After a yummy breakfast buffet we packed up an left
Tropical Islands and headed the hour we had left to get to Berlin!
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| (Photo: www.novotel.com) |
The drive went quickly and we had reserved underground parking at our hotel so that made things easy once we got into Berlin. We stayed in a family room at the
Novotel Berlin Mitte. It was a nice little hotel, nothing fancy-smancy. The staff was friendly and helpful and the place was clean and modern looking. A breakfast buffet was included in our room rate (202 EUR). Although it was a little bit of a walk to either the Alexanderplatz or Potsdamer Platz, it was conveniently located in between them and there was ready access to public transport and we would stay here again.
You also get an amazing view of the
Television Tower from the hotel. Although we didn't go up it, we were told it had amazing views and you can even have dinner in the Sphere.
After getting settled we purchased tickets for the
Hop On/Hop Off bus at our hotel lobby (44 EUR for two days) and walked down to the Alexanderplatz to "hop on" the bus and take our City-Circle Tour. It was cold and windy and after having so much fun yesterday we were all pretty tired. We rode around to the Brandenburger Tor stop to pay our respects at the
Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and then went back to our hotel to take a quick nap.
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| Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall) |
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| Lunch! |
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| World Clock |
Located in "no-man's land" between East and West Germany during the Cold War, this famous monument has long been a defining symbol of Berlin and both the city's unification and division....It is here that on June 22, 1987, Ronald Reagan issued his stern command, "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall!"
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| Hotel Aldon (where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the balcony) |
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Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
"Field of Stelea" |
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, one of the most evocative and controversial monuments to the Holocaust, was designed by the American architect Peter Eisenmann. The Holocaust Memorial is located in the center of Berlin, laid out on a 4.7 acre site between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate.
The centerpiece of the Holocaust memorial is the “Field of Stelae”, covered with more than 2,500 geometrically arranged concrete pillars. You can enter and walk through the unevenly sloping field from all four sides. The strong columns, all slightly different in size, evoke a disorienting, wave-like feeling that you can only experience when you make your way through this gray forest of concrete.
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| Duetscher Bundestag |
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| Berlin Victory Column |
After seeing the "Field of Stelae" and doing a bit of sightseeing on the bus we went back to the hotel to regroup before driving across town
(done surprisingly easily by the way) to eat dinner at a Japanese teppanyaki place called
Mondhaus.
Although a little pricey (90 EUR) the service was excellent and the staff was wonderful. We were happy when we left! Afterward, we headed back to the hotel to get some shut-eye. We wanted to be at the
City-Circle Tour pickup point early the next morning!
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