It's a very historical city, which everyone should visit at least once. Standing between those blocks of the Jewish Memorial gave me goosebumps. As well as seeing fragments of the Berlin wall was just surreal. Great to hear from you Phil.
It was an amazing tour of Berlin's main tourist attractions like Jewish Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate, which used to divide Berlin in East and West! Thanks for sharing!
what many (also Germans) permanently miss: the Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate was the main gate (out of 18 gates) to Berlin and built after the main gate to the Acropolis/Parthenon in Athens 2500 years ago at the time of Pericles (which was 'the' high time of Athens). You are basically standing in front of an ancient Greek Entrance to a high city (= meaning of Acropolis). Only three of such gates in the world exist: 2 ancient ones in Greece and the Brandenburg Gate which had those old ones as role model - which also explains the size. The Prussian-German king Friedrich Wilhelm II. was inspired by ancient Greece and many buildings in Berlin are the result of that which is why Berlin also often got the nick name 'Spree Athens' (Spree is one of the rivers in Berlin - and the most known one). From the same inspiration a bit later (which also was a European thing) Germans also created in Athens many neo-classical buildings and some parts of the city in modern times ...
I love the german guy who works in that sausage place. "ich arbeite hier, yes". German is such a cool language, and has so many similarities to english and my language (norwegian). So much easier to understand comparing to Polish haha
German is more similar to English, so I could understand a bit. Polish is a slavic language, so that makes it very different from English. It is fun to try to learn anyhow. 👍
Such a calming city with so many nice gardens. Did you check out the Portuguese cafes in Prenzlaurburg and Turkish cafes in Kreutzburg and amazing swimming pools in Charlottsenburg?
@@TravelAddictGuy Did you like Berlin or Warsaw more? I haven't been to Warsaw, just the airport. I am familiar with Berlin however. I think Latvia would be a great country for you to explore and it's very affordable and has beaches, Mountains and everything is accessible without a car. Just a thought. So did you like Berlin more than Polish cities? Just curious to get your thoughts. I enjoyed Berlin but something tells me Poland overall is more interesting. Of course I love your Spain series. Spain is one of my favorite countries of all time along with Portugal and Italy.
I was hoping that some Poles would answer this question. Poland was occuoued by the Nazis during WWII. They set up the death camps and made it illegal to help or hide Jews. Some did anyway and even died for their actions. So I don't know how they were involved unless it was by threat or force.
@@TravelAddictGuy There were collaborators in every country, including Poland. There was also anti-Semitism in the (occupied) countries, now as then. Victims were betrayed, unfortunately. Others helped the Na zis because they hoped for advantages, and often got them. Only humanly. As I said, I don't want to talk down the atrocities of the Na zis!
@@TravelAddictGuy There were even people from almost every country out there, who moved to Germany to support these monsters, when the bad guys came into power. Collaborateurs, fanatics and people with the same crazy ideology and beliefs. And they met many more of them, in every country they annexed or occupied during their dark reign. Many even fought on their side. It's a very sad chapter in every regard.
At 25:40: The flag at the building is the flag of the Federal German State "Saxony-Anhalt". It is the offical reprensentative building of the state in Berlin.
just an addition... the brandenburg gate was not exactly at the border of west and east berlin. It was actually completely on the soviet site in the east. you can see the wall in front of the brandenburger tor in old pictures
Hi kerry. Thanks for the shout out . When travelling around poland hungry cheq Republic ect can you spend euros or do you need each countries respective currency . Thanks
It's best to pay with the local currency. In Poland they use Zloty, in Czech Republic they use Czech Koruna (usually called crowns). In Hungary they use a currency called Forint. In most cases you can pay with your bank cards and your bank will do the exchange for you. It's a good idea to carry some local cash, because not everyone will accept a card. You can exchange your Euros in each of these countries or withdraw or use an ATM to withdraw the local currency. Your bank will charge you the best rate, with a 3% fee usually. Make sure to use the option let my bank do the exchange, do not accept the ATM offer to do the exchange, as they will charge a markup fee. Safe travels and thank you.
Regarding the Reichstag building: yes, your explanation is ok, but it's more a symbolical meaning in conjunction with transparency of democracy. The important part: the terrible things of WW2 (or before) did not take place in that building at the time. The bad guy rose to power in front of it, yes, but he immediately resolved the institution and then his buddies burned the building down and blamed the communists for doing it. They enacted martial law and gave extra power to the guy with the mustache, to solve this crisis. They turned the country into a dictatorship soon afterwards, but this building wasn't used by them anymore - or at all, actually. He didn't even have a single speech in this building. It was the house of the imperial federal council back then. Today it's the house of the German federal parliament.
