Greetings, the official first day went off to a great start. Woke up quite early and got ready and headed out the door for a lengthy one hour walk to the Treptower district in south eastern Berlin. Though on the way I got distracted and visited a long but very simple and enjoyable walk straight to a ruined 750 year old Franciscan church. Nearby was Berlin’s oldest building, the Nikolaikirche which was severely damaged during Allied bombing raids. The interior is a museum with a couple tombs and many interesting relics. I got back on my way through a rather dirty part of town quite similar to any major city. The destination: Treptower Park, the location of a massive WW2 monument dedicated to the Soviet Red Army soldiers who invaded Berlin and forced the total surrender of the  German army. It stands 30 feet tall, and is raised high on an un-enterable pedastal with a small chamber inside. It was built in 1948, only 3 years after the end of the war and completed the next year. The statue features a Soviet soldier with a large sword standing on top of a broken swastika. He is also carrying a small rescued child in his arms. The grounds is the resting place of 7000 Red Army soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin. The park also contains many diffrent uniquely carved images depicting the Russian army with quotes by some Russians. There are two other large figures guarding the entrance each with a gun and architecture behind them was designed to resemble a lowered flag. At the entrance of the park is a small figure of a weeping mother. The whole memorial complex is only a small portion of the very large Treptower Park and theres is a small lake nearby with a small very bizarre statue. My trip Greetings, the official first day went off to a great start. Woke up quite early and got ready and headed out the door for a lengthy one hour walk to the Treptower district in south eastern Berlin. Though on the way I got distracted and visited a long but very simple and enjoyable walk straight to a ruined 750 year old Franciscan church. Nearby was Berlin’s oldest building, the Nikolaikirche which was severely damaged during Allied bombing raids. The interior is a museum with a couple tombs and many interesting relics. I got back on my way through a rather dirty part of town quite similar to any major city. The destination: Treptower Park, the location of a massive WW2 monument dedicated to the Soviet Red Army soldiers who invaded Berlin and forced the total surrender of the  German army. It stands 30 feet tall, and is raised high on an un-enterable pedastal with a small chamber inside. It was built in 1948, only 3 years after the end of the war and completed the next year. The statue features a Soviet soldier with a large sword standing on top of a broken swastika. He is also carrying a small rescued child in his arms. The grounds is the resting place of 7000 Red Army soldiers who died in the battle of Berlin. The is a pretty lake nearby. The park also contains many diffrent uniquely carved images depicting the Russian army with quotes by famous ma russians. There are two other large figures guarding the entrance each with a gun and architecture behind them was designed to resemble a lowered flag. At the entrance of the park is a small figure of a weeping mother. The whole memorial complex is only a small portion of the very large Treptower Park and theres is a small lake nearby with a small very bizarre statue. My trip completed, I got a small lunch and relaxed back at the hostel for a bit being fairly tired.

Continuing on, a quick step past Neptune’s Well at the foot of the  massive television tower and I was on my way to the famous Berlin cathedral, a massive cathedral in the heart of Berlin. I was hoping to go inside, but nobody is allowed to visit the inside…without a ticket, so I got one and went inside. It was stunning. Almost even more stunning was the eerie underground crypt of the royal Hohenzollern family, the kings and queens of Prussia. About 90 ornate and simple sarcophagi lay about, some as young as one year, and another an unnamed baby princess lays in her own chamber overlooked by a mural of the family looking on mornfully. Unfortunately part of the crypt was damaged and some coffins were damaged during the Allied bombings, and theynare still being restored today. More cheery was the…actually much much more cheery was the amazing and painful hike up…a lot of flights of stairs to go above and look down on the city skyline, video included below!

By then it hard started raining very heavily and I ran a short distance after purchasing a handy umbrella, to the DDR Museum, or the Deutsche Demokratisch Republic Museum! A very hands-on museum focused on recreating and experiencing the fascinating and exciting life under East Geman tyranny. It contains the pinnacle of East German enginering, the Trabant car, with its own silly fun driving simulator projected onto the windshield. It has a mockup home, prison cell and interrogation room as well as hundreds of highly interactive displays on daily life in E.G. they are watching, you know who Anyways the rain let up a bit so I wandered down off the mainstreet into a neat shopping urban/industrial area with nothing that stood out. It was getting late and I was exhausted so I looped back around passing through Bebelplatz, the site of the massive book burning event held in 1933 under a certain government. Sadly the memorial was also damaged by Allied aircr— naw, but really sadly is the plaza is under major construction and the book memorial was all but existant. The window in the ground used to have gold lights shining on tons and tons of book, but it was virtually completely done away with for now. It began raining very heavily again. Now really really tired and sore I made my final way back to the hostel for a good rest.

Bonus video of the Berlin skyline from the Berlin Cathedral: https://youtu.be/VVe0XR7eao4

Keep in mind, the pictures I have posted are very limited. I am already at nearly 300 photos. The website does now allow much space, and I will be combining many many more into a longer slide show.