Today, I decided to visit a couple of the more tourist-y sites that I've been putting of because they're such a downer.
First, I went to the Berlin Wall Memorial
Only a small section of the Wall still stands.
It's crumbled away in pieces, both from neglect and from people chipping off bits as souvenirs (although I think this is probably illegal, since the site is considered a National Monument today).
There's a small sign on the Wall declaring it so.
This area, between the Wall of East Berlin and the Cemetery and the current site of the Sophien Parish Cemetery, is a part of what became known as the "Death Strip."
To construct the Wall, several graves were relocated as the site of the Sophien Parish Cemetery was integrated into the Death Strip.
The plaque reads: "Approximately a thousand graves had to be moved when the border strip was developed. It is, however, possible that the graves of World War II bomb victims were not exhumed and that the border grounds were built over the graves. This cross commemorates them.
"How the Berlin Wall memorial should look and to whom it should be dedicated was disputed for a long time. The memorial stone that the Sophien parish erected bears the dedication that the parish has originally favored for the memorial with the Ten Commandments written on the back."
There are pieces of the Wall that have been preserved.
This wall commemorates those who lost their lives to the Wall. Some where attempted refugees, fleeing from the East to the West. Some where West Berliners trying to help refugees cross. Other were not attempted to flee at all but killed anyway. Still others were border officers killed in the line of duty.
It was an appropriately grey and rainy day.
These posts mark the path of the Wall, where it used to stand.
Just me...
The notorious "Death Strip."
After seeing the Berlin Wall Memorial, I made my way to an even more depressing site: The Holocaust Memorial. While less emotional because there was (surprisingly) less info about the history and victims readily available to visitors, it was still a somber site.
The memorial also lays in what used to be the "Death Strip" of the Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate.
The ground rise and falls, giving a surreal effect to the memorial.
Seen from any corner, the memorial seems to stretch for a long way.
The stone blocks range in height from even with the ground to over 15 feet high, though you can't tell until you walk into the memorial itself.
Just me again...
What the "Death Strip" between Potsdamer Platz and Brandenburger Tor used to look like.
Potsdamer Platz today.
Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz.
These "Buddy Bears" are found all over Berlin.
And, yes, I went to the Dalí exhibit!! Unfortunately, photography is not allowed, but it was an amazing experience. Of course his most famous paintings weren't on exhibit, as they're exhibited at more famous art museums, but I got to see his series' based on Don Quixote, Alice in Wonderland, The Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, and discovered this Disney short film based on Dalí's work, "Destino," a collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí that was never made during either of their lifetimes. It wasn't until 1999 that the film became a reality.
Until I've got something more to say....
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