26. September 2013 5 min read
Day 2 of Berlin adventure - Berlin sightseeing and Marathon fair
It was sightseeing day on which we also needed to visit marathon fair and take our starting numbers, chips and bags. It was preparation needed so that we could calmly plan our Saturday race. I have already been to Berlin and I know best way to get around is by U-Bahn (Subway). U-Bahn and S-Bahn (above ground train system) are best ways to get anywhere in this town as trains drive every few minutes and you can easily move around town without traffic and other nonsense. The tickets for 3 days were quite expensive so we have decided to take Berlin Welcome Card, which already has this cards included and offers discounts on many primary museums and famous buildings. We took a stroll down our Kurfurstendamm road to tourist office and purchased Berlin Welcome Card. After that it was off to U-Bahn and to most famous museum of them all: Check Point Charlie. This is a must see sight for every Berlin visitor. Inside you can see how human ingenuity never stops and how will can be a lot stronger than anything you put in front of people. From home made hot air balloons to suitcases where you could fit a person, to 1 seat car who was modified to take another person. It really is worth to see. You get to know all about Berlin wall and how it was made and ultimately how it was destroyed. The re-uniting Germans was really a symbol of how humans should never be divided.
After Check point Charlie museum we have decided to visit Ritter sport factory/shop. It is located just few U-bahn stops away yet worth visiting for choko maniacs like us ;)
Then we decided to take a walk around TV tower, but it was cloudy day so we did not go on it (sight from there is amazing and also something you should check when you are in Berlin), but instead we went to SeaLife and AquaDom. This is aquarium with quite some amusing other fish or light related effects which amazes. At the end of the trip around aquarium you are taken across the inside plaza to elevator inside AquaDom. It is basically Aquarium inside which you go with elevator and it presents you with feeling like you would be in submarine under the ocean. There are tropical fish swimming around you as you travel slowly up to top and then a bit faster to bottom. SeaLife and AquaDom will really amaze kids, but also older people will find all the information and sights in there interesting.
After AquaDom we were a bit tired, but we have decided to visit Planetarium. When we got there we were informed that show is only in German and that it is just a movie-cinema show. I was quite sad as I have imagined I will at least have a chance to see some distant star, researchers there are looking at. But it was not really a smart choice so we went to other side of town where Marathon Fair was held.
Berlin Marathon Fair requires whole paragraph to describe, yet I will not go into details. Imagine big sport fair with few ten thousand people, that are all interested in same things as you, testing new equipment and talking about the future event. It was overwhelming and it took us nearly 6 hours just to get around it. Prices... well they were not so good as you would expect, but we were informed they dropped them considