more on Berlin

continuing fr d last entry... more of Berlin.

moving on... we visited Checkpoint Charlie, where d entrance to US's territory from Germany and vice versa. there's this guy dressed in the military uniform near d checkpoint, he has all the 15 ORIGINAL stamps from d WWII. u can have all these stamps in your passport for 10 Euros or something near that amount. of cos i didnt get it! not many people got it cos it cost too much! i saw an American couple getting their passports stamped just before we left d checkpoint.

Checkpoint Charlie

officer at Checkpoint Charlie who can give u all 15 original stamps of the checkpoint for €10

a little further down d checkpoint, there's a long marking on d ground where d berlin wall used to be. it's running across d road fr each side of d pavement. it's hard to imagine how d wall affected d people of berlin...

marking of the Berlin Wall's location

of cos we passed by the huge square where the German Cathedral n d Concert Hall is. we didnt go in thou...

German Cathedral n concert hall

and of cos d Rathaus... we cant miss it! it's huge and very RED!

Rathaus in Berlin

Berliner Dom is next! we didnt actually had plans to go inside this church for a look. but it looked soooo grand outside n d photos looked really good, we decided to go in. it was a good thing we did cos it was really beautiful inside! it feels like a palace!

Berliner Dom

ceiling of Berliner Dom

it was HUGE as well! i was just in awe half d time inside (d other half, i was busy being a tourist - taking photos!!). we also went up to almost d top of d domwhere we get a good view of d city. if any1 is going to berlin, i really recommend this church. really worth paying for!

altar of Berliner Dom

view from top of Berliner Dom

then there is this Fernsehturm, d highest building in berlin. my host johannes keeps saying it's d talest building in the world. i think he was being sarcastic... or not???

Fernsehturm - d highest building in Berlin (not very tall at all!)

d Topography of Terror is another place dat's really depressing. it is a really long stretch of exhibits of Secret Services/Police n d victims n how they were treated, etc. very effective to make u feel upset n uncomfortable there.

Topography of Terror

Reichstag - the parliment building

on 1 of d nights, we visited d Parliment House Reichstag. there's a glass dom on d rooftop where d public can visit for free.

Reichstag roof - view fr right outside the glass rooftop

there's of cos strict security at d entrance. every1 had to empty their pockets n go thru a metal detector, like at d airport. but d view on d top was really nice, no wonder it's 1 of d most visited parliment house in d world.

inside view of Reichstag - parliment building

we cant leave Berlin without visiting East Side Gallery of cos.

East Side Gallery - me vandalising!

d longest stretch of d old berlin wall, it has since become a long stretch of wall paintings of various artists. visitors left their views/messages on d walls as well. of cos i couldnt give up d opportunity to vandalise legally!

so that mark d ending of our berlin visit! there's just soo much more to see. d clash of past n present, u can really feel it here! amazing!

our farewell breakfast for Johannes

so as a big thank you to our kind host for letting us stayed more nights than we planned, we got up really early on d morning we are to leave n cooked him a nice breakfast. he was really happy cos he loves french toast!! really need to thank him for taking us in d very last minute n spending so much time with us (we even visited him in his office n had long coffee breaks! good thing he is his own boss!)

so here's to future visits to Berlin!! n to our new found friendship!!

toast to us all!

Berlin, Germany