My last full day in Berlin I went on another tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours. I chose to go on the Berlin Wall and Cold War Tour because I had such a great time on the first tour and I find the Berlin Wall to be a fascinating piece of history. I unfortunately made a huge mistake and left my camera in the flat! So I am without any pictures. Luckily some of the stops on the tour were places I had already been and therefore already had pictures of. I was extra lucky to meet some great people on the tour who are going to e-mail me pictures when they get home from all of their traveling! So for now I'll just tell you about the tour!
Our tour started off in Alexanderplatz, where the bike shop was, and we actually went down Karl-Marx-Allee (the street the flat was on). We learned that Karl-Marx-Allee was built by the former DDR to rival the Champs-Elysees in France. Our tour guide stopped us in front of an older apartment building to show us the former luxury apartments of the DDR. We talked about the great architecture and how they were ahead of their time and are still great buildings to live in and are in high demand. Funny thing was, the building he was talking about was the same building I was staying in!
Then we went to the East Side Gallery. I actually enjoyed it better when I went on foot because the sidewalks were pretty narrow and that made it difficult to navigate the bikes among all the people (especially for someone as uncoordinated as myself)! Don't get me wrong, it was still a great experience, and I had time to look at the other side of the wall that is covered in graffiti.
We stopped at Cafe Moscow, a building I passed every day on the way to the subway but never knew anything about. I learned it was a former nightclub that was predominately visited by members of the Stasi, their informants, and other political figures. The club is now closed and the building is used as an event space. If I was a rich Berliner, I would totally have a birthday party there!
Another interesting thing about Berlin is the fact that there are so many Soviet memorials there. There are a lot. And it turns out, the soviets built them very quickly at the very last moment; like right before the war was over. It was kind of their last act of taunting to Western Germany and it's supporters. One of the larger memorials is supposedly made from marble from Hitler's former offices and melted Nazi tanks. Interesting.
We followed the former path of the wall all around Berlin. We stopped at a watchtower that was much bigger than the one from the previous tour. This watch tower was big enough for 5-6 guards and even had a holding cell for people who tried to escape. It was vert interesting to see the path of the wall today. Most buildings around it are very new because construction took a while to begin in that area just because of everything that happened there. Some areas haven't even been constructed on yet; they probably look very similar now to how the former death strip used to look. Deserted and empty.
Then we headed west and again back east as we checked out some of the awesome street art in Berlin! Our guide took us to a delicious turkish restaurant in the neighborhood of Kreuzburg for lunch. It was amazing. Best falafel and hummus I have ever had. Delish. After lunch it was back on the bikes and we headed to Checkpoint Charlie. It was another place I have already been, so it wasn't too exciting. But it was exciting to hear some stories from our guide. I learned about the standoff between the Soviet and US tanks as well as many creative escape attempts (some unfortunately less successful than others).
All in all, it was an awesome tour. I'm definitely kicking myself for forgetting my camera, but I'm glad I was able to make friends with strangers who were nice enough to e-mail me some. See Mom, not all strangers are bad! :)
The next day I woke up, packed my bags, and headed to the train station to go home. I was sad to leave Berlin because I had a great time, but I definitely needed a vacation from my vacation!
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