Saturation point

Our final day in Berlin. Tonight we pack up and tomorrow we hit the trains!

We packed a lot in to this day. Abbey and Amy did set out on their own this morning and did not get lost. Most of Berlin's major museums are located on an island in the Spree River, so we walked down to that island and looked around a bit...there wasn't time to go in museums, but there was time to buy a cold drink and sit in a cafe along the Spree, people-watching and looking across at a gorgeous museum building. We took more pictures of some of the famous buildings (Berliner Dom pictured below) and then walked back to the apartment for lunch.

After lunch, we took the U-bahn to another section of town to "cross off" some of Berlin's most famous sites. We started with the Reichstag (below with Yma), Germany's current Parliament building and full of historical meaning. From there we walked to the Brandenburg Gate...again so full of historic significance to this country and one of those sights that "I can't believe I'm seeing this." The American embassy is directly next door to the Gate and kitty-corner to that is a strategically placed Starbucks (though they're all over the city) with a view of the Gate. Crazy.

We met with Amy's friends (Ryan and Kelly) again after that and went to see the Holocaust Memorial (pictured below). It was a stark, silent and striking memorial, made all the more meaningful by a later experience in the day...as we walked in search of our next famous sight, we happened upon a display called "Topography of Terror." It's an outdoor display waiting for the funds to make it indoor (pictured below), but currently is situated in the ruined foundation of a building that once served as headquarters for Hitler's SS. It chronicled, in pictures, documents, newspaper headlines and letters, the rise of Hitler to power and the atrocities that followed in Berlin, Germany and throughout Europe. The photos they had were amazing and I felt by about 1/4 of the way through that I'd already reached my saturation point of learning about the horrible things of which mankind is capable. Picture after picture was looking into the face of people moments from their death and knowing it. Document after document was cold propaganda about the Jews and all other such "enemies of the state." Letter after letter told of abuse, torture and death. I cried as I read an excerpt of a letter a man wrote to his wife after learning he'd been sentenced to die the next day. He spoke only of his love, his gratitude to God for his 4 children and his peace with leaving his family in the hands of God.

From there, we headed to Checkpoint Charlie. It's simply a former checkpoint in the middle of a busy street that cars now dash right through. Yesterday, we drove through checkpoint Bravo on the autobahn at about 80 kph! Strange how they once divided the city and now don't even slow traffic. The displays at Checkpoint Charlie had some interesting history about the wall, escape attempts (and successes) and deaths. By then we all felt like we'd definitely reached saturation and exhaustion point and so we headed for ice cream, viewing of more Wall remains (below) and then home from there.

There's so much more to see in Berlin, but it will have to wait for future visits.