From Prussia with Love

I feel bad snubbing Bach for my Germany post, but technically Germany didn't exist when he was alive, and he wasn't from Prussia, so I have to go with another favorite and predictable choice:



Going to Berlin after Prague is much like going on a date with a valedictorian after a night out with the head cheerleader (not that I've experienced either). Sure, you have a great conversation with the valedictorian, but you just can't stop thinking about last night. But Berlin has been a great learning experience and a great city for those interested in history.

When I got here, the walk to my hostel was quite long, I passed a river or creek and noticed some bricks on the ground after it, running parallel to the river. I later learned that's where the wall used to be. I had absolutely no clean clothes left so I went to do laundry right away. I wouldn't mention this except for the fact that there was this old guy at the laundromat that must've been out of clean clothes as well. He was walking around in just his tighty whities and sandals, it was hilarious.

After that, I walked to the Brandenburg Gate and took some pics, here's one:



The next day I did a free tour (guides paid on tips) and it was great, I highly recommend it (NewEurope free tours). We started at the Brandenburg Gate, saw the Reichstag, Holocaust Memorial:



Berlin Wall:



(Am I the first Ostler to touch it?)

Hitler's Bunker:



Just a parking lot now, which is cool. The site of death of one of the most influential (obviously in a bad way) men to ever live and now it's just an ugly parking lot. Take that gingerballs.

The luftwaffe HQ, Checkpoint Charlie:



The site of the book burnings, some buildings built by Frederick the Great, and my personal favorite, the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window (second floor, er third for americans):



Needless to say, the tour had it all. Like I said in my opening post, it was cool to imagine the events that happened there. Like the Soviets closing in on Hitler's bunker or Indiana Jones being near those book burnings. I loved it all and found the last 100 years of history in Berlin fascinating.

Feeling smart, I went to the Pergamon Museum where they have a Babylon exhibit. Unfortunately, it was for the civilization and not Babylon 5, so I felt a little awkward in my space suit. It was very cool though and they had lots of artifacts and reconstructed entire buildings inside the museum. The coolest thing I saw, perhaps on this entire trip, was the Ishtar Gate, which I had seen in history books and stuff before but had no idea it was here. I couldn't take a picture, but here's one from the web:



As many of you know (except Ben), this was one of the gates of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar. To think of all the people that walked through that gate was just incredible. Amongst many others, thousands of Jews would've walked through this gate when Jerusalem was captured not long after 600 BC. I was reading about the economy of Babylon and how they recorded all their business transactions in cuneiform. It was an accountant's dream!!

What a great day and what better way to cap off this feast of knowledge then by watching Hancock at the main cinema complex. It was showing at the recently constructed Potsdam Platz, which also has PwC's offices that I just stumbled upon. Movies are actually pretty cheap (5.5 euro) and you have assigned seats! Anyway, great city, if this is the valedictorian and Prague was the cheerleader, I can't wait to see what Amsterdam will be...