Berlin 2

First stop after coming down from the amazing glass dome atop the Reichstag, it was time for a brief detour into the Tiergarten, the largest park in the centre of Berlin. During a particularly harsh winter after WWII, local residents stripped the woodland bare for firewood. These days it is a green lung again for the city, but some relics from wartime remain.

Just a few steps from the Reichstag is a Soviet War Memorial which is flanked either side by the first two Russian tanks to enter the city in 1945.

These days they make a handy bird perch.

The brown marble of the memorial is said to have come from one of Hitler's key government buildings.

Heading back east from the Tiergarten and all eyes latch onto one of the city's best-known landmarks, the Brandenburg Gate. The only remaining gate into the city, it once sat on the boundary between East and West Berlin. Back then, this was no man's land, but today everyone is free to walk through the columns which support the goddess of victory in her chariot pulled by four horses. Truth be told, it's a lot smaller than we envisioned.

The large pedestrianised space on the other side of the gate is Pariser Platz, known decades ago as 'the emperor's reception hall' because of the number of diplomats who lived here. It has regained its status as Embassy Row now that the ambassadors of the USA, UK and France have relocated here.

It is also busker central, where you can pose for a photo next to a Soviet 'soldier' in vintage wartime uniform and (why not) an Imperial Stormtrooper from Star Wars.
 
Further down the street is the former Soviet Union embassy, now occupied of course by the Russian Federation although the building itself remains recognisably Stalinist from the outside.

All this area has always been at the centre of Berlin and remains home to many of its oldest and most distinctive buildings.
 
The square of Gendarmenmarkt is home to not one, but two cathedrals, one French and the other German. They are nearly identical and I can't remember which is which!

Not far from here is Bebelplatz, which was the site of the Nazis first official book-burning, on 10 May 1933 according to this plaque.
 
It's a place to stand and wonder how a country can give so much music, poetry and philosophy to the world (for centuries Germany was the cultural powerhouse of Europe and the highlight for any Grand Tour) - then it only takes one generation to come along for everything to be literally reduced to ash.

On a lighter note: here's an odd little building, covered with mice dancing about, even dangling off the doorknob...

looked over by this cat, who looks a bit stern (or harassed, who knows).

Plenty more still to discover in Berlin, click back soon!