We made a quick visit to one of the biggest cities in Europe. Flights from Bucharest are so cheap and we live so close to the airport that it feels like we could go abroad almost every weekend. Unfortunately flying isn't very friendly towards the Earth.
Two days wasn't quite enough to see and experience everything in Berlin but it at least gave us a chance to see what all the fuss is about. There's a lot of history in the city and it certainly has a special vibe as well. It was great to see such a huge variety of different people, especially after living here in Eastern Europe for a while now.
Berlin seemed to be quite tolerant towards minorities.
We usually don't take tours with Inna but this time Inna wanted to give one a try. We opted for one the "free" tours where you pay in the end of the tour the amount you want. We really enjoyed the tour thanks to the great guide of ours from New Zealand. He managed to present things in a very entertaining way and I think no one was bored in our group :). The only problem with the tour was that the day was very sunny and I burnt my face, nose and arms because of not having any sun screen!
But not everything is perfect in Berlin. There are a lot of tourists in the city and thus a lot of scammers, pickpockets etc. as well. We happened to see how a young Asian-looking guy lost a hundred euros to scammers in a game where the player is supposed to guess under which box a ball is. The trick is that the ball has been taken out altogether and as soon as the player guesses wrong he is being distracted by the associates of the scammer while the scammer runs away with the money.
I felt bad for the young Asian guy but there really was nothing we could have done I think. It all happened really fast as we just happened to arrive at the spot when the scammer took the money and ran away. I hope the Asian guy learnt his lesson and doesn't think that all Europeans are like that. Perhaps I should give Albanian people another chance?
This memorial site for the jewish victims of the Nazi regime is quite special with its narrow corridors.
A huge painting reminding how Berlin was divided in two
It seemed like the people in Berlin wanted to make the wall even thicker!
Before we took the tour I couldn't quite tell if these soldiers at the Checkpoint Charlie were real or not. They were not :).
Someone had left a message to Mr. Putin.
Trabant or 'Trabi' was DDR's version of VW Beetle. The Beetle is most probably the better car but the Trabis live strong!
The Beetle might be better but perhaps not prettier?
Currywurst museum. Only in Germany!
Old and new
Probably the most famous painting on the Berlin wall: 'My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love'
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