Travel Highlights: Walls of Berlin & Reichstag Dome

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

A few weeks ago, I was in Berlin for a few days. It was my first time there and I had a great time! My lifetime travel partner, i.e. the hubby, is really into history, so Berlin was on the top of our must-visit list. I thought I knew a lot about Berlin, but now having been to the city, I realized how little did I really know.

Photo by Leon Photography (@leonroesler).

The city has a lot to offer: its old, historical side, and the young, hipster areas as well. Personally, one of my favorite spots was the East Side Gallery, where paintings by over 100 artists from around the world are featured, because it was a great representation of the past meeting the present, with "new" expressions displayed on an "old" platform.

Some of The Things I Learnt from The Trip

The Berin Wall actually has two walls: There was a "death strip" between the two concrete walls on the East and the West.
More than 5,000 people escaped from going under and over the Berlin Wall: I knew a lot of people died from trying to cross the Berlin Wall, but I didn't know that many people actually succeeded.
There really isn't a divide between East and West now. I think except the fact that the metro runs above ground on the East and underground on the West.
Curry sausages in Berlin: Visitors cannot leave the city without trying some curry sausages. And the curry sausages are very addictive!

Walls of Berlin

However, I didn't just want to just feature walls at the East Side Gallery. So I tried my best to take a shot with (and of) various walls I came across during my stay in the city. And no, they're not just from the wall.

Watch the short video clip I compiled for you here:

A Memorable Story

At the East Side Gallery, a story on a wall stood out to me. The story was about a man who was formerly imprisoned for trying to cross the Berlin Wall. When he was released after the fall of the wall, he got his life back and found a job working as a salesperson at a shopping mall in the city (the shopping mall I literally just shopped at a day before).

One day, a customer stopped by his counter and asked for his advice on something. There was something about this customer that he found to be so familiar. And then suddenly he remembered, this customer was the prison guard who once tortured him.

I imagined this man to react to this discovery with anger, sorrow, or hatred. Yet, his first immediate thought was: "How did he find me?" It was fear that emerged. All this time, he still had that fear of "getting caught," although the wall no longer existed.

P.S. You can see a black wall with words "Now, You Found Me" in my video; this wall was positioned alongside this story.

The Reichstag Glass Dome

Another highlight of the trip for me was visiting the glass dome built on top of the Reichstag building. I didn't expect myself to find it so fascinating, but perhaps I liked it also because it is again, a merge of something new and old.

Designed by the renowned British architect Norman Foster, whose works include the Hong Kong International Airport, London's Wembley Stadium and The Hearst Tower in New York City, the glass dome offers a 360-degree view of Berlin. It is designed to be environmental-friendly by cleverly using daylight to decrease the carbon emissions of the building. The dome was also designed to symbolize a unified Germany, moving towards the future as one democratic nation.

The original dome was destroyed in a fire in 1933, and later further demolished by bombs in 1945.

If you choose to use the audio guide, which you most definitely should consider doing, the system automatically explains to you the direction you're facing and what you're looking at, depending on where your position is.

Tip: Be sure to register online beforehand! Especially if you want to also visit the Reichstag itself as well.