Berlin Wall - East Berlin
After a long flight with a connection in Frankfurt we finally reached Berlin. We had a brief stop in the hotel and a quick swing around AlexanderPlatz. Then we had a lovely coach tour of all the Berlin highlights. I finally had the opportunity to pose at the Wall. This is the longest remaining section of the Wall along the river in East Berlin. It's opposite the new O2 Arena. It was amazing to view the freshly painted murals mostly repainted depicting original work from the 80's. Our tour guides Monica and Martin have been wonderful and very informative. Also Goethe has been amazing along with our representative Sarah. We finished off the night with a tour of the Jewish Quarter and a great Thai meal with a tall glass of Dunkel. Berlin is such an amazing city full of multiculturalism and eco-friendly design and architecture. It's easy and very friendly to navigate. Checkpoint Charlie is a bit of a tourist
trap and quite honestly other than the new museum and the obvious signs showing the border crossing there isn't much there other than the odd street vendor with military caps, USSR knock-offs and Matreuska dolls. I'm so glad that we will be here a few days. Tomorrow is the official d visit and lunch with Budestag officials.
Reichstag and Bundestag
Today we spent the day with German Sociologist and his interpretation of Modern Germany. It was wonderful to hear his views on multicultural Berlin and how diverse the communities are in neighbourhoods throughout Germany. He referred to the suburbs as 'Islands of Equality'. Next we had lunch with a diplomat from Foreign office. He discussed topics from Holocaust to immigration in Germany today. After that lovely lunch we had a tour of Budenstag and inside Gov. Chambers looking at some reminders of Nazi and Russian writing on the walls. Beth and I decided to try on the Green party and see what membership would be like! See the Ampelmann blog for the picture. We also had a TOP group picture taken in the Reichstag chamber. I think I could be Merkel's assistant and help her take on the EU...not! The inside of the Budestag is transparent, but we joked that it looks like giant laser beam!
Today we spent the day with German Sociologist and his interpretation of Modern Germany. It was wonderful to hear his views on multicultural Berlin and how diverse the communities are in neighbourhoods throughout Germany. He referred to the suburbs as 'Islands of Equality'. Next we had lunch with a diplomat from Foreign office. He discussed topics from Holocaust to immigration in Germany today. After that lovely lunch we had a tour of Budenstag and inside Gov. Chambers looking at some reminders of Nazi and Russian writing on the walls. Beth and I decided to try on the Green party and see what membership would be like! See the Ampelmann blog for the picture. We also had a TOP group picture taken in the Reichstag chamber. I think I could be Merkel's assistant and help her take on the EU...not! The inside of the Budestag is transparent, but we joked that it looks like giant laser beam!
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