy which shows us, among others, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the site of Hitler's bunker and the Checkpoint Charlie, now called the Disneyland of Berlin. And you can understand why: it's plenty of people who don't really know where they are, which are taking pictures with fake soldiers instead of thinking about what this place has meant for hundreds of people. A way to escape. But I can't resist to buy a piece of the Berlin wall. I choose one colorful, as I like it. I even don't know if it's a real one (they are sold with certificate of authenticity). I found this old, interesting article about how the Berlin Wall pieces' business works. My trip continues with the Topographie des terrors, a beautiful, informative exhibition which documents the misdeeds perpetrated by the Nazi's dictatorship, and how the different countries participated in the WWII. For a history lover this would be probably one of the most interesting spot. I start to walk back to the hostel passing by Postdamer Platz, a city's busy hub where there's the Mall of Berlin, another shopping mall. On the way I find an open Supermarkt where I buy my dinner, which I have in the hall of the hostel, planning the Day 3.
The alarm clock rings loudly and I hurry to turn it off. To speed up and to do everything I planned to do, I give up and I take the subway. Shame on me! :) Sometimes time worth more than fitness and a 2€ ticket. In Alexander Platz there is an Easter market. If you like go shopping, this is the area for you. I don't, and after a quick look from below to the 365 m high Fernsehturm, the Berlin TV tower, I keep on going toward the East Side Gallery. On the way I buy my lunch at Lidl, which will consist in some bakery products + a carrot-honey juice. The latter is such sweet I feel like I'm becoming a lump of sugar. In a sort of hangar (actual name is The Institute) I realize there is a photo exhibition of David Bowie: what a great surprise! I pop in (free admission) and I spent few minutes carefully watching at each picture portraiting him. I go ahead and I'm finally here, at the East Side Gallery, which is one of the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall, become famous due to the presence of astonishing graffitis that many artists painted. It's almost impossible to get a nice picture, as it is very crowded. Here I have my lunch, and then I walk back again till the Brandenburg gate, passing by the Galeries LaFayette. In front of Starbucks just by the gate the Sandeman's free tour starts! Here we meet our wonderful tour guide George Carrillo, a funny guy which shows us, among others, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the site of Hitler's bunker and the Checkpoint Charlie, now called the Disneyland of Berlin. And you can understand why: it's plenty of people who don't really know where they are, which are taking pictures with fake soldiers instead of thinking about what this place has meant for hundreds of people. A way to escape. But I can't resist to buy a piece of the Berlin wall. I choose one colorful, as I like it. I even don't know if it's a real one (they are sold with certificate of authenticity). I found this old, interesting article about how the Berlin Wall pieces' business works. My trip continues with the Topographie des terrors, a beautiful, informative exhibition which documents the misdeeds perpetrated by the Nazi's dictatorship, and how the different countries participated in the WWII. For a history lover this would be probably one of the most interesting spot. I start to walk back to the hostel passing by Postdamer Platz, a city's busy hub where there's the Mall of Berlin, another shopping mall. On the way I find an open Supermarkt where I buy my dinner, which I have in the hall of the hostel, planning the Day 3.