Eastern Europe Day 2 - Berlin

we joined a tour group of 37 people including ourselves by Chan Brothers. The flight was from Singapore to Germany Berlin, transit for 2 hours in Istanbul Turkey. The flight we took was turkish airlines which served very delicious Turkish Delights.

upon arrival, one of tour mates luggages had 2 missing wheels, so time was lost in filing a report. But that was okay cos everyone was really tired from the flight. Nobody was in a rush for anything yet.

Once the report was done, we embarked on a tour of beguiling Berlin, one of the trendiest and most cosmopolitan capitals in the world that is also steeped in a wealth of history and culture.

The first stop was to Potsdamer Platz, which is an important public square lying 1km south of Brandenburg Gate (3rd stop) and Reichstag (German Parliament Building) and close to the southeast corner of Tiergarten park.

This is also where we had our German Lunch! It's right next to a residential building by Richard Rogers.

Next stop was the iconic Berlin Wall at East Side Gallery where you can find many graffiti on it. The Berlin wall divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It is an open air museum with a section of the awll covered in approximately 106 paintings from all over the world as a testament for freedom.

my local guide tells us that this is one of the most famous painting - The Kiss

 Checkpoint Charlie - name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin. It is the third checkpoint (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie), hence the name Charlie is given. 

A "Berliner Mauer 1961-1989" plaque is placed on the floor here to signify where the wall stood.

Bradenburg gate - 18th century neoclassical triumphal arch in Berlin and one of the best known landmarks too. It is built on the site of of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg. It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace. The gate is now closed to vehicle traffic and has been turned into a cobblestone pedestrian zone.

we also dropped by the Mercedes Benz Arena by JSK Architects with a seating capacity of 17,000.