Off to Berlin!

We got an early start today and on the way to Berlin we were able to stop in Dresden for lunch. Dresden, as a city once inhabited by a senator of the Hapsburg empire, is a beautiful little riverside city. It's most well known as being the site of the worst civilian bombing of World War II. More than 80% of the city was destroyed. The people rebuilt the city and purposefully used as much of the original materials as possible. Because of this, the black smoke damage is prominent on many of the buildings:

After lunch we got back on the coach for the rest if the journey to Berlin. When we reached the city we went on a brief driving tour that included a drive past some of the major sites and a stop at a memorial erected by the soviets at the end of WWII.

The soviets built these memorials throughout parts of Europe, but this is the last one that still has their infamous sickle and hammer symbol:

After the driving tour we settled into the hotel and set out for some dinner. We found a traditional German restaurant for some wurst and weinerschnitzel- not an easy feat in this city!! Berlin as a city is modern and typical. Because of their turbulent history, the historic sites you hope to see have mostly been destroyed or torn down. For example, here is the Nazi S.S. Headquarters used throughout WWII: 

Pretty sweet... At all of these "sites" they have placed plaques telling you what used to be there and the significance. It's interesting, but not exactly what I had imagined. The buildings are, in a word, hideous. Stemming from their communist era, everyone got the same type of housing and buildings were made cheaply and quickly. As a result, you get an entire city of this:

It's also difficult to find anything that you would classify as typically german. They have a huge Asian and middle eastern influence and we passed about 50 Thai, Vietnamese, and Indian restaurants before finding a touristy German place. 

After dinner and drinks, we wandered back to the hotel. On the way back we stopped at Checkpoint Charlie: 

Crossed back and forth over the Berlin Wall: 

And checked out Europe's first traffic light: 

Then it was off to bed!