join the johnson journey: becoming berlin

Berlin is a great city. Full of culture and famous sites. It has been through a lot and is continuously shaping up to the be the city it has become today. As I've deemed this post "becoming Berlin" - I just want to highlight how much the city is always changing. I have always been very interested in WWII history so Berlin is absolutely a top place I've wanted to visit. On Friday, Nick and I headed to Berlin by train from Hamburg. We found an amazing Mexican restaurant called Santa Maria and I ate a burrito [seen below] that was literally the side of my arm. :) It was fantastic and the guacamole tasted just like we were back in the good ol USofA. After dinner, we walked around by the River Spree. There are a ton of cruise boats on the river and it's so pretty at night.

massive burrito hehe

On Saturday, Nick woke up early to take pictures and captured this first amazing one below. I love how it captures the essence of one of his favorite hobbies. I met him at the Berliner Tor and we did a little sight seeing. Afterwards, we started the Sandeman's walking tour. We walked by the Holocaust Memorial then by the bunker where Hilter killed himself. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was so artistic and compelling. It really made you stop and think about all the horrible persecution. We then walked by the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. I did not think much of Checkpoint Charlie. I was glad to have seen it but the area is extremely touristy. I think it is worth checking it out if you have time. Afterwards, we went by the two cathedrals built by the French and Germans. The Berliners claim that the German cathedral is 14 cm taller of course :) The gorgeous Konzerthaus Berlin is in between the two churches. There are a ton of outside concerts at night here during the summer and Nick and I plan to head back next summer. The last stop of our tour was the monument that had been built to memorialize the over 20,000 books that were burned during the beginning of the Nazi regime. It's horrible that that could happen to so much books as well as so many authors being renounced of their titles and awards. Education and the right to learn any & everything should always be our right. Overall, the tour was phenomenal and we had a tour guide named Sophie. I would recommend this tour to anyone headed to Berlin!!

absolutely gorgeous picture that Nick took of Berliner Tor

selfie in front of Berliner Tor - squinty, no sunglasses eyes

the Holocaust Memorial

bunker where Hilter shot himself

train station where red marble was used from Hilter's main government building

checkpoint charlie

gorgeous Konzerthaus

the Fränzozischer church

After the walking tour, Nick and I decided to head to the Berliner Dom. This dome definitely measured up to the likes of the Milan Cathedral that I had grown to love about a month ago. The outside was gorgeous and the architecture is so exquisite and full of detail. While inside the cathedral, a gentleman was practicing the organ so Nick and I stopped for awhile to hear that. We climbed to the top and got some great views of Berlin. We went to the Ampelmann store, which is the cutest little souvenir shop I've ever seen. The Ampelmann is the little man that shows up on the crosswalk signs in Berlin. It was strictly an Eastern Berlin thing before the two sides were reunited. A lot of Berlin was "westernized" after 1989 but the people of East Berlin demanded that they keep the Ampelmann on the lights. I think they are so cute!

the TV tower - the highest structure in Germany

inside of the gorgeous Berliner Tor

view from Berliner Tor

water fountain in front of Berliner Tor!

the cute little Ampelmanns!

On Sunday, Nick and I did a tour of the Reichtags building, the main government building in Berlin. The building has gorgeous architecture. There is a massive dome on top that you can climb up a spiral staircase and learn all the history of the building. The structure itself monitors the temperature of the building by having an open circular cut-out on the top that lets air in/out and rain water is also collected for regulation purposes. All in all, an extremely impressive structure. After the Reichatgs tour, Nick and I headed back to the Holocaust Memorial and we decided to do the underground museum. This museum literally hurt my heart. It was a very personal museum that highlighted individual stories of victims of the Holocaust. This included interviews with surviving victims, diary entries from perished victims and stories of whole families that were killed at concentration camps. The entire experience was chilling but I'd recommend the museum in a heartbeat. It is free which is obviously a plus but I think the personal touch of it was very compelling to tell the story.

panoramic of two churches + konzerthaus

the dome in the Reichtags building

Reichtags Building

After the Holocaust museum, we went back to the Berlin Wall for some more sight-seeing and pictures. We went into the Topographies des Terrors museum. This is the museum that highlights the history of the Gestapo and SS. Lots of reading but extremely informative. The way these people treated people was so incredibly cruel and it made me very depressed. People must learn from our mistakes. We then headed to the Kaiser Wilhelm Church in West Berlin. This church was badly damaged in 1943 during bombings. They decided to leave the church as is which is a very chilling site. A more modern church was then re-built next door with the remaining intact stained glass [see the picture below - it was gorgeous!] I would recommend going to see it if you're in Berlin and can make a quick trip over there. Our trip was then wrapped up and we were headed back to the lovely [and rainy] Hamburg.