The 3rd portion of our Germany Christmas market tour after Munich, Nuremberg, Leipzig and Wittenberg took us to Berlin. I have to be honest, I knew very little about Berlin other than the infamous wall and I really didn’t know what to expect. A lot of the places we visited while in Europe I had an idea about, I knew something about the history or the culture or the people but for some reason I felt very in the dark about Berlin. Honeybun was 2 ½ and Sugarplum was 5 months and we continued our trend of visiting places that would not typically be chosen by families of young children.
Because we had the van and the things we wanted to see were spread all over the city, we stayed at an affordable hotel a little farther out. The Hotel (the Alecsa Hotel am Olympistadion) was near the Olympic stadium and was a post-World War II building with a tiny little, questionable elevator but our room was surprisingly huge. We had booked a triple for the 4 of us and ended up with a large room with bunk beds and another room off to the side with a double bed. Our room had nice laminate floors but my parents’ room wasn’t quite as nice with older carpet but it worked for the minimal time we were there. Breakfast was not included but our room was large enough for us all to share a Dunkin Donuts breakfast (which we were excited to find near the Brandenburg Gate).
The first full day we drove outside the city to the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz which is where in 1942 the Nazis met to “organize and implement the final solution to the Jewish Problem,” (this is where the decision to set up the concentration camps took place). While the history and story was amazing, this might be one of the least friendly places we’ve ever taken the girls. I expected to find a museum with artifacts and furniture which I can always use to entertain the girls but unfortunately the exhibit was a series of pictures and explanations printed on large boards placed all around the house and it was nearly impossible to keep the girls entertained while we read the story.
That afternoon we visited the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial which is a Soviet prison with a long and fascinating history. The prison started as a detainment and transfer camp that then became a secret underground prison which the Soviet Secret Police used as a detainment and interrogation camp and was used until 1989 as a camp for political prisoners. The prison is located within a “secret” area that was not listed on maps at the time and was sealed from the general population of Berlin. The prison can only be visited by taking a guided tour but the tour was interesting and the guide was great with the kids and the tour kept them generally entertained.
After the museum we stopped at the Potsdamer Platz for dinner and also wandered around the Christmas market there. It was terribly cold and it had snowed every day since we arrived in Germany and the market was nice since it was next to a shopping center where we could go warm up with our Gluhwein (mulled wine) and sweet treats. The market was did not have as much charm as the one in Nuremberg but it was still fun to meander through and see the handicrafts.
The next day we went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum which focuses on the history of the famous checkpoint separating East from West Berlin in addition to the Berlin Wall . It was interesting to see the history behind Checkpoint Charlie as well as all the interesting ways people were smuggled through to escape the Soviet West side. Honeybun thought the people huddling in the small compartments of cars and using various flying devices to try to escape was silly and stayed engaged throughout the visit.
After lunch we went to the Berlin Wall Documentation Center. Much like the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, the center contained only pictures and text hung on large posterboards handing from the ceiling. Honeybun was not at all interested and spent the entire visit pushing Sugarplum and the buggy into thing (I really should say crashing her into things) and while I was interested in the museum I didn’t get to enjoy it much.
That night we went to Pergamon Museum since it was open late that night. While everyone was a little wishwashy about going since we had already had a busy day, I pushed and insisted we go and everyone is glad we did. You enter the museum and come upon the Pergamon Altar, a huge ancient altar built in the 2nd century BC in the Middle East and was excavated and brought to Berlin in the late 1800s. The museum also houses a large Islamic Art exhibit, Antiquity Collection and Middle East Museum which showcases the Ishtar Gate and Procession Way of Babylon. It was super cool to see these huge, ancient structures that were carefully uncovered, moved and artfully put back together.
We finished out our trip to Berlin with a stop at the Olympic Stadium. We were excited to do a tour of the stadium where the historic games were held during Hitler’s time. Unfortunately it was still snowing and when we arrived they were unsure if they would be holding tours which was the only way to see the grounds. We waited around over an hour only to find out there would be no tours so we headed on our way to Hamburg.
