Day 160: Berlin

We were in bed by 10:30pm, but our jet lag resulted in sleeping in until 11am. Luckily we are entering the longest days of the year so it would be easy to recuperate time in Berlin.

We started our day nerding out by visiting the filming set of Mary’s favorite TV show Dark, which was filmed in the Berlin country side. It was a 40 minute walk to the bridge where Marta told Jonas she was having deja vu and the kids returned after losing Mikkel (no spoilers, it’s the first episode). The forest surrounding the location was also cool.

We trained back into the city to visit the Berlin Story Bunker, a museum dedicated to explaining how the Third Reich and Hitler could rise to power. It’s also where Hitler committed suicide and they burned his body. There was an excellent exhibit within the museum on the current war in Ukraine and the parallels between Putin and Hitler on state propaganda as well as a panel on memes being used in psychological war against Russia. Check out the picture of Ukrainian soldier patches that have been traded with the museum owner (yes they are real meme patches)! The museum has also sent filming drones and other helpful technology to support Ukraine.

We walked to Checkpoint Charlie which was the US Army station between West and East Berlin. While grabbing food a huge storm hit and we waited it out by watching the Turkey vs Georgia Eurocup football game (hosted in Germany). Once the clouds cleared, we power walked to a section of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, and finally the Reichstag before more rain fell.

There is a 100% discernible difference between East and West Berlin, and it’s most notable in the buildings and street lamps. It’s clear the West had money to repair and modernize while the East remained the same. Either way, everyone agrees the East side is best side because it has the culture and traditional architecture.

Hostel: Meininger East Gallery

Spots:
Königsweg bridge
Berlin Story Bunker
Berlin Wall
Anhalter Bahnhof
Checkpoint Charlie
Brandenburg Gate
ReichstagMeer informatie