Day 324 – The Long Road to Berlin
Travel days aren’t always glamorous. Mine began with breakfast at McDonald’s before heading to the Green Bunker to catch the train and bus. The ride was smooth until we hit the outskirts of Berlin, where a traffic jam held us up for more than an hour. Many on board were anxious about missed connections, but the bus company handled it well and rebooked everyone on later departures.
Heart of Gold Hostel:
The Central Bus Station lies about nine kilometres from the city centre. Thankfully, Berlin’s train network runs efficiently. Two train changes later, I arrived at my hostel — one of those mixed-payment places: card at check-in, a card for breakfast, but cash at the bar. A reminder that Germany still likes its coins and notes.
Later that evening, I met two lads from Palmerston North, New Zealand, who happened to be fans of my son’s music, Lee Mvtthews. Small world moments like that never stop surprising me. I stayed up to watch the football, hopeful that tomorrow would bring a brighter day.
Day 325 – Unity Day and the Weight of History
I woke early to clear skies and joined the crowds heading into the city. It was German Unity Day, a public holiday marking the reunification of East and West Germany on 3 October 1990.
My first stop was the Reichstag, the seat of the German parliament. Built between 1884 and 1894, it was famously set on fire in 1933 — an event that helped the Nazis seize power. Badly damaged during World War II, it sat in limbo throughout the Cold War until the 1990s, when it was restored by architect Norman Foster. His glass dome now stands as a symbol of transparency and democracy. I couldn’t get inside without an online booking, so I admired it from the outside, watching people queue beneath its grand façade.
Brandenburg Gate
From there, I followed the flow toward the Brandenburg Gate, built in 1791 by King Frederick William II. Once a royal gateway, it later became a symbol of division during the Cold War, standing directly beside the Berlin Wall. When the wall fell in 1989, this was where Berliners celebrated their first night of freedom. On Unity Day, though, it was hard to see anything through the crowds — the square was a sea of flags, cameras, and laughter.
The Holocaust Memorial – Silence and Reflection
A short walk from the Gate stands the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, completed in 2005. Designed by architect Peter Eisenman, it stretches across five acres with 2,711 concrete slabs forming a grey maze. Walking through, you lose your sense of direction — a haunting reminder of loss and confusion.
Unfortunately, not everyone treated it with the respect it deserves. Some tourists climbed on the slabs, taking selfies. I quietly reminded a few of the rules and the meaning behind the place. They seemed genuinely unaware, which says something about how easily history fades without reminders. Standing there, surrounded by cold stone, I felt the weight of what the memorial represents.
Unter den Linden – A Walk Through Time
I continued along Unter den Linden, Berlin’s historic boulevard lined with linden trees. Once a royal route leading to the Prussian palace, today it connects many of the city’s main sites — the Opera House, Humboldt University, and the rebuilt Berlin Palace, now home to the Humboldt Forum.
As I walked, a large demonstration was forming near the Palace, filling the air with banners, drums, and chants. Berlin has always been a city of expression — loud, political, never shy about making its feelings known.
By evening, I found a riverside bar along the Spree and watched the sun dip behind the city’s skyline. The day had been both chaotic and thought-provoking — Berlin showing its energy and its scars side by side.
Day 326 – Waiting Out the Rain
The next morning, the skies opened. I gave in and took shelter at The Killarney Pub under the railway arches. It turned into a quiet afternoon watching football while the rain hammered the streets. Some days on the road aren’t about sightseeing; they’re about slowing down and letting the city pass you by.
Day 327 – A Walk Through Faith and Ruin
When the rain eased, I set out to visit some of Berlin’s churches — a walk that became both historical and spiritual.
Berlin Cathedral, completed in 1905, stands as the city’s grand Protestant landmark. Severely damaged during the war, it was restored over the decades and reopened in the 1990s. The service I attended was formal and subdued, a contrast to the warmth of other European cathedrals I’ve visited. A small disagreement broke out over photography, but I managed to capture a few pictures before leaving.
