The following day we visited the Stasi Museum, located in the exact same building of the Stasi Headquarters. The extent of spying that went on during those years was incredible! It could be your best friend, neighbour, or even spouse that had been (probably by force) spying on you through cameras in watering cans, purses, buttons – anything was possible. We watched ‘The Lives of Others’ (a movie on life in East Berlin, based on a young artistic couple who were spied on) that night which was filmed in the same building so was interesting to give it even more perspective. Worth watching for those that haven’t seen it already.
Scott : having watched the movie in New Zealand, the true reality of this time in history doesn’t hit home as much as re-watching it in Berlin. Walking in the same offices as the chief of the Stasi, only to see it in the movie again was somewhat frightening. The period of east-west separation was like a cultural genocide; unbelievable that it happened within the same generation span as the genocide in WW2.
Unlike in Croatia, German’s tend to have their history at the forefront of daily conversation. Its talked about a lot; a refreshing change. It appears they are very cognisant that through education and the evaluation of their own history, it will impact on their ability to move forward. It’s a refresh change from the Balkans, possibly due to the deep ethnic divide that still exists.

The Anna Frank museum was cool. There was a good video which outlined her whole life and how her father took a while to come to the realisation that her diary should be published. The alleyway that housed the museum had some amazing graffiti and street art; like a revolving open gallery – full of character in expression. Fantastic coffee, despite the heat.
We took a trip to the Tempelhof park which is an old airport, we were told it was great and worth visiting, however when we arrived it was too hot (36 degrees that day) with no trees and nothing much there that we could see so we left quite promptly to find a beer!
Berlin a pretty cool in that there is always some buskers or live music somewhere. On way home there was a trio singing old school songs like the Beach Boys, with pretty impressive harmonies.

The next day we revisited the Eastside gallery in the morning to get better photos with the sun in a different position. The Topographies des Terrors was a free museum that outlined how the Nazi’s gained complete control of Germany, and how they brainwashed the people into believing that ‘Jews were the enemy’ etc. It showed concentrations camps, then at the end explained who had been charged with war crimes after the war and what their respective sentences were – a small consolation for what they did.
The presentation if the museum was amazing, the quality of the narration a great change from other museums we have been to.

We visited the shops and Scott bought a new hat after much encouragement from me – he’s not a fan of shopping! However, on the way home in the metro his sunglasses were stolen and he only realised just when the train was pulling away. He was not a happy chappy, however we soon joined a group of Aussies back at the hostel for some beers, Vietnamese dinner and river bar afterwards and all was forgotten for the rest of the night!