Finally... Berlin...

like i said.. blogging is siong.. yip n zer have both gave up on blogging abt our easter trip liaoz .. (weak.) so now only left the 3 of us (gambatte everyone!)

Berlin is the capital of Germany. Actually we din though much of Berlin to begin with.. looks quite boring on VT (VirtualTourist.com) oso.. no famous buildings, no nice scenery blah blah blah..

but after u spend sometime in the city, u will find actually got quite a bit of stuff to see, though for Berlin its mainly war stuff since they r involved in both the World Wars.. so got alot of memorials, Hitler n Nazi Party stuff, concentration camps (which we missed in Munich), the infamous Berlin Wall... ...

sights from the train station to our hostel

our hostel! nice place!

Legoland! A giant giraffe made of Lego..

A small section of the Berlin Wall on display

Peace!

After this we went to the Berlin HaupBahnHof to book our train ride back to CPH.
haiz.. spent alot of unnecessary time there manz..
(sorry guys, we shld hv booked much earlier)
so moral of the story : always book ur train tickets in advance. way in advance.

Sieges-saule in Tiergarten

A Mercedes Factory...
Germany is also like Singapore, got 2 different classes of Merz.
Difference is their Taxis are REALLY UGLY. Cream-colour one.
and their private owned ones are more often S-class
(i.e. the super big ones).

flea market!
similar to the ones in Portobello (London) & Waterloo (Amsterdam)
full of antiques...

The Berlin Wall

East Side Gallery.. where the longest stretch of the Wall still stands

trying to climb the Wall..

Next stop : Pariser Platz

Brandenburger Tor! built at the start of the German Empire..

Marie-E.-LudersHaus along the Spree River

i remember at this point in time.. Yip was in super urgent need of a toilet haha.. we walked down the river and reached the FriedrichStrasse Station, where we found this Birkenstock store. Anyway the sandals here not much cheaper den S'pore la.. buying online still the better option.

We decided to go back to hostel to eat our canned-herring-&-sausages-with-bread dinner. (Zer & Yip stayed back in the shopping centre to do some frantic shopping cos next day is public holiday. & unlike s'pore, shops in europe are CLOSED ON PUBLIC HOLIDAYS.)

the iconic dome of the Sony Centre at Potsdamer Platz

After dinner.. we went out and saw the most beautiful sight in Berlin...

The Berliner Dom!

its one of those buildings that always make u wonder.. "How in the world do u build it?".. the level of intricacy is really unbelievable .. (to find out how i took this cool photo.. can check out Cheewei's post in the why-so-ex blog.. -_-")

a contemporary art museum which
pales in comparision beside the Berliner Dom

Next morning... the BEST BREAKFAST i have on my travels..

& the only natual thing to do (in a train) after a heavy breakfast is...

*zzz zzz zzz zzz*

SACHSENHAUSEN
NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP

The model camp. It set the standard for all those to follow.

Memorial Plaques in a garden

"Greater love hath no man than this that
a man lay down his life for his friends."

the gallows... where u get hanged in front of everyone..
its a good way to instill fear...

The infamous Station Z, where the gas chambers & incinerators are...
they have ppl to check you for gold fillings in ur teeth
so that they can take it out when all is left of u are ur bones...

The infirmary & ITS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS..

read the top-right objective of the "doctors" there..
oh and life wasn't too bad.. they have a brothel inside! (a real one)

The mortuary ~ a place tt gives me the creeps

This is the place where u get shot to death

They use wood so that stray bullets won't ricochet off the walls
& hit innocent Nazi soldiers.

A mass burial grave

One of the several guard towers along the perimeter of the camp

The camp prison ~ a prison within the prison..
bottom left : electric fences

bottom right picture is the bath tub... its filled with water and
u stand naked with many other guys and splash water on urself..
reminds me of my army days in Taiwan... -_-"

barracks.. where u sleep...
(or for jews... where u wait to x_x..)

The Berlin Wall Memorial

Here I learnt alot abt how & why the wall was setup... *duh*..
but still its quite an eye-opener..

a part of the wall outside the memorial.
the wall was rebuilt/strengthen 4 times..
in the last time, they added rounded protruding edges at the top
which makes it very difficult to climb over (no grip)..

The New Jewish Synagogue
(cos the old one was destroyed... for obvious reasons)

Pergamon museum

a day visit with the rest to the Berliner Dom

Rotes-Rathaus & the TV tower..

Neptune fountain

some war-torn building

CHECKPOINT CHARLIE!

Checkpoint Charlie was a crossing point between East & West Berlin during the Cold War, representing the separation of east and west.

Night view of the Reichstag ~ German Parliament House.
There's a dome at the top where u can look around...
we wanted to go up there (admission free!)
but the queue was too long for our tired souls..

Night view of Brandenburger Tor..
most buildings look alot nicer at night hor?

some dunkin' donuts for supper to cheer us up !

LAST DAY OF OUR EASTER TRIP!

queue outside the Reichstag! its a 1hr+ wait!

inside...

at the top of the dome..

having fun with the mirrors...

Giant bell tower

Soviet Memorial
to commemorate Soviets who died in the Battle of Berlin (vs. Hitler)

Holocaust Memorial
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

we couldn't resist.. the setting was perfect..

A once-magnificent church destroyed during WWII

KaDeWe ~ a famous 7 storeyed shopping centre..
this is about the best u get in Europe.
apparently thats why they say Singapore is a shopping haven...
(the yellow & black signboard seems to hold the
names of all the concentration camps in Germany...
dun ask me why its there..)

Olympiastadion!
(go in need $... so din go in lor..)

Charlottenburg Palace
~ after seeing so many.. i feel this one a bit lao ya..
still make me walk so far from train station.. >_<

ON THE WAY BACK...

After changing 3 trains and 8 hours later... we arrived in Copenhagen!
at 1am in the morning! & freezing cold!

waiting for the night bus... 95N..
bottom right : zer huddling in the corner..
trying to shield herself from the icy winds..

all in all: this easter trip was fun! but really tiring...

felt the fatigue when I got back to Copenhagen...

June trip coming soon liao (1 month of continuous traveling to 15 cities in 9 countries)..

haiz.. muz train up my stamina..

heng we planned 2 more trips to Prague and Oslo b4 June...

like tt den can be well-prepped for June! *heh heh heh*