St Mary’s Church
Next was St Mary’s Church (Marienkirche), dating back to the 13th century and one of the oldest buildings in Berlin. Inside, a medieval fresco called The Dance of Death reminds visitors of the plague years — a vivid link to the city’s past.
St Nicholas Church
A few streets away lies St Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche), the oldest in Berlin, completed around 1230. It ceased functioning as a church in 1939 and was later restored as a museum after reunification. Inside, marble statues now replace pews, but the Gothic arches still hold their quiet dignity.
St Hedwig’s Cathedral
I then made my way to St Hedwig’s Cathedral, the city’s principal Catholic church, commissioned by Frederick the Great in 1747 as a gesture of religious tolerance. Modelled after the Pantheon in Rome, it was heavily damaged in WWII but reopened in 1963. Its crypt holds a memorial to victims of Nazi persecution — a humbling place.
Gendarmenmarkt Square:
Finally, I arrived at Gendarmenmarkt Square, home to the twin French and German Cathedrals. Both were built in the 18th century and now serve as museums. The French church was established by Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecution — another reminder that Berlin’s history has long been tied to faith and endurance.
By late afternoon, the wind and rain picked up again. I found shelter in Kilkenny’s Pub, where I met a father and son from New York — the son had just attended the Ryder Cup and was already planning to visit Ireland for the next one at Adare Manor. Later, a Celtic supporter named Aiden joined us, and the conversation turned to football and travel. Good company makes any city feel friendlier.
Reflections on Berlin
Berlin isn’t an easy city to love at first. It’s large, serious, and sometimes unwelcoming. Yet its honesty grows on you. Few cities carry their past so openly — from war and division to reunification and renewal.
For me, Berlin wasn’t about beauty; it was about endurance. Every corner tells a story of rebuilding — from faith and freedom to the simple act of starting over.
Looking Ahead – Next Stop: Prague
With Berlin behind me, it’s time to head to Prague on Wednesday, 8/10/25— a city whose cobbled streets and spires promise a very different rhythm and character. After the rain, crowds, and history-soaked streets of Berlin, I’m looking forward to exploring somewhere a little quieter, yet still rich with stories. Travel at any age is about moving forward, one city at a time, and Prague feels like the next chapter waiting to be discovered.
My blog feels flat and uninteresting because the weather hampered my journey, and it was difficult to find enthusiasm when the weather was not cooperating. Sometimes your mind just gets in the way of actually seeing the picture that is in front of you, all said and done, Chechz Republic and Prague, a city steeped in history.
Andrew (inspireseniorstravel.com)
Day 324: Next stop Berlin.
Up as normal and walked to the Green Bunker to catch the train to Central and the bus station. Stopped at McDonald's, of all places. It's not my favourite or an exciting beginning to a day, but it was food. I had a nice seat and settled in for the 3.25-hour trip, which was uneventful until we hit the outskirts of Berlin and a traffic jam that held us up for over an hour. People on the bus were panicking because they were going to miss their connections in Berlin, and they had a right to worry. Most, if not all, missed their connections but were put on later buses once we arrived. Normal practice found a place for Wi-Fi, and I discovered that the Central Bus Station is 8.7 km from the hostel. I found out that there is a train station very close to the bus terminal, and two trains later, I arrived at my destination.
Heart of Gold Hostel
This is hostel that mixes cash payments and card payments, will take card for check in but at their bar it is only cash payments, a bottle shop round the corner I grabbed some to go with the rest of the Spag Bog hostel misses out because if I go to an ATM it costs me €7 to change money because on my card if I have the local currency which is in €’s I do not pay service charges that why today I stopped using cash 4-5 months ago because it a lot cheaper than using an ATM. I met two boys from Palmerston North as well, and they listened to my son’s music (Lee Mvatthews) and have watched them at Napier. The hostel is busy, especially as tomorrow is a public holiday to celebrate. and all the shops will be closed, only bars and restaurants are open. Stayed up and watched the football before settling in around 11.30. Tomorrow will be a good day, hopefully.
