Berlin

Apr 17-21
AC880 YYZ-ZRH, LX966 ZRH-BER, LO388 BER-WAW, LO41 WAW-YYZ

Our previous trip to Berlin was over New Year’s 2010-2011. We enjoyed our time there and had certainly planned to return; however, with no direct flight options and visiting new places, we hadn’t made it back. When I was able to build out a nice well-priced Itinerary over the Eastern weekend, I jumped on it. Before our flight on the 18th, we took advantage of the opportunity to visit the Air Canada Signature suite, and had some champagne and a lovely meal so that we could spend the majority of the flight to Zurich sleeping.

Apr 18

After an overnight flight to Zurich, we were able to shower and have breakfast in the Swiss Lounge before continuing onto Berlin. Having recently done a few connections in Frankfurt, we enjoyed the speed an efficiency of Zurich and arrived in Berlin ready to begin exploring. Once we were checked into our hotel, we headed to some of the nearby highlights.

Ukraine war demonstration outside the Brandenburg Gate

Big Man with Little Man statue, created by contemporary German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol, in the courtyard of Theodor Tucher restaurant

Side profile of Reichstag (Parliament) Building

Memorial to the Murdered Members of the Reichstag

Close up of a few names on the memorial

Memorial for the victims of the Berlin Wall commemorate those who died while attempting to cross the border from East to West Berlin

Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe, opened on May 2005

A more permanent Ukraine war memorial

DRIVE Volkswagen Group Forum celebrates design, with a focus on VW

Paris 2024 Olympic artificial limb

With a bit of patience Tom was able to capture a well-framed photo without tourists

A bust of German statesman Matthias Erzberger, a prominent member of the Catholic Centre Party in Germany who advocated for peace during World War I

Having made the most of our first day, we head back to Potsdamer Platz and our hotel for drinks and dinner in the lounge.

Apr 19

For our second day, we stuck close to Berlin. Although we had done a version of Rick Steves from a much older edition, we took advantage of the route to re-learn the area and see what had changed. However, before starting the tour, we explored around the hotel and then headed to the Berlin Wall Memorial which did not exist in its current form on our last trip.

In Potsdamer near our hotel The Boxers is an outdoor 1987 steel and lacquer sculpture by Keith Haring

A different type of art outside the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre

Small piece of the Berlin wall in Potsdamer Platz that was previously a vast no-mans land between East and West Germany

Berlin War Memorial sits where the wall once stood

Berlin War Memorial Window of Remembrance

From the nearby Documentation Centre we get a birds eye view of the remaining guard tower and the inner and outer wall

Overhead view of the DMZ between the walls and Chapel of Reconciliation sitting on the site of the Church of Reconciliation destroyed by the East in 1985 to clear out the DMZ

A large mural at the Memorial capturing what occurred when the wall was erected in 1961 at the remains of a later escape tunnel

A unique camper, one of the many artifacts of life in East Germany in the House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany

Berlin TV Tower with the Neptune Fountain (1891) in the foreground

St. Mary’s Church sits in the shadow of the TV Tower has been in this location since the 13th Century but in its current form since the 19th Century

The infamous US Check Point Charlie border crossing

Since our first trip we have been fascinated by the Ampelmann figures on the East German cross walks now with their own souvenir store

The Alte Bibliothek (Old Library) in Bebelplatz Square, home to the Faculty of Law at Humboldt University

The interior of the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) the Central Memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny

Denkmal Heinrich Heine bronze statue

Looking beyond the Palace Bridge to the Humboldt Forum (rebuilt Berlin Palace) museum conmplex

Berlin Cathedral, also known as the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is the largest Protestant church in Germany

Our last stop on Museum Island was the Altes Museum (Old Museum), built between 1825 and 1830

Having made the most of the day, we made it back to the hotel before dark and called it a day.

Apr 20

Since we had already covered the Berlin highlights, we decided to spend Easter in places we had not visited before. After breakfast, we captured a commuter train to Potsdam and made our way to the New Palace (Neues Palais), followed by an afternoon tour of the former Tempelhof Airport.

This statue greets us on the entrance to the New Palace

Grotto Hall decorated with over 24,000 seashells, fossils, and gemstones

The Marble Gallery

One of many antique clocks in the palace

Ornate Antique desk

Grand Bedroom

Royal serving dishes

Historical bathroom featuring distinctive blue and white Delft-style tiles made of white marble

Gallery room

Giant Marble Hall is a major feature of the palace

Trying to capture some of the ceilings of the Marble Hall

The Communs sits across from the New Palace and contains domestic quarters and the kitchens

One of a number of statues in various stages of repair in the surrounding Sanssouci Park outside the castle

Exterior of the New Palace, built between 1763-1769 under King Friedrich II (Frederick the Great), is considered to be the last great Prussian Baroque palace

Heading further into the park, one last look at the breadth of the impressive palace

New Chambers flanked by a windmill is part of the ensemble of Sanssouci palace 

Sanssouci Palace, built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, is much smaller than the New Palace

Flower gardens adorn the park

Sanssouci Palace reflecting pool with a little bit too much wind for a reflection

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a partially-restored ruined tower, a symbol of World War II's destruction

Interior of the new church built on the site

More perspective of the damage that British Air Force bombing brought in 1943

20m high Berlin Airlift Memorial in Platz der Luftbrücke, outside Tempelhof Airport, the focal point of the airlift that supplied West Berlin during the Soviet blockade from 1948-1949

Eagle Head sculpture is what remains of a large eagle that originally crowned the airport's main building, which was designed during the Nazi era by architect Albert Speer. 

Classic exterior of the Tempelhof International Airport, last operating as an airport in 2008

Terminal Entrance

Check-in desks and luggage belt in the compact terminal

Very retro style check-in desks with some of the old airline logos

Looking back at the entrance from the length of the large hall before security

Former terminal restaurant

Looking out to the gate area with its unique covered roof that provided protection from some of the elements, without modern jet bridges

Portrait of Charles Lindbergh in the terminal

Model of the massive airport grounds, now a public park, with the airport now a museum with active offices

A historic photo of the previously active airport

Touring the unfinished portion of the terminal

One a number of bomb shelters under the terminal that protected Germans during WWII

One of the murals that decorated the bomb shelter under the terminal

Depicting a different story in another shelter

One final mural to break up the dull walls of the shelter

The baggage-handling equipment under the passenger hall pictured earlier

More of the inner workings from below

Out on the tarmac where the passengers and cargo arrived and departed

Stairs leading to the individual gates in the terminal

Visiting one of the hangars built into the structure, with historic planes that supported the airlift

One of 300 Douglas C-54 Skymaster military transport planes that supported the airlift

Air Force jet bridge supporting the complex supply operation

Painted carpet and airport logo leads to the terminal

One of the gate areas inside the terminal

Retracing a few of our earlier steps, we stopped at Museum Island and captured a photo of the German Historical Museum

The Berlin Palace

Locals enjoying the warm spring day in front of the Altes (old) Museum

Springbrunnen Fountain and the Berlin Cathedral

A full on view of the TV Tower with blue skies to contrast our earlier gray pictures

Last image of St. Mary’s church to complete our blue sky collection

With a full Easter Sunday behind us, full of old and new, we headed back to the hotel after picking up a small souvenir at the Ampelmann store.

Apr 21

For our flight home, we flew LOT Polish Airlines through Warsaw. Luckily, our flight was not too early, so we had a relaxing start to the day, heading to the airport after breakfast. The connection in Warsaw worked well, and we made it back to Toronto, on schedule, ready for work the next day.