After visiting Keulen we arrived in Berlin. This is the capital city of Germany. It has a population of 3.4 million people and is Germanys largest city.
The first day we went visiting the Berlin wall. After the second war Berlin was for more than forty years a divided city. East and West Germany were separated. In 1990 Berlin became the capital of the Federal republic of Germany.
In East-Germany they were very severe, so many people tried to run away to West Germany. For to occur this, East-Berlin had decided to isolate West Berlin so they had build a wall known as the Berlin wall. The fall of the wall was in 1989.
The number of deadly victims at the Berlin wall is not exactly confessed. People say they are 125 identifiable victims and 81 cases which doubt existed. Visiting the Berlin wall was interesting but also emotional if you think about the people who died.
After eating something we went to Alexanderplatz. This is a square and a well-known venue on the east side of Berlin. Daily there are more than 300 000 people who come to this square. The square is named after Tsaar Alexander I. In the middle of Alexanderplatz there is a fountain.
While we were walking back to our hotel we saw a nice lounge bar that was nearby Alexanderplatz. We had decided to reserve a table for the evening.
Yesterday in the morning we went to Zoologischer Garten Berlin, which is one of the oldest zoos in Berlin. The zoo is located in the centre of Berlin. In Zoologischer Garten Berlin you have some famous animals and one of them is Knut. Polar bear Knut was born on 5 December 2006 and had developed into the darling of the public. He was repudiated by his mother. When Knut was born, the profit of the zoo expand. On 19 march 2011 he died. Also in the Belgian papers they wrote about this beautiful polar bear. I was sad because I looked forward to see this animal.
In the zoo you have different departments. You have a monkey house, an aquarium, a carnivore house etcetera. After visiting the zoo we went to the Fasanenstraße. This is a shopping street in Berlin where you have shops but also many restaurant and pubs. In this street you have different kind of shops from international top brands. Examples are Chanel, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Bulgari etcetera.
We went early to bed because we had visited many things in Berlin and we were very tired.
This morning we have slept late and made our suitcases. Now we are in restaurant Schwarzwaldstuben. The restaurant has a old-fashioned décor. The restaurant is known for his macaroni, Maultaschen (ravioli) and Flammekuche (kind of pizza).
Berlin is a beautiful city with a lot of history and where you have many things to visit. We found it an interesting trip. See you in Denmark!
Today we have arrived in Cologne which is Germanys fourth-largest city with more than ten million inhabitants. First of all we went to the citys famous Cologne Cathedral. This cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. The building is really impressive and detailed. The construction of this Roman Catholic church began in 1248 and took until 1880 to complete. Inside we saw the High Altar which is one of the Treasures of the cathedral.
Next to the Cathedral are some nice shopping streets. Of course we took benefice of that and we went shopping. After a few hours of shopping we took the tourist train for some sightseeing. For 5 euros the train drove us to the old city which was a little bit disappointing because there was not much to see.
Cologne has a large number of well known museums. The three most important ones are the Museum Ludwig, the Römisch-Germanisches Museum and the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. We believed that those museums were a bit boring so we visited another museum, the Chocolate Museum, which was really funny.We could see the entire production of chocolate and we could also taste a few times.
The main economic sectors of Cologne are the grocery industry, the automobile industry, the chemical industry and the media. Also tourism is an important source of income and employment for Cologne. The fair of Cologne Koelnmesse is one of the major European locations for two years and annual fairs.
Although there is not much to see in Cologne, we had a great time!