I don't think I said that the planning happened there. Just that it was done in secret. I do appreciate your very thorough explanation. I also applaud Germany for being transparent and for not forgetting what has happened. 🙏
I was actually blown away by this video. Great timing to what is going on with the war in Israel. You are right my friend we must never forget the past so that it's not repeated again. The Jewish memorial was very real and we must never forget this time in history. Berlin is definitely a very diverse city. Great video my friend.
Jews are still being persecuted today, as this war with Hamas in Palestine shows us. What happened during WWII is truly horrific and unfathomable. I'm glad that you enjoyed the video, my friend.
The min. payment value for credit cards is in Germany usually €5-10. Because the credit card companies think Germany is a gold mine and charge per transaction a high basic fee + percentage of the value. The sellers have to add all the fees to the price, but German customers prefer to pay a cheaper price and pay in cash. Supermarkets, etc. accept credit cards even for small amounts because they can negotiate more favorable contracts with the credit card companies due to their size.
Well, if the price is cheaper, it makes sense. But I think the price was the same if I payed by card or cash. Some places wanted only one or the other.
@@TravelAddictGuy You should have also tried the version with cheese in it (they offered this as well). Easily beats the classical Krakauer in my opinion.
A Big Shoutout to our newest Travel Addict Member Kevin Hanney who is mentioned in this video. You're awesome Kevin!
Wonderful architecture and what an historical city in many ways! Thanks and safe travels Kerry
It's a very historical city, which everyone should visit at least once. Standing between those blocks of the Jewish Memorial gave me goosebumps. As well as seeing fragments of the Berlin wall was just surreal. Great to hear from you Phil.
It was an amazing tour of Berlin's main tourist attractions like Jewish Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate, which used to divide Berlin in East and West! Thanks for sharing!
I'm so glad that you enjoyed my video. It's so strange to think that at one time you couldn't even cross between East and West Germany.
I like the architecture of some of these buildings too! Just nice to look at, great video! Greetings from Berlin
You are so right. These buildings are spectacular here in Berlin. It's nice to hear from someone who lives here. Greetings to you from a traveler. 🇩🇪👌
what many (also Germans) permanently miss: the Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate was the main gate (out of 18 gates) to Berlin and built after the main gate to the Acropolis/Parthenon in Athens 2500 years ago at the time of Pericles (which was 'the' high time of Athens). You are basically standing in front of an ancient Greek Entrance to a high city (= meaning of Acropolis). Only three of such gates in the world exist: 2 ancient ones in Greece and the Brandenburg Gate which had those old ones as role model - which also explains the size. The Prussian-German king Friedrich Wilhelm II. was inspired by ancient Greece and many buildings in Berlin are the result of that which is why Berlin also often got the nick name 'Spree Athens' (Spree is one of the rivers in Berlin - and the most known one). From the same inspiration a bit later (which also was a European thing) Germans also created in Athens many neo-classical buildings and some parts of the city in modern times ...
I had no idea that there was a connection between ancient Greece and the Brandenburg gate. That is fascinating information. Thanks for sharing. 🙏🏻
Berlin is a great city to visit, hope you've enjoyed it also. Thanks for sharing.
I really did enjoy it, and that sausage was delicious.
I love the german guy who works in that sausage place.
"ich arbeite hier, yes". German is such a cool language, and has so many similarities to english and my language (norwegian). So much easier to understand comparing to Polish haha
German is more similar to English, so I could understand a bit. Polish is a slavic language, so that makes it very different from English. It is fun to try to learn anyhow. 👍
Thanks for sharing, Kerry 😊
Thanks for watching!
Such a calming city with so many nice gardens. Did you check out the Portuguese cafes in Prenzlaurburg and Turkish cafes in Kreutzburg and amazing swimming pools in Charlottsenburg?
I didn't, but that gives me something to look forward to next trip. Great ideas, thanks for sharing. 🙏🇩🇪
@@TravelAddictGuy Did you like Berlin or Warsaw more? I haven't been to Warsaw, just the airport. I am familiar with Berlin however. I think Latvia would be a great country for you to explore and it's very affordable and has beaches, Mountains and everything is accessible without a car. Just a thought. So did you like Berlin more than Polish cities? Just curious to get your thoughts. I enjoyed Berlin but something tells me Poland overall is more interesting. Of course I love your Spain series. Spain is one of my favorite countries of all time along with Portugal and Italy.
@@Mongoose-ct6us I did like Berlin, but I think I still prefer Poland and Warsaw over Berlin. This city is worth visiting though.
Thankyou my friend, nice place.
This city has a lot of nice places to visit. Although there are many reminders of the war here.
Well, Polish people were involved. Anti-Semitism is and was not a purely German thing! I don't want to excuse or relativize the Nazi crimes.
