August 30 – September 1, 2015: Berlin, Germany

Berlin is our kind of place. It has the energy of a newborn capital but it has hundreds of years of history. History is what I’m after. We started our experience with Sandman’s free walking tour, because who doesn’t love free, and who likes to wander around aimlessly with zero clue to what they’re seeing? Not me.

We visited the East Side Gallery, the most famous part of the Berlin Wall, the night before. Some of the art has been taken hostage by graffiti; others are left more or less alone.

The next day we met up with our English guide, a transplant from Scotland who visited Berlin seven times before finally making the move to the city. She first took us to Hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson reminded everyone how unstable he actually was.

Brandenburg Gate

East Side Gallery

Humboldt University

Walking tour of Berlin

Jewish Holocaust Memorial

Hitler’s Bunker (now a parking lot)

Checkpoint Charlie

Straddled former Berlin Wall

Volkswagen showroom