Top 10 Berlin Attractions & Sightseeings

• Dresden, 800 Years Old City in Germany 
• Met United Buddy Bears in Berlin

Date of Visited: 04th October 2008

Germany's largest city and capital since 1990, Berlin is certainly one of the city in Europe must visit. Berlin is one vibrant city as most of its buildings were built with the funds received from various countries and in return, making this city an interesting of both mix and match styles. When comes to attractions and sightseeing, this city has no definite centre and pockets of attractions are dotted all over the place. Berlin is kinda a very large and spread-out city, so it's not practical to get around by foot. Therefore, the most convenient and easiest way to travel around the Berlin city is by taking its extensive public transport system.

During our visit there, we did went and visited few of the famous attractions which shouldn't miss out. Here is the top 10 list of my personal favourite attractions and sightseeings in Berlin:

1. Brandenburger Tor

  
Brandenburger Tor or Brandenburger Gate is the symbol and landmark of Berlin. This gate has its own history for more than two hundred years and it's symbolize of peace and unity. Crowning on the top of gate is the bronze quadriga of victory, a four-horse chariot that used in Roman times were a symbol of triumph. 

2.  Checkpoint Charlie 

Checkpoint Charlie is the famous border crossing between East and West Berlin, where American and Russian forces stood against each other after the creation of Berlin Wall. There is even a museum showing different methods of escape from former East Berlin to West Berlin.

3. Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which known as Holocaust Memorial is the memorial in Berlin dedicated to the thousand of Jewish victims during the World War II. This memorial took over a year to complete and was opened in December 2004. Means by the time we visited this, it just less than 4 years old. This attraction is located close to Brandenburger Gate and not far from the bunker where Hitler committed suicide. 
  

All of these rectangular grey blocks are vary in heights. 

 

4. Reichstag

Reichstag Building is parliament house and mirror of German history.

5. Rotes Rathaus

Rotes Rathaus or known as Red Hall City is the town hall of Berlin. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government of the Federal state in Berlin.

6. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is the symbolic centre of West Berlin, an anti- war memorial to peace and reconciliation.

7. Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom, the cathedral church of Berlin is the largest church in the city and it serves as a vital center for the Protestant church of Germany.

8. Berlin’s Fernsehturm

Berlin’s Fernsehturm is a TV Tower and the tallest building in Berlin. As urban legend has it, the tower’s height is 365m high so that every child would be able to remember it, just like the days of the year. But turns out that the actual height of this tower is 368m.

Berlin’s Fernsehturm is located not so far away from Berliner Dom. 

9. Potsdamer Platz

Once one of the busiest squares in Europe, Potsdamer Platz was heavily damaged in World War 2 and then lay empty during the cold war because of it's position between east and west Berlin. Today the square has been revived and is once again a busy hub in the center of the German capital.

10. Berlin Wall

Last but not least, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall in the East Side Gallery. It is the largest open-air gallery in the world with over one hundred original mural paintings in 1.3 km-long painted stretch. I did blogged about this before in full post - The Rising & Falling of Berlin Wall.  

DT with Germany's flag

Read more »

Castleton, United Kingdom #throwback

Castleton is my first ever trip when I studied in United Kingdom back then and I had never blog about this before. Frankly speaking, none of us had ever heard of this place before but after our senior explained how beautiful and scenery was that place, immediately we signed up with our senior to join for this 1 day tour. Afterall, discover new place wasn't a bad idea and might gain new experiences.

#1: Castleton signboard

Castleton is a small little village located in the north east of England. The name itself was taken upon a castle which built besides the famous river known by the local. You won't find any high skyscrapers or even public transportation such as trains surrounding this village. All we saw just a row of old dark brown houses and shops without any paint of them, two or three small churches and an art gallery.

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7: Colourful blossom flowers in front of somebody's house

#8: As we walked further, we saw a flock of white fluffy sheep and it's my first time of seeing them.

#9: A flock of sheep, a clear blue sky and a lush green field makes this a perfect photo.

#10:Oh look! Even the sheep know how to look in front of the camera. Amazing!

#11: Initially I had this naughty thoughts of rolling down the hill but tons of sheeps' poo poo. 

Castleton might seems nothing extraordinary but this place totally gave us the relax feeling and also stress free from keep thinking of the non-stop weekly assignments and presentations. Especially for people like us who living in the big city might not able to enjoy this kind of place back in our own city, this place is incredibly breathtaking and pristine. Castleton, a truly clean and fresh air village.  

#12: Before leaving Castleton, a group photo with my unimates.

Read more »

Snapshot Sunday: Calton Hill of Edinburgh, Scotland

Perfectly stand on the top of hill and looking the overview of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, Calton Hill is absolutely the perfect and ideal place that often used for photographs and paintings purpose. Therefore, no surprised that Calton Hill has been included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For more, check out my old travel post: Journey To Scotland, Edinburgh [Part 1]

Read more »

Snapshot Sunday: Cardiff Bay, Wales

Cardiff Bay, capital city of Wales is a home to a large freshwater lake for sailing and water sports. It is not just an ordinary bay, it does offer few notable buildings that rich with their own kind of history and culture such Wales Millenium Centre, Norwegian Church, Pierhead Building, The Seneed and more.