I was hoping that some Poles would answer this question. Poland was occuoued by the Nazis during WWII. They set up the death camps and made it illegal to help or hide Jews. Some did anyway and even died for their actions. So I don't know how they were involved unless it was by threat or force.
@@TravelAddictGuy There were collaborators in every country, including Poland. There was also anti-Semitism in the (occupied) countries, now as then. Victims were betrayed, unfortunately. Others helped the Na zis because they hoped for advantages, and often got them. Only humanly.
As I said, I don't want to talk down the atrocities of the Na zis!
Polish have made so many crimes against Jews, Progroms started in Poland
@@TravelAddictGuy There were even people from almost every country out there, who moved to Germany to support these monsters, when the bad guys came into power. Collaborateurs, fanatics and people with the same crazy ideology and beliefs. And they met many more of them, in every country they annexed or occupied during their dark reign. Many even fought on their side. It's a very sad chapter in every regard.
@@dnocturn84 It's one of humanities darkest hours.
At 25:40: The flag at the building is the flag of the Federal German State "Saxony-Anhalt". It is the offical reprensentative building of the state in Berlin.
That's some great information. I was not familiar with this flag. 👍
@@TravelAddictGuy you have not just embassies from all over the world in Berlin but also kind of embassies of the German states ...
24:50 Rudolf Virchow was a doctor at the Berlin Charité and a politician. He is considered the founder of modern pathology.
A very important man indeed. Thanks for sharing.
just an addition... the brandenburg gate was not exactly at the border of west and east berlin. It was actually completely on the soviet site in the east. you can see the wall in front of the brandenburger tor in old pictures
Thanks for that correction. I thought it was right where the wall was, it must have been very close by though. Danke.
Happy travels
Thanks.
Hi kerry. Thanks for the shout out . When travelling around poland hungry cheq Republic ect can you spend euros or do you need each countries respective currency . Thanks
It's best to pay with the local currency. In Poland they use Zloty, in Czech Republic they use Czech Koruna (usually called crowns). In Hungary they use a currency called Forint. In most cases you can pay with your bank cards and your bank will do the exchange for you. It's a good idea to carry some local cash, because not everyone will accept a card. You can exchange your Euros in each of these countries or withdraw or use an ATM to withdraw the local currency. Your bank will charge you the best rate, with a 3% fee usually. Make sure to use the option let my bank do the exchange, do not accept the ATM offer to do the exchange, as they will charge a markup fee. Safe travels and thank you.
A piece of that Berlin wall is out here in Cali also, near the grave site of the Reagans at their official presidential library & museum.
That's a fitting place for it. 👍
Regarding the Reichstag building: yes, your explanation is ok, but it's more a symbolical meaning in conjunction with transparency of democracy. The important part: the terrible things of WW2 (or before) did not take place in that building at the time. The bad guy rose to power in front of it, yes, but he immediately resolved the institution and then his buddies burned the building down and blamed the communists for doing it. They enacted martial law and gave extra power to the guy with the mustache, to solve this crisis. They turned the country into a dictatorship soon afterwards, but this building wasn't used by them anymore - or at all, actually. He didn't even have a single speech in this building. It was the house of the imperial federal council back then. Today it's the house of the German federal parliament.
I don't think I said that the planning happened there. Just that it was done in secret. I do appreciate your very thorough explanation. I also applaud Germany for being transparent and for not forgetting what has happened. 🙏
I was actually blown away by this video. Great timing to what is going on with the war in Israel. You are right my friend we must never forget the past so that it's not repeated again. The Jewish memorial was very real and we must never forget this time in history. Berlin is definitely a very diverse city. Great video my friend.
Jews are still being persecuted today, as this war with Hamas in Palestine shows us. What happened during WWII is truly horrific and unfathomable. I'm glad that you enjoyed the video, my friend.
The min. payment value for credit cards is in Germany usually €5-10. Because the credit card companies think Germany is a gold mine and charge per transaction a high basic fee + percentage of the value. The sellers have to add all the fees to the price, but German customers prefer to pay a cheaper price and pay in cash. Supermarkets, etc. accept credit cards even for small amounts because they can negotiate more favorable contracts with the credit card companies due to their size.
Well, if the price is cheaper, it makes sense. But I think the price was the same if I payed by card or cash. Some places wanted only one or the other.
The girl sitting on a memorial 🤮
2:22 krakauer sausage means Krakowska kiełbasa - very popular in Germany
That was quite delicious. I would love to eat it again. 👌😋
@@TravelAddictGuy You should have also tried the version with cheese in it (they offered this as well). Easily beats the classical Krakauer in my opinion.
@@dnocturn84 I'll have to try that next time.