Day 325: Finding my way around.
I was up by 7 am, people leaving early always wake me up, I finished the next blog instalment and had breakfast, which has been the same for months, I took a photograph at the hostel in Riga and will post it because it’s the same except they had waffles. I finished up and left around 11 am, hopped on a scooter, but the Wi-Fi with my SIM card is not working. With all the shops closed, I cannot get it looked at until Saturday morning. It means I cannot hop on a scooter because I am unable to switch it off when I finish, so the charges add up. First stop the Reichstag, there I realised public holiday because the crowds were enormous trying to get in, and you have to buy a ticket online or you could jump the queue and book a table at the restaurant, I do not have access to my phone, so I was left looking from the outside.
Reichstag:
The Reichstag is a historic legislative government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that is the seat of the German Bundestag. It is also the meeting place of the Federal Convention, which elects the President of Germany. The Neo-Renaissance building was constructed between 1884 and 1894 in the Tiergarten district on the left bank of the River Spree to plans by the architect Paul Wallot. It housed the Reichstag (legislature) of the German Empire and the subsequent Weimar Republic. After the war, the building was modernised and restored in the 1950s and used for exhibitions and special events, as its location in West Berlin prevented its use as a parliament building by either of the two Germanies. From 1995 to 1999, the Reichstag was fundamentally redesigned by Norman Foster for its permanent use as a parliament building in the now reunified Germany.
Brandenburg Gate:
Ok, next on my list was the Brandenburg Gate again, tourists and being a Public Holiday, it was thronged with people and difficult to get a full picture without some walking or standing in front of you, but a massive structure. Right next to the gate is the Pariser Square, even though you are standing there, it’s hard to take in where you are because the crowds take over, so not going well.
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is an early neoclassical triumphal arch that stands on the western flank of the square Pariser Platz in the Berlin district of Mitte . It was built as the end of the central boulevard Unter den Linden in the Dorothee Stadt district between 1789 and 1793. The gate is the only one of Berlin's 18 remaining city gates. In terms of its form, it represents the shift from Roman to Greek models. It is one of the first neoclassical buildings in Prussia and thus marks the beginning of neoclassicism as state-supporting architecture in Prussia. The gate is Berlin's most famous landmark and a German national symbol , with which many important historical events of the 19th and 20th centuries are associated. Until the Second World War, the end of Napoleonic rule from 1813 to 1815 was primarily associated with the building. Until the fall of the Iron Curtain, it stood directly on the border between East and West Berlin in the eastern sector and thus symbolized the clash between the Warsaw Pact and NATO at the most politically sensitive point on their shared border during the Cold War .
The Holocaust Memorial.
The walk is a 500 metre around the corner form the square, I arrived at the square and read the dos and don’ts and how the structure is to be treated. Well tourists and Berliners disrespected this memorial to the victims of the holocaust which when seeing a group of people neglecting the significant of the memorial I stepped in and pointed out the rules and they were surprised that this existed but as you move through the area it is abused by a lot of ignorant people and if I was Jewish or someone who was persecuted I would feel disheartens.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany, designed by architect Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold. It consists of a 1.9-hectare site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae", arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field
Returning back towards the Brandon Gate I was met with a demonstration with thousands heading the same way I was going along the Unter den Linden towards Berlin Palace, and here they were gathering to the place next on my list.
Unter den Linten.
So, I walked along the Unter den Linten to the Berlin Palace where I watched the demonstration unfold for a while then gave up and decided to walk back to the hostel before stopping for a beer along the river where the bars and restaurants were full to the brim.
Unter den Linden (German: under the linden trees is a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Berlin Palace to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the linden trees (known as lime in the UK and Ireland and basswood in North America, not related to citrus lime) that line the grassed pedestrian mall on the median and the two broad carriageways.