For more, check out my old travel post: Cardiff Bay and It's Attractions

Read more »

Snapshot Sunday: Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

When seeing one of this "Seven Wonders of The World", don't you feel want to do a pose to hold up and prevent this tower from falling? My friends and I did the same thing too. Guess, this is one of the popular tourist activity.

Check out my old travel post: Pisa, Italy

Read more »

The Rising & Falling of Berlin Wall

Date of Visited: 3rd October 2008

Many years have now passed since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which once separating east from West Berlin. This 28 years old long concrete wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic that completely cut-off the West of Berlin from surrounding East Germany and East Berlin.

Built in 1961, this Berlin Wall stretched over a hundred miles long was once a 96 miles barbed wire fence before its officially being torn down in 1989. Not entirely of these walls are being destroyed as there are few of these concrete walls left standing as memorials.

The first part of the Berlin Wall we visited was the East Side Gallery and this is the longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall. This 1.3km long section has now become an international memorial for freedom which consists more than hundred of paintings painted by artists from all over the world.

Unfortunately, because it is an open air-gallery, this Berlin Wall is now heavily damaged by so called as graffiti and vandalism.

DT and Berlin Wall itself

The paint on the left wall is one of the well-known landmark of Berlin, Brandenburg Gate

Besides East Side Gallery, some of the remaining stretch of the wall can be find in the city center of Berlin such as Checkpoint Charlie.

Well, without a doubt, the history of Berlin Wall itself has now become one of the most interesting parts of German history.


[Credit To: Wikipedia, About.com, Destination360.com, Berlin-life.com]

Read more »

Dresden, 800 Years Old City of Germany

Date of Visited: 3rd October 2008

Have you ever heard of Dresden before? Frankly speaking, neither do I. Before we travelled from Prague, Crezh Republic into Berlin, the vibrant capital city of Germany, we stopby for a period to visit this 800 years old city of Germany.

We were brought by Sarah, our tour guide to few of the notable attractions of Dresden. The first one was Zwinger.

Zwinger is a palace and Dresden's most famous landmark. It is famous for its finest examples of late Baroque architecture in Germany.

With its large inner courtyard, it used to be for court activities, fireworks and even tournaments.

Marvellous architecture of the wall pavilion

Today, the Baroque complex of pavillions, galleries and inner courtyards is home to the excellent Old Masters Picture Gallery, the Armoury, the Porcelain Collection, and the Zoological Museum.

Next was Semperoper. Semperoper is the opera house and concert hall of Dresden. As it required admission fee and because time constraint, we didn't went it. But just looking at outside of the building, I can't deny that Semperoper is one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world.

Situated on the right of Semperoper was Katholische Hofkirche, literally in English means The Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony.

Similar to Prague, most of Dresden's highlight attractions are located on the banks of the Elbe river in Dresden's Old Town and in walking distance from each other. Although approximately 80% of Dresden’s historic center was destroyed due to the World War II, all of these important landmarks have been rebuilt and reconstructed to their former splendor.

[Credit To: Wikipedia, A View on Cities, Semperoper Erleben, About.com,

Read more »

Snapshot Sunday: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Switzerland is not only a country that cover with snow but it has the most impressive and spectacular scenery through its valleys in the Alps, between gigantic rock faces and mountain peaks and also surrounding with different and unique chalets.

Check out my old travel post: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Read more »

Met United Buddy Bears in Berlin

I guess most of you have met United Buddy Bears as these colourful bear statues were being displayed last few month in front of the entrance of Pavilion KL. Yes, I did met them too on last January before going holiday to Phuket. But you might not knowing that this is not the first time I met United Buddy Bears cause I met them before way back in year 2008 in Berlin, Germany.

Initially, my friends and I thought these bears are just like any other normal statues that might be symbol of a country. Out of our expectation, these fibreglass bear sculptures was originally developed in Berlin, Germany has now taken over the world with spreading a message of peace, international understanding and tolerance among the nations, cultures and religions of this world.

Unlike the one in Pavilion, KL where the exhibition was displayed at one point and you take photo or even hug with almost all of these 143 two meter tall fibreglass bears, Berlin did it differently. These bear sculptures were displayed at different point, so it might be a lil bit tricky to consume some time, energy and even some luck to find them.

Design of the world genius Albert Einstein. Specially dedicated for him as he was German-born and you know what, today is the day where he was born.

While searching for these around Berlin, I told my friends that I have the intention to buy these United Buddy Bears keychains as part of my travel collection. And guess what?

Yes, I did saw there is a shop somewhere around Berlin city selling these kind of keychains. Unfortunately, they were so expensive. A mini and small keychain with the height of at least 2 inches or less cost almost RM100 for one only. Hence, my intention to have them immediately vanished once I saw the price tag. The keychains are indeed so pretty and creative but their price are much more prettier. Deng!

Since I unable to buy those keychains, therefore my friends and I did something silly and insane.

Yeah! We're becoming the United Buddy Bear Human instead.

I really enjoy taking photo with these series of painted bear statues together with my friends. I guess I started to admire all this kind of series statues wherever I met them while travelling; taking for example like "Superlambananas in Liverpool" and the latest one I spotted in Phuket.

A compilation of photo with United Buddy Bears in Berlin, Germany.

[Credit To: United Buddy Bears homepage, Wikipedia]

Read more »