We took bus to downtown Berlin and when we saw Check Point Charlie we got off and went in. I was disappointed there were a lot of pictures with a lot of reading (we did not get an audio phone because there were too many school kids and they had them all, this might have improved the experience). There were some interesting exhibits of different ways that people had tried and either failed or succeeded in getting out of East Berlin. There was a suitcase, a welding machine and various other things that were used to smuggle people out. There were escape cars, hot air balloons, homemade mini-submarines and deceptively hollow surfboards.
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| welding machine for smuggling people out |
Later we went to Palace of Tears which is at Berlin’s Friedrichstraße train station and found this museum a excellent way to learn about the history and impact of East Berlin wall. I met a man there at a model of the train station who told me about his wife who was from East Berlin and that it was a parallel station with West on one side and East on the other side but only spies and higher up people knew that. The displays were well set up with memorabilia and models and displays set up. I would highly recommend this museum if you are in Berlin and it is free.
Then we took a 1 hour boat ride on the Spree river which was very pleasant, I would recommend it.
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| Palace of Tears, Berlin |
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| model of train station |
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| model of train station |
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