Under and Above Berlin

Wednesday started earlier than the day before because we had decided to do the Underground Berlin tour, that takes you down into a WWII air raid shelter . It started at 11:00 but the book said that the tickets go on sale at 10 and there are lineups ...so we left at 9, found the place and were first in line. Luckily this was on our train from Hermsdorf into town…S bahn 1

The tour takes you down into one of the very very few bunkers/shelters still around. This one is still here because it is connected to one of the Ubahn stations, the rest were all destroyed. Our guide made the history of the era and the surroundings come alive with his stories. Most people he said went down into their cellars during an air raid but when you were in the rail station or on the street walking or shopping you would come down into public shelters…it could have been for a couple of hours maybe one or 2 times a night, at the beginning of the war, and eventually to sometimes a few days nearer the end. Rooms didn’t have original furnishings in them as he said they would have been looted after the war but the paint on the walls and signage is original. A very interesting 90 minutes below Berlin.

We were only allowed to take pictures in one room

After this we hopped a couple of trains to see the East Side gallery and then on to another train to the Jewish Museum, stopping for lunch along the way. The museum is built by the architect Daniel Libeskind. The hall way and exhibits on the bottom floor are built on an uphill incline. The exhibits are simple and effective…making you realize how hard it was for the Jewish people in Germany to leave their home and families, not of their choice but of necessity and foresight of what might or might not happen if they stayed in their homeland. On the top floors there is a history of Judaism with lots of interactive exhibits. It was just before 6 when we left.

One of the exihibts...metal faces..people walk on them
and it makes a very loud sound

I had made an appointment at the Reichstag for 8:45 so we still had few hours to fill.

Sheryl thought the little river cruise I went on when the kids were here sounded good. so we made our way over to the part of the river that we had taken the English cruise before, that meant another Ubahn train ride and a lot of walking. We arrived about 6:45 in time for the last cruise and for the rain to start!!! By the time we got off, near where we needed to be it was pouring. We felt like drowned rats by the time we got to the train station to get our tickets booked for Saturday to Salzburg Austria …an interesting experience! And finished there just in time for our tour over Berlin.

I chose a later time to get into the Reichstag so that we might be able to see Berlin light up……well we did…..as the buildings were starting to light up through the pouring rain, the thunder and lightning started! We had quite a show!!! Again a different viewing than the bright sunshine I had seen Berlin from this same vantage point a few weeks ago.

I wish I could add the sound and the light show
we had from above!

We made our way home through the rain, after a jam packed day…very tired.

Last look at the Brandenburg Tor