Berlin, Germany – Last day

I thought I should post all my entries on Germany before I embark on the KK trip post.
On my last day in Berlin, I took the opportunity to visit 2 museums, Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the Jewish Museum. Checkpoint Charlie Museum is dedicated to the Berlin Wall and is located few steps away from the replica of a guardhouse of Checkpoint Charlie, which was a checkpoint for visitors from the West Berlin to East Berlin.






Stuff that you can purchase around Checkpoint Charlie
The museum is easily accessible by bus and train and there is an admission fee of 12.50 Euro. This museum is a must-go for all visitors as it has many stories on escapades by East Berliners to West Berlin. It also contains all sorts of items used by escapees to escape from East Berlin.

Plenty of photographs to see in Checkpoint Charlie Museum

I’ve no idea why they are kissing

When I met Randall Duk Kim, he recommended that I visit the Jewish museum. Since the museum is within walking distance from Checkpoint Charlie, I took out my trusty map and took a stroll towards the Jewish museum, passing some interesting sights.




So glaring.. can’t open my eyes..


The power of Smart car!
Initially I thought the Jewish Museum would highly concentrate on the holocaust. However, their section on holocaust is quite limited and the museum is actually on the history of the Jews in the world and Germany. When the Nazis were in power, the Jews were banned from working in the government and were furthering their education and career were restricted. In the museum, numerous personal items belonging to victims were displayed – together with a story on the previous owners of these items.

Jewish Museum

The canteen
Immediately after the museum trips, I quickly rushed to my hotel. I passed couple of interesting sights and even stopped by at one Kebab shop underneath a bridge for kebab.



I sat by the bridge to enjoy the kebab I bought. It wasn’t tasty at all. Yuck.


Most of the old buildings were destroyed during World War II but those survived the war were repaired and restored. I stopped at Kurfürstendamm and visited Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which is a ruin of a church which was damaged during World War II. Despite it being a ruin, the church is accessible to tourist and one can see many drawings on the wall and ceiling. A new church is also built next to the old church. Admission is 1 Euro per entry.




As for the ruins, admission is free. However, there are not many things to see inside save for some displays and paintings on the ceiling. There’s one display showing some stamps bearing the church that were sold by the Federal Post Office in aid of the reconstructions of the church. The stamps are of significant value today.


Used to be stairs but now its not accessible.




Before…
Outside the church, there are many stalls selling food and souvenirs. Artist gathered there to strut their stuff as well.


My visit to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was pretty short as I had to rush back to the hotel to pack up and catch my flight. Berlin airport is relatively small. However, there are couple of shops for you to purchase your souvenirs. I got myself a miniature Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church from the airport.
My bag was overweight but fortunately KLM didn’t charge me for it as they seem to have this ‘tolerant level’ for baggage. However, their flight was crap – with TV up in the ceiling and crap food.
After a 12 hours flight, I touched down with a sense of relief. The ordeal was finally over. When I reached home, I found that one of my towers of my miniature Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church toppled!