Spring Break in Berlin (Part 2)

The first part of our second day in Berlin was a group tour around the surrounding area and certain specific monuments and places; led by Dr. Hosey. Bright and early we all headed out into Berlin and walked around the beautiful city. Our first real stop was at one of the last largest standing sections of the Berlin Wall.

It was amazing to be standing next to the very wall that we all learn about in school. To know that this section of concrete and metal helped blocked family members and friends from each other for so long was just surreal.

Right next to this section of the wall was a museum that was set up in the old SS Headquarters building. It was a WWII and Holocaust museum. It mainly was on the SS and what part they played in the whole event. It was a very good museum. Lots of information and pictures without being too text heavy. I wish we could have stayed longer but we were on a schedule and could only stay for about half and hour.

After that we walked a bit more and we ended up near where Hitler's infamous bunker was. Right across the street from that was an outside holocaust memorial. We were all given about 20 minutes to explore it. When looking at it from the outside it looks like a lot of short square stone pillars where some are taller then other.

 And at first when you walk into it that is what it is; short stone pillars. But as you continue on they get taller and taller util suddenly you can't see anything unless you look between the rows and rows of pillars. They were all really close together and it is sort of disorienting.

And it was set up to make you feel that way I think. It was supposed to make you feel like you had no real control and that everything was getting out of hand. Basically the feeling that we can only imagine citizens of Germany were feeling during the rise of the Nazi party; and later how the holocaust victims felt when they had everything suddenly taken from them for no go reason.

After that we walked on over to where the museum Checkpoint Charlie was. Checkpoint Charlie was basically the best known crossing point at the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It was a checkpoint crossing for Allied (US, etc.) forces to move between the separated sides.

It was there that we all split up into groups and made our own ways around the city. I stayed with some friends whom I just happened to be rooming with in Berlin. We went into the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and explored there for a little while before we started to get hungry and went in search of food.

After finding food we walked around the area we were at and did a little shopping. Then we walked our way back to the area where Museum Island is located and we all decided on a meeting point and time before splitting up to go look at whatever we were interested in seeing. I went to two places. The first place I went to was the Berliner Dom.

The Berliner Dom is the central cathedral in Berlin. It is absolutely gorgeous in there. The architecture and intricate details were breathtaking. At one point, after taking all of the obligatory tourist pictures, I just sat down in a pew and took in all of the beautiful murals, stain glass, and structures around me.

After a while I went down to the basement where there was a crypt. While morbid and a bit creepy, it was also interesting. It would have been nice to have some English translations but we can't have everything.

After than I went upstairs where they had a few small exhibits on display about the Dom. Then I had a huge inner debate.

To climb, or not to climb up to the outdoor balcony of the dome. That was the question.

In the end I decided that it would be a once in a life time opportunity to see such a view. So I told my self to suck it up and try to ignore the heights involved. I started to climb up the many, many, stair cases; all the while getting more and more shaky from my heights issue. Eventually I made it up to an indoor walkway around the dome and I thought that this was it. That somewhere there would be a door to let us outside to that walkway. Oh, how wrong I was. As I looked down into the main room of the Cathedral from this walkway, I noticed that there were people outside....two stories higher than I already was. I'm sorry to disappoint but I could not make myself go any farther then I was already. Nope, wasn't going to happen.

There was a lovely view from the indoor walkway though. While looking out at Berlin from that height I thought back to my Irish literature class; more specifically the day when we discussed the usage and meaning of the word 'sublime' in one of W. B. Yeat's poems. Basically when something is sublime, it means that it is awful. Not awful in the sense of something negative or wrong, but rather full of awe. But at the same time as being full of awe you still have a small feeling of unrest or slight fear. That was exactly what I was feeling. I was stunned by the beauty and wonder of the city from such heights while at the same time being fearful of the heights that made it possible to see such things.

After the Berliner Dom I walked right on over to the Altes Museum.

This museum was basically a huge wonderful display of Ancient Greek and Roman pottery and statuary. It was so cool. Not gonna lie though, when I first saw one of the Greek pots with the images of a mythological scene painted on them, my first thought was of Disney's Hercules.

It was a great last stop for the day and I spent about an hour and 10 minutes just looking at everything and reading the descriptions. Afterwards I headed on out to the little courtyard in front o gboth the Altes and the Berliner Dom and met up with my friends. We all then got some dinner and took the S-bahn back to our hotel. We then relaxed for a while before going out to a near by pub/restaurant to have a few drinks and chat.

 And thus ends day 2 of my Spring Break in Berlin!