I managed to find a spot in one that I could sit at the bar and fill in the miniscule details from today but the history that I attach will hopefully make up for a disappointing day. I think had I known Public Holiday Friday would have been this busy I might have chosen a different route and stayed in Denmark for another week, the joys of travel and unexpected turn of events.
What promised to be an exciting day left me feeling was it worth it. Yes and No I enjoyed the walk in the sunshine but tomorrow I’m on the church walk to 6 different churches around Berlins Central area, fingers crossed there is not too much drama. Now towards the end of the day demonstrators are looking for places to go and bars and restaurants seem a priority now the day is drawing to a close.
Day 3 Rain and More Rain:
The following day did not fare much better it rained all day, tried to venture out and got a wee bit damp so I went to the Killarney Pub under the railway tracks which turns out to be not far from the hostel and I watched the football while it rained outside late into the afternoon, I took the chance around 5 and got back to the hostel before the rain returned, so a couple of less than promised days travelling. Day 1 Travel Day, Day 2 Sunny but Too Many People, Day 3 Rained All Day,
Berlin Cathedral
Day 4: I was by 7 am people with people leaving make a lot of noise with the lack of preparation leaving there packing right up to the moment they leave. went to mass at the Berlin Cathedral and inside it was glorious but the service was religious and rather flat with no real sense that I’m used too with praise and worship. We were encouraged to take photos at the end of the service and then some bat was going around stopping people from taking photos, I left my hat in the seat when I went back to pick it up the lady who told to grab photos at the end of the service asked if I took some photos told her the bat is stopping photographs being taken, she told me to ignore her, so I told the old bat I was told to ignore what she was saying, she was not impressed with that, I asked her did she under what I said and he reply was yes, but she still ran around stopping photography because they wanted to get the congregation out so they could get the paying customers to come in at €10 visitor fees. I got most of the shots except David on the organ and a good photo of the sanctuary.
Berlin Cathedral has a long history starting as a Catholic place of worship in the 15th century, but Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop and today the church is predominately protestant. In 1940, the blast waves of Allied bombing blew away part of the windows. On 24 May 1944, a bomb of combustible liquids entered the roof lantern of the dome. The fire could not be extinguished at that unreachable section of the dome. So the lantern burnt and collapsed into the main floor. Between 1949 and 1953, a temporary roof was built to enclose the building. Entry cost €10 and the church is continuing to go through various stages of change and repairs still today with one side of the building scaffolded, like many of the big Cathedrals throughout Europe that I have visited. (Nothing last Forever)
Marienkirche or St Mary’s Church
Today I’m hoping to do the 6 churches walk so when I left the Cathedral I went to the Marienkirche or St Mary’s Church but was blocked by goons because of the church service, told them I wanted to sit in the service but because it was shortly going to finish, they still stopped me even though I was not going in as just a tourist but a church goer that stipulated on the sigh that you could go in if you are a church goer. I eventually y returned later in the day just as it began to pour with rain again. Originally a Catholic church from the 1292 it became a Lutheran church in 1539 and later joined the Prussian Union of Churches. It was severely damaged during WW2 and was rebuilt by East Germany in the 1950’s. When you first walk into the foyer there is a commanding staircase on the right leading to the higher echelons of the church. Stepping inside you are greeted with high Gothic vaulted ceiling, and walking along the aisle towards the sanctuary you are drawn to the silence around you. The organ standing proudly overhead and behind you whilst you admire the pulpit standing majestically scrolled around one of the many columns supporting the roof structure. Outside side the entrance stands a statue of Martin Luther with his right hand touching one of the pages as if to say. “By Faith Alone”
Museum Nikolai Kirche (St Nicholas Church Museum)
I’m not much one for museums today but it’s becoming predominately a move by failing churches or churches with dwindling congregations to make them or turn them into a museum. I made my way through the bitter cold wind to the St Nicholas Church around 400 metres away not wanting to do the museum thing but see the church which is the oldest downtown landmark for 800 years completed in 1230 and a late gothic structure. It ceased to be a church in 1939 and was left to the elements before being converted into a museum in 1987. After German reunification in 1991 the first freely elected Berlin wide city parliament met here and following extensive renovation it reopened in 2010. I stepped into a wonderful space that was the church filled with marble statues and if this was the first museum I had been in might have enjoyed the time to stroll around looking at statues, I’d rather look at the ceiling and the windows more but originally a Roman Catholic church, the Church of St. Nicholas became a Lutheran church after the Protestant Reformation in the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1539.
