Berlin, Germany

09/07/2008 We docked this morning in Warnemunde, a city of 8,000 founded in 1323 but did not come to life until it’s wealthy neighbors of Rostock discovered the pleasures of the sea, In the early 1900’s it was noted for it’s strictly segregated men’s and women’s beaches. Warnemunde has advanced over the past 108 years and now boasts of its beach dedicated to nude bathing. Our day started with a three hour train ride to Berlin. We caught a hop-on-hop-off bus for 12 Euro each to see the city. Our mistake; we got on a bus where the guide alternated between Germen and English description of the sights. It was hard to follow thus taking away from the city. I am glad we went to Berlin but I don’t see us coming back; it’s just another big city and the history has been changed with new construction. Over the past 100 years all the old building were either destroyed in WWII or have been replaced with new construction, many times replicating the old but still new. I found it confusing that most of the sights worth seeing were in East Berlin and not West Berlin. The history of the Gate and the Wall were interesting and did bring back memories but overall Berlin was disappointing to all of us.