Return From Berlin

I got back to the States a couple days ago after spending a week taking in the sights and sounds of Berlin, Germany. It was an incredible experience and I enjoyed every minute of it with the exception of my United airlines flight from Chicago to St. Louis being delayed for six hours as I made my way back home. Nevertheless I’ll always remember this adventure for the amazing places and people I got to meet throughout.

Here are all the different places I visited:

Day One

1. Kaiser Wilhelm I Memorial Church

2. Berlin Victory Column

3. Tiergarten

4. The Bismarck Monument

5. Reichstag Building

6. Brandenburg Gate

7. Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial)

8. Neue Wache Memorial (“Mother With her Dead Son” by Käthe Kollwitz)

9. Berlin Cathedral

10. Weltzeituhr (Worldtime Clock) at Alexanderplatz

11. Soviet War Memorial (Treptower Park)

Day Two

1. Places of Remembrance

2. Jewish Museum Berlin

3. Checkpoint Charlie/Berlin Wall

Day Three

1. Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin (Berlin Musical Instrument Museum)

2. Tempelhofer Park

Day Four

1. Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Day Five

1. Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind

2. St. George’s English Bookshop

3. Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus (English Bookshop)

Day Six

1. Radio Tower

2. Deutsches Historisches Museum (German History Museum)

And here are some photos from the trip. Some were taken with my iPhone, but most were taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ70. Click on any photo within the gallery for descriptions, context, and full-size images. Enjoy!

Berlin Cathedral

Berlin Musical Instrument Museum

Berlin Musical Instrument Museum

Berlin Victory Column

A marker commemorating a spot along the Berlin Wall.

Brandenburg Gate

A part of the Berlin Wall preserved at the German History Museum.

Just about every building in Berlin is tagged with graffiti. Some of it is very artistic.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial)

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial)

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial)

A small act of justice on an outdoor exhibit at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

The back side of the Otto von Bismarck statue

Notice the WWII-era bullets on the Bismarck statue.

This statue of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is basically a celebration of war, empire, and imperialism. Nevertheless, it’s powerful reflection of how many Germans felt about Bismarck during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The view of downtown Berlin from a radio tower.

The view of downtown Berlin from a radio tower.

The Reichstag

Two of the concentration camp barracks at Sachsenhausen were rebuilt in 1961 while reconstructing a memorial at the site. Ten days after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin visited the site in 1992 Nazi arsonists attempted to destroy the barracks. Note the burn marks throughout the ceiling.

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park.

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park. Notice the shattered Swastika at the bottom.

The Spree River

These “Stumbling Stones” are scattered at homes throughout Berlin to remember and honor the lives of Jewish people who were murdered during the Holocaust. These stones are located at the house of Salomon and Stella Meissner, both of whom were murdered at Auschwitz in 1943.

…And here is the Meissners’ home where their Stumbling Stones are located today.

Artwork along the U-Bahn.

Weltzeituhr (Worldtime Clock) at Alexanderplatz.