(Split into two posts due to length)

We were up at 5:30 for an early morning 2.5 hour train ride from our ship docked in Warnemünde, Germany to Berlin. Viking arranged for a private train to bring its travelers to Berlin for what turned out to be a very long, but extremely rewarding day.

To make the most of our limited time in the city, we, along with our friends Bob and Stefanie, hired a private guide for the day. After arriving in what is the largest train station in Europe, we managed to successfully connect with our guide, Lee Evans (lee.evans@berlin.de). Lee is an American who is a long time resident of Berlin and who turned out to have a wonderful sense of humor and an encyclopedic knowledge of history, politics, culture and more.

We took the subway from the train station to the area of the Berlin City Hall and then made our way to one of the earliest settled areas of Berlin around St. Nicholas Place. This is the area where traders settled around the year 1200. Over the centuries, the area grew. We learned of Jewish merchants arriving in the Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation, and the impact of French Protestant refugees (Huguenots) in the 17th century.

We walked through the area and made our way to the top of a large building that gave us a great view of the entire area. We should note that most of the historical area that we explored is located in what used to be East Berlin under communist rule for 40 years. One prominent architectural remnant is the stylized "space age" television antenna. (Apparently American operatives in West Berlin were able to intercept communications signals from this tower for years.)

Other prominent landmarks included the domed Berlin Cathedral and the major thoroughfare, Unter den Linden which eventually leads to the Brandenburg Gate. Walking down Unter den Linden we passed major buildings and landmarks including the German State Opera (one of three active opera houses in the city).

Next to it was a very large plaza, Bebelplatz, with Humboldt University Law School at the far end and a nearby statue of Frederick the Great (Frederick II) on horseback. In addition to his military conquests, he is remembered as a strong supporter of the arts, philosophy, and education and is credited with establishing public education in Germany.

In stark contrast, this square also is the sight of a notorious book burning by the Nazis in May, 1933 commemorated with an unusual display of empty bookshelves under a deteriorated glass window in the ground.

As we began searching for lunch we crossed the Palace Bridge lined with a series of old statues in remarkable condition of the goddess Nike urging warriors on to bravery and sacrifice for the country. As the Germans were losing WWII, these statues were removed to avoid being bombed and were hidden in a lake. After the war, they were forgotten about until years later when they were uncovered during the construction of a golf course!