Top 10 Berlin Attractions & Sightseeings

• Dresden, 800 Years Old City in Germany 
• Met United Buddy Bears in Berlin

Date of Visited: 04th October 2008

Germany's largest city and capital since 1990, Berlin is certainly one of the city in Europe must visit. Berlin is one vibrant city as most of its buildings were built with the funds received from various countries and in return, making this city an interesting of both mix and match styles. When comes to attractions and sightseeing, this city has no definite centre and pockets of attractions are dotted all over the place. Berlin is kinda a very large and spread-out city, so it's not practical to get around by foot. Therefore, the most convenient and easiest way to travel around the Berlin city is by taking its extensive public transport system.

During our visit there, we did went and visited few of the famous attractions which shouldn't miss out. Here is the top 10 list of my personal favourite attractions and sightseeings in Berlin:

1. Brandenburger Tor

  
Brandenburger Tor or Brandenburger Gate is the symbol and landmark of Berlin. This gate has its own history for more than two hundred years and it's symbolize of peace and unity. Crowning on the top of gate is the bronze quadriga of victory, a four-horse chariot that used in Roman times were a symbol of triumph. 

2.  Checkpoint Charlie 

Checkpoint Charlie is the famous border crossing between East and West Berlin, where American and Russian forces stood against each other after the creation of Berlin Wall. There is even a museum showing different methods of escape from former East Berlin to West Berlin.

3. Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which known as Holocaust Memorial is the memorial in Berlin dedicated to the thousand of Jewish victims during the World War II. This memorial took over a year to complete and was opened in December 2004. Means by the time we visited this, it just less than 4 years old. This attraction is located close to Brandenburger Gate and not far from the bunker where Hitler committed suicide. 
  

All of these rectangular grey blocks are vary in heights. 

 

4. Reichstag

Reichstag Building is parliament house and mirror of German history.

5. Rotes Rathaus

Rotes Rathaus or known as Red Hall City is the town hall of Berlin. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government of the Federal state in Berlin.

6. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is the symbolic centre of West Berlin, an anti- war memorial to peace and reconciliation.

7. Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom, the cathedral church of Berlin is the largest church in the city and it serves as a vital center for the Protestant church of Germany.

8. Berlin’s Fernsehturm

Berlin’s Fernsehturm is a TV Tower and the tallest building in Berlin. As urban legend has it, the tower’s height is 365m high so that every child would be able to remember it, just like the days of the year. But turns out that the actual height of this tower is 368m.

Berlin’s Fernsehturm is located not so far away from Berliner Dom. 

9. Potsdamer Platz

Once one of the busiest squares in Europe, Potsdamer Platz was heavily damaged in World War 2 and then lay empty during the cold war because of it's position between east and west Berlin. Today the square has been revived and is once again a busy hub in the center of the German capital.

10. Berlin Wall

Last but not least, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall in the East Side Gallery. It is the largest open-air gallery in the world with over one hundred original mural paintings in 1.3 km-long painted stretch. I did blogged about this before in full post - The Rising & Falling of Berlin Wall.  

DT with Germany's flag

Snapshot Sunday: Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

When seeing one of this "Seven Wonders of The World", don't you feel want to do a pose to hold up and prevent this tower from falling? My friends and I did the same thing too. Guess, this is one of the popular tourist activity.

Check out my old travel post: Pisa, Italy

The Rising & Falling of Berlin Wall

Date of Visited: 3rd October 2008

Many years have now passed since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which once separating east from West Berlin. This 28 years old long concrete wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic that completely cut-off the West of Berlin from surrounding East Germany and East Berlin.

Built in 1961, this Berlin Wall stretched over a hundred miles long was once a 96 miles barbed wire fence before its officially being torn down in 1989. Not entirely of these walls are being destroyed as there are few of these concrete walls left standing as memorials.

The first part of the Berlin Wall we visited was the East Side Gallery and this is the longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall. This 1.3km long section has now become an international memorial for freedom which consists more than hundred of paintings painted by artists from all over the world.

Unfortunately, because it is an open air-gallery, this Berlin Wall is now heavily damaged by so called as graffiti and vandalism.

DT and Berlin Wall itself

The paint on the left wall is one of the well-known landmark of Berlin, Brandenburg Gate

Besides East Side Gallery, some of the remaining stretch of the wall can be find in the city center of Berlin such as Checkpoint Charlie.

Well, without a doubt, the history of Berlin Wall itself has now become one of the most interesting parts of German history.


[Credit To: Wikipedia, About.com, Destination360.com, Berlin-life.com]

Dresden, 800 Years Old City of Germany

Date of Visited: 3rd October 2008

Have you ever heard of Dresden before? Frankly speaking, neither do I. Before we travelled from Prague, Crezh Republic into Berlin, the vibrant capital city of Germany, we stopby for a period to visit this 800 years old city of Germany.

We were brought by Sarah, our tour guide to few of the notable attractions of Dresden. The first one was Zwinger.

Zwinger is a palace and Dresden's most famous landmark. It is famous for its finest examples of late Baroque architecture in Germany.

With its large inner courtyard, it used to be for court activities, fireworks and even tournaments.

Marvellous architecture of the wall pavilion

Today, the Baroque complex of pavillions, galleries and inner courtyards is home to the excellent Old Masters Picture Gallery, the Armoury, the Porcelain Collection, and the Zoological Museum.

Next was Semperoper. Semperoper is the opera house and concert hall of Dresden. As it required admission fee and because time constraint, we didn't went it. But just looking at outside of the building, I can't deny that Semperoper is one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world.

Situated on the right of Semperoper was Katholische Hofkirche, literally in English means The Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony.