Saint Hedwigs Kathedrale (Saint Hedwigs Cathedral)
Next, I headed to St Hedwigs on the Bebel Platz in Berlin-Mitte close the University, the rain had almost stopped and was clearing but it did not last for long. Saint Hedwig of Silesia is the patron saint of orphans, brides, widows, difficult marriages, and the poor and indebted. She is also a patron saint of Silesia, Brandenburg, and Berlin, reflecting her connection to the areas where she lived and her influence in founding churches and hospitals. The first Roman catholic temple in Prussia was designed after the Rome Patheon and opened its doors in 1773. The structure suffered severe damage during the WW2 particularly to the copper dome but had meticulous restoration and was reopened in 1963. Hedwig and Henry had lived very pious lives, and Hedwig had great zeal for her faith. Hedwig always helped the poor and donated all her fortune to the Church. She allowed no one to leave her uncomforted, and one time she spent ten weeks teaching the Our Father to a poor woman. According to legend, she went barefoot even in winter, and when she was urged by the Bishop of Wrocław to wear shoes, she carried them in her hands. On 15 October 1243, Hedwig died and was buried in Trzebnica Abbey with her husband, while relics of her are preserved at Andechs Abbey and St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. The church is quite simple and plain with double columns in a rotunda spaced evenly around the church supporting the dome. In the centre of the church there is a mrble centrepiece" at St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin refers to the new, central altar, which has been designed to bring the faithful closer to the religious service and symbolize a "living church" within the building's newly renovated, modern interior. The organ is also a modern classical style that goes way up into the dome as seen in the photograph. The ceiling although I tried to show it in photographs has an intricate pattern similar to an flat opened box and interconnected and a theme throughout the church, inside a numerous alcoves depicted history of the church and in German did little to enhance any knowledge I might have.
Leaving I headed towards the Franzoischer Dom (French Church) across the Gendarmes Market square, the primary structure of the church was completed in 1705 and based on the Charenton France now a museum and across the square on the other side is the same designed church and in called the German church and both are museums, so a would-be traveller who enjoys museums would have had a great day. I toyed with the idea of paying €5 go up the tower and look across aspects of the city but I passed and in between the bitterly cold wind and rain it was time to head indoors. Been upon on feet for a number of hours so I found a scooter hopped on and headed back toward Frederick Strabe and Kilkenny’s, there I met two delightful people, father and son from the New York area and we talked for several hours. The son has just been to the Ryder Cup but his goal is to the get to the next Ryder Cup which will be hosted by Adare Manor in Co Limerick, Ireland. The course is kept in such immaculate condition that it has been christened the “Augusta of Ireland”. It is the first Ryder Cup to be held in Ireland since 2006, when Europe record a 18-9 victory over the United States in County Kildare. Later in the afternoon a young man called Aiden a Celtic supporter sat beside me and we also had a nice conversation and I confess I should of got a photo of the encounter but chatting had its priority.
6 churches, 4 are museums but over all a good day.
So, Germany the weather was not great, had issues at hostels and sim cards and would probably need to come back when the weather improves and i might get a better feel for the place but with migrant issues and security is tight, German people are very defensive and quite aggressive in their language behaviour and their is under lying mood is negative.
Was constructed in 1798 and the design was based on a distinctive five petal shape and in 1785 in gained a dome covered tower mirroring the French cathedral across the square .