Sachsenhausen

Today we headed out to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp just north of Berlin. We went by guided tour as it's not easy to find and you get so much more history. Our tour guide, Torben was an American who has been living in Berlin for 5 years and he took on the train trip out to the memorial site.

We both weren't sure what to expect of the camp, not knowing how much of the place was still standing but we were both surprised by how huge the place is (and we only got to see a small fraction of the entire site) and just how horrendous life was there for the prisioners. The more I see this side of humanity, the more I love my cats.

I don't have much time on the over-priced internet in the hostel so I will post more about the camp later but needless to say we took lots of pictures and Torben did a great job in explaining the history in context of the Nazi regime and of the Soviet control after the war finished in 1945.

If that trip wasn't cheerful enough, on our return to Berlin we went to the 'Topography of Terror'. This is a section behind a piece of the Berlin Wall (there is not much left of the wall in Berlin, it seems the thought to preserve it was an after thought) that is now a walking outdoor museum built on the site of the old Gestapo headquarters and what was eventually the HQ of the Schutzstaffle (or the SS - Hitlers Army). We used the headphones to guide us through as all the text is bizarrely only in German. The trip consolidated what we learned earlier at the concentration camp and with our tour with Terry Brewer.

We are now off to find something to eat after another day of not much food and too much walking! We're thinking of trying the Greek place across the road as our trip down to the canal in Kreuzberg was a bit odd. The place looks like war-torn Bosnia full of nutters and punks so we decided to give it a miss.

Next stop will be Prague, we catch the train tomorrow and I will get to see my Mum and Step-dad for the first time since last February. Yay!! :)