Europe Trip

Berlin was quite a change after the rather quiet appearances and atmosphere of Gothenburg and Copenahagan. Visually striking to say the least, and incredibly busy with it, Germany's capital was a real gear change. Lots and lots of 'must-see' things meant the pace picked up quite a bit.

Most of Berlin's attractions are centred in or around the Unten den Linden road that strikes East-West straight through the city. You can see the road looking eastward in the photo above. The road starts with the famous Brandenburg gate, that I'm sure is very nice to look at, but it was closed for renovation work while I was there. In fact, lots of the city was undergoing building work of some kind. Building sites everywhere, as new buildings go up or old ones are demolished or renovated.

The hostel I stayed in was located in a rather rundown area of Eastern Berlin; the developers had obviously yet to reach this part of town to knock down the remnants of the Communist era. Central Berlin seemed to be full of buildings like the Reichstag (above): very grey, imperialistic, sombre.

There are also many reminders of the war - memorials are scattered across the city, like in the Babelplatz (above), site of the Nazi book burnings. Of course, this history is now used to satiate the appetite of the tourists, like the reconstruction of Checkpoint Charlie (below).