Berlin Day 1 (11th Apr)

Berlin is located on the rivers Spree and Havel in the northeast of Germany. It is enclosed by the German state(Bundesland) of Brandenburg, and constitutes a state of its own.

Berlin Coat of Arms

The overall impression one gets when visiting Berlin today is one of great discontinuity, visibly reflecting the many ruptures of Germany's difficult history in the 20th century. Although it was the residence of the Prussian kings, Berlin's population did not greatly expand until the 19th century, mainly after becoming the capital of the German Empire in 1871. It remained Germany's capital during the Weimar Republic and under the Nazis' Third Reich. During this period, Adolf Hitler had great plans to transform Berlin, because he thought that Berlin was one of the ugliest cities in the world, and he hated it. (Berlin was and is a center of left-wing political activity in Germany, and its residents largely opposed the Nazis' rise to power.) Therefore he and his architect Albert Speer made enormous plans for the new Berlin.

Einstein Cafe XD

Russian Embassy

Mayor of Berlin quite charasmatic XD

What's that convoy??

wahhahaha??

President of South Korea and the first lady

Monument graves with new architectural design in memory of the Jews who were massacred in the holocaust.


Remains of the Berlin Wall which was fell in 1989.
Until 1961 East German citizen were allowed to travel to West Berlin. Travelling to West Germany became difficult after closing the border between East and West Germany in 1952. The Wall was erected in 1961 because more than 2.6 million East Germans escaped to West Berlin or West Germany from 1949 to 1961 (total population of East Germany was about 17 million!). The life in the West was much better than in the East after 1948. West Germany including West Berlin had got financial help through the Marshallplan from the USA. In East Germany a communist system was established and many people had to suffer under repressions of the Communist party. In May 1952 the open border (Zonengrenze) between East and West Germany was closed by the East German government. In the years after 1952 it became more difficult and dangerous to escape to the West over this border. However, the sectorial borders between East and West Berlin were not closed. Many East German citizen went to East Berlin and from there to West Berlin. East Germany lost too many skilled workers in these years. Another big problem were the two currencies in Germany and especially in Berlin. West German DM had been exchanged into East German DM at a rate of 1:4 (1 DM West = 4 DM Ost) in West Berlin. People with West German DM could get goods very cheaply in the Eastern part of Berlin. The East German government saw no other way to prevent from escaping to the West via Berlin than closing the border between East and West Berlin on August 13, 1961.




A 140 meter long section of the Berlin Wall was re-erected by the museum on October 31, 2004 and nearby, a field of 1,065 crosses represents all victims of the East German border system.

Checkpoint Charlie

Ten days after closing the border on August 13, 1961 tourists from abroad, diplomats and the military personnel of the Western Powers were only allowed to enter East Berlin via the crossing point at Berlin Friedrichstrasse.
Soon the US military police opened the third checkpoint at Friedrichstrasse. The other two checkpoints were Helmstedt at the West German-East German border and Dreilinden at the West Berlin and East Germany border. Based on the phonetic alphabet the Helmstedt checkpoint was called Alpha, Dreilinden Checkpoint Bravo and the checkpoint at Friedrichstrasse got the name Charlie.

nEw Berlin (modelled by Win Win) Why New Berlin? Well essentially Berlin is now in the phase of transition especially in the eastern part where new infrastructure and instituitions are created congruously incordance to the 5 year development plans laid by the government in creating a metropolitian city.

Our group photo at US Checkpoint Charlie over the other side of the road (facing us) is the former USSR boundaries.

Max Planck

Deutschland University

Historic Musuem

Berlin TV Tower Tallest buiding structure in Berlin.

Berlin TV Tower

Berliner Dome