Similar to Prague, most of Dresden's highlight attractions are located on the banks of the Elbe river in Dresden's Old Town and in walking distance from each other. Although approximately 80% of Dresden’s historic center was destroyed due to the World War II, all of these important landmarks have been rebuilt and reconstructed to their former splendor.

[Credit To: Wikipedia, A View on Cities, Semperoper Erleben, About.com,

Snapshot Sunday: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Switzerland is not only a country that cover with snow but it has the most impressive and spectacular scenery through its valleys in the Alps, between gigantic rock faces and mountain peaks and also surrounding with different and unique chalets.

Check out my old travel post: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Met United Buddy Bears in Berlin

I guess most of you have met United Buddy Bears as these colourful bear statues were being displayed last few month in front of the entrance of Pavilion KL. Yes, I did met them too on last January before going holiday to Phuket. But you might not knowing that this is not the first time I met United Buddy Bears cause I met them before way back in year 2008 in Berlin, Germany.

Initially, my friends and I thought these bears are just like any other normal statues that might be symbol of a country. Out of our expectation, these fibreglass bear sculptures was originally developed in Berlin, Germany has now taken over the world with spreading a message of peace, international understanding and tolerance among the nations, cultures and religions of this world.

Unlike the one in Pavilion, KL where the exhibition was displayed at one point and you take photo or even hug with almost all of these 143 two meter tall fibreglass bears, Berlin did it differently. These bear sculptures were displayed at different point, so it might be a lil bit tricky to consume some time, energy and even some luck to find them.

Design of the world genius Albert Einstein. Specially dedicated for him as he was German-born and you know what, today is the day where he was born.

While searching for these around Berlin, I told my friends that I have the intention to buy these United Buddy Bears keychains as part of my travel collection. And guess what?

Yes, I did saw there is a shop somewhere around Berlin city selling these kind of keychains. Unfortunately, they were so expensive. A mini and small keychain with the height of at least 2 inches or less cost almost RM100 for one only. Hence, my intention to have them immediately vanished once I saw the price tag. The keychains are indeed so pretty and creative but their price are much more prettier. Deng!

Since I unable to buy those keychains, therefore my friends and I did something silly and insane.

Yeah! We're becoming the United Buddy Bear Human instead.

I really enjoy taking photo with these series of painted bear statues together with my friends. I guess I started to admire all this kind of series statues wherever I met them while travelling; taking for example like "Superlambananas in Liverpool" and the latest one I spotted in Phuket.

A compilation of photo with United Buddy Bears in Berlin, Germany.

[Credit To: United Buddy Bears homepage, Wikipedia]

Prague's Attractions & Sightseeing

Date of Visited: 2nd October 2008

Prague is one of Europe famous tourist destinations. There are lots of old buildings with beautiful murals on them. To get true sense of Prague, the best way is hitting the pavement like I mentioned before in my previous post. So in this post as what I promised before, here are few of attractions and sightseeing which I experienced before that must visit and see if you plan to visit Prague in future.

1. Prague Castle

The Prague Castle is the ancient symbol and the most significant Czech cultural monument. As Prague Castle has been recorded as the world's biggest ancient castle, hence it is the number one tourist attraction in Prague.

The other side view of Prague Castle

Just like the other Royal Palaces, there is an hourly changing of the guard ceremony. At noon, the ceremony includes fanfare at a flag ceremony as well in the first courtyard.

A photo group with the whole tourmates and tour guide in front of Prague Castle

The Castle is accessible by everyone and it is open daily. However, there are some areas require to buy a ticket for entrance. In that case, we decided to visit the other attractions instead.

2. Charles Bridge

Among of all the bridges of Prague, Charles Bridge is the famous historic bridge that connect between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town and other adjacent areas. It is also one of the most famous attractions that you shouldn't miss out when visit Prague. Charles Bridge is richly adorned with sculptures - coats of arms of the countries belonging to the Czech Crown.

A full details of Charles Bridge was written on a wall of a high tower

A whole view on how the bridge looks like

Numerous of painters and musicians when crossing across the bridge

And if you are looking for shopping around Prague, Charles Bridge does offer various of stalls that selling anything from black and white photos of Prague to home-made jewellery. This is where I search for my travel knick-knacks; keychains and fridge magnets.

3. Old Town Square

The Old Town Square is one of the two main squares of Prague. This is one of the most beautiful historical sights in Europe with numerous of ancient buildings and magnificent churches surrounding the square. Take a look on the photo above, on the left-hand side is the world notable famed, Astronomical Clock meanwhile on the right-hand side is Church of Our Lady Before Tyn.

Old Town Square is also another recommended place if you want experience slightly more cultural shopping experience where you could find typical souvenirs such as Bohemian crystal and hand-made Marionette Puppets.

4. Old Town Hall with the Astronomical Clock

Prague Astronomical Clock is the third oldest clock in the world and it is still working until now even thought it was installed in 1410. If you notice the first clock on top, it is the zodiacal ring with the signs of different zodiac whereas the yellow clock on the bottom is added with calender.

5. Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

Dominates one side of Old Town Square, standing a church named The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, or the pure Gothic Tyn Church where it can been seen all over Prague city. Its unique twin towers with many spires is useful as bearing and meeting point for the tourist.

Last but not least, enjoy the magnificent night view of Prague which will truly amaze you.

For your information, Czech Republic is among few of Europe countries that use their own currency instead of Euro currency. The currency of the Czech Republic is the Ceska koruna or Czech Crown (Kc). There are few shop and eateries that accept Euro but we prefer to change a few.

Leftover Czech crown from my Europe trip.

[Credit To: Wikitravel, Praguewelcome.com, Pragueexperience.com]