We drove to Berlin to tour for a few days and ate lunch at this rest stop. There was food as well as restroom services at the stops.
We stayed in a town where some of the buildings appeared to need repair on the outside, but the exterior of others was re-finished.
There were old row houses and cobblestone streets. The inside of the place we stayed had been completely redone with modern finishing and fixures and was better than almost anything I see at home.
At night, the weathered old buildings had a romantic look in the yellow streetlamp light.
After the Berlin wall fell, there was so much effort to obliterate it that not much of it was preserved for future generations. The brass plate on the ground marks the path of the wall.
And all through the city, a double line of cobblestones marks the wall's path. The wall split the heart of the city.
The German Reichstag parliament building was in the Western side.
The famous Brandenburg gate was on the East side in a prohibited strip of no-man's land. If you would have walked there, they would shoot you on sight. However, later this day, we enjoyed a quiet evening on its plaza: children were making bubbles, musicians were playing, and people were sitting on benches around the periphery.
Nearby is the memorial for the European Jews that died in WWII. You can disappear in the maze of stone columns that can tower over you. However, you can't hide (because of the passageways between the columns), and the outside can seem distant.
Checkpoint Charlie was an important interface between the American and Russian controlled sectors of the city. (The people in uniform there are not military, but you can take your picture with them for a fee.)
We had real Italian pizza the end of the first day.
Next morning, we had coffee at a local cafe before taking the train into Berlin.
A good train, and a pleasant ride through the countryside.
The updated Olympic stadium where Jesse Owens won a gold medal in 1936 to the frustration of some German leaders.
The east Germans demolished Berlin castles in their territory, but this is the Charlotteburg castle that was on the western side.
It had beautiful gardens.
