Berlin and The World Cup Finale

While Michelle was here, we visited Berlin, which is something Ethan and I really wanted to do. We have a friend who just moved there. We got to see a really cool city and see some friends who turned out to be the best tour guides!

This is the train station here in Goettingen. The sea of bikes always makes me giggle. How would you even find yours after you parked it?

Sunset from the train:

This is our train leaving the Berlin station after we got off. It was one of the fast Inter City Express trains.

On the subway in Berlin and so excited to be there!

After we got settled in our hotel, we were all too excited to go to sleep. I wanted to see the Brandenburg Tor at night, so we grabbed the map and ventured out. It was late, but the weather was beautiful and the Tor was prettier than I expected! Berlin is a city that never sleeps, so there were quite a few people out. 

Brandenburg Tor is an old city gate that was rebuilt in the 1800's to be a triumphal arch through which the king would enter the city. It was heavily damaged in WWII, but rebuilt. It was also one of the entry points between East and West Berlin before the wall was built. Now it stands as a symbol of peace and unity in Berlin. 

The next day our friends, Jason and Rachel, took us all around the city to see the things we wanted to see. We are so thankful for them. We didn't have to think about anything as we were on and off subways and buses. They knew so much about the city and we enjoyed spending our day with them so much.

This is Jason telling us about the Berlin Wall East Side Gallery.

Oberbaum Bridge is a very old crossing of the Spree River. It was bombed during WWII, then rebuilt. It was a crossing between West and East Berlin. After the wall came down, it was fully restored to the original appearance. It really is beautiful. No wonder it's a major landmark in Berlin.

The East Side Gallery is a portion of the wall that has been memorialized to represent peace in Berlin. It's about 1.3 km long and we walked the entire length. It wasn't as tall or thick as I had imagine it to be, but it was quite imposing nonetheless. Although it was quite a busy area, it was worth it to see such a piece of history.

We walked by the Berlin TV Tower and I wish this picture could do its size justice. It is massive and you can see it from all over the city. It's the largest structure in Germany. It was originally designed by the government of East Berlin to broadcast radio and TV signals and was supposed to be a symbol of their strength.

When we got a little distance away, we could see the sun's reflection on the tower, which has been nicknamed "The Pope's Revenge' because the tower was meant to symbolize the power of Communist East Berlin and yet there is still a cross prominently displayed in the city.

Also, note Michelle kindly taking a picture for this fellow tourist. 

The Berliner Dom is one of the sites I wanted to see most and it did not disappoint. It's a cathedral that is still used and it is enormous. The Dom sustained a good bit of damage during WWII, but thankfully was rebuilt to its original state.

It is gorgeous.

The manhole covers were cool, with pictures of the famous sites in Berlin.

The Dom is on Museum Island. This is one of the pillars of the bridge leaving the island. It was beautiful.

Ethan in front of Humboldt University, one of Berlin's oldest universities. Its founder was very influential in the structure of European and other Western university models. 

We went back to Brandenburg Tor during the day and it was lovely, once again. This is where they were airing the World Cup games (on the other side) and where nearly 500,000 people gathered to cheer on the German team.

The Reichstag Building was really beautiful. It's where the German parliament currently meets. It was burned badly during the Third Reich, then heavily damaged in WWII. After the reunification of Germany, it was rebuilt, adding a glass dome on top. Visitors can walk up in the dome for a view of Berlin, but also a view down into the main meeting room for parliament. It's a symbol of the Reunification and represents a transparent government.

Potsdamer Platz, originally a trading post, was totally destroyed during WWII and left in ruins during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall ran through the middle. Now it is a very busy area with businesses and performance spaces and a major transportation hub.

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was damaged in an air raid during WWII and has been left in its ruinous state as a symbol of the atrocities of war. The bottom floor of the church is a memorial and a new church has been built around it (see the building just to the right and the tall tower just to the left).

Inside the new church, there are 21, 292 stained glass pieces to make up the walls. It was absolutely stunning.

My grandmother served in the British Military during WWII and was stationed in Berlin in 1947, during the post-war occupation. We have an old newspaper clipping with a picture of her marching down Kurfürstendamm. It was the one place she asked me to visit in Berlin, so obviously I needed to see this piece of family history. 

A picture of the newspaper clipping. My Mimi is on the left.

Flowers at the train station.

'End of the long day of walking' selfie on the Underground. 

Rachel and Jason. So thankful for their hospitality and knowledge of Berlin!

The canal by our hotel. Apparently, Berlin has more canals than Venice. They were everywhere!

This is the New Church or Deutscher Dom. Originally, it was a church that held its services in German instead of Latin or French. Totally destroyed in WWII, it was rebuilt and turned into a museum.

As soon as we got back to Goettingen, we sent straight to Cron & Lanz to show Michelle how amazing it is. I had this beautiful frozen raspberry and cream cake with a cafe au lait. Happy girl.

Sunday night, we went down to the International Cafe for some coffee and apple strudel and to watch the World Cup Finale with local people. 

The whole evening was fun, but when Germany won, it was crazy. The cheering and clapping went on and on and we could hear it from all over the city. Cars started driving around town, honking their horns, and lasted for hours. People were shooting huge fireworks in the middle of the street. We actually got a pretty good show from our apartment window. We tried to soak up as much as we could of being in the country celebrating their World Cup win.

If you made it to the end, you either really love me or really wanted to see pictures or Berlin. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for journeying with us.