(Part 3) Northeast Germany: Hipster Berlin, Royal Berlin

- December 18, 2018, Tuesday.

- Berlin is a city full of pleasant quirks, and I surely wanted to explore more of the city's hidden charms. Since my second day in Germany was a full-blown history crash course on German history, I wanted to slow down a bit on my third day.

- Right after breakfast, I headed to one of Berlin's most unusual art galleries called the "East Side Gallery." Just a block away from Warschauer S+U Bahn Station, this open-air public art gallery is a series of more than a hundred graffiti paintings painted on a kilometer-long wall that used to be part of the Berlin Wall. This opened in 1990. Both sides of the wall are painted (one side facing the street and the other facing the river), and most of the paintings are political in nature. The gallery's most famous graffiti painting is entitled "Mein Gott, hilf mir, diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben" (My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love) by Dmitri Vrubel. The painting was based on a  1970s photograph of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and former German politician Erich Honecker doing a socialist fraternal embrace (an embrace with a kiss on the cheek, or in special cases, on the lips.) This painting faces the street.

Graffiti galore.

This is actually not just a kilometer long, but around 1.3 kilometers.

I agree.

Controversial.

"My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love," Dmitri Vrubel, 1990. Also, "A Shocked Tourist," 2018.

It is what it is.

A wild Hitler appeared.

- After visiting the gallery, I rode the metro to Potsdamer Platz (this is also the name of the metro station), a public square in the downtown, where I visited Spy Museum Berlin. This small museum is located at the south side of the small square. The museum is also fairly new, opening its doors in just 2015. Although the museum is generally geared towards a younger audience, I still appreciated it since I love mystery and spy stories. I also like the spy-related souvenirs that the museum has in its museum store, although I didn't really buy anything.

I love how the museum looks even from the outside!!

Interesting!!

Lipstick camera, anyone?

Or maybe a cigarette box camera?

Spy pigeons.

A gun in a violin case.

Of course, it ain't a spy museum without paying homage to one of the world's most famous (fictional) spies!!

- I had lunch at Berlin Mall right across the Spy Museum, and rode to Sophie-Charlotte Platz U-Bahn Station. Walking a kilometer along Schlossstasse ("Schloss Street") in this quiet residential area, no one would guess that a grand palace stands at the end of the street. However, the name of the street gives it away; "schloss" means "palace" in German. The Charlottenburg Palace is the largest palace in Berlin, and was built by Sophie Charlotte  of Hanover in the 17th century. Sophie Charlotte was the queen of the first Prussian king, King Frederick I.  The palace is so huge that one can easily spend a whole day walking through its endless halls and infinite gardens; I was only able to go to the main palace and new palace.

A very fancy well.

It looks busy because there is another Christmas market at its front yard.

The gate reminds me a lot of Paris' Palace of Versailles (click here to see). 

Front facade.

Interiors.

Music room. I love how the old piano look!

I still am freaked out by this....3D art. It's just too real. (And yes, that's a real dead deer hanging from the ceiling.) 

A kid shouldn't be allowed in this porcelain room. Also, this room brings visitors to China as most of the things in this room were brought to Europe from Ming-Dynasty China.

Grumpy child.

A giant Prussian vase.

Fancy armor.

The scepter reminds me of magical-girl anime scepters (think of Sailor Moon.)

A painting of King Frederick I being restored.

A grand ballroom at the new palace.

Charlottenburg Palace facade as seen from the garden side.

- Later that afternoon I rode the train to the Zoologischer Garten S+U Bahn metro station to see more of modern Berlin. The Zoologischer Garten area is a popular tourist area with its bustling shopping district with high-rise hotels. The most unusual landmark, however, is the Kaiser William Memorial Church (Gedächtniskirche). This church looks different and nicknamed "the hollow tooth," because it is a church that was not restored to its former glory after it was bombed during World War 2. It was not rebuilt or restored on purpose to remind people of the damages done by the war, although it acts as a kind of a mini-museum today with some things that used to be inside the church. In addition to this, a new Kaiser William Church was built right beside the old one.

Some currywurst, German bread, and gluhwein from the Christmas market around Kaiser William Memorial Church. Glühwein is a kind of warm spiced wine normally served during winter.  Personally, I think it is best enjoyed out in the cold like I did.

A reminder that war doesn't always choose to spare anyone or anything.

Broken mosaic.

Old  crucifix.

New church.

Welcome to Berlin.

- That night, I met up with Jacky, an old friend from college who currently resides in Berlin. Apart from catching up, she gave me more insight into how life is like in Berlin. As a way to welcome me, she introduced me to a German restaurant inside the Europa Center Mall.

Yay, thanks for meeting up with me!!

- That night, I went back to my hostel with time to fix my things since I wouldn't have much time to do that the day after; which would be my last day being based in Berlin. Despite trying hard to fit everything in my luggage due to my thrift-shopping hauls, I look forward to spending my last day in Berlin, well, not in Berlin,  but a city just outside the capital and one of the most important cities in the history of World War 2 - Potsdam.

- Please don't forget to read about my other adventures in Germany, Austria, and Slovakia here:

GERMANY:

Berlin and Potsdam: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here

Munich and Schwangau: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here

AUSTRIA:

Salzburg: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here

Vienna: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here

SLOVAKIA:

Bratislava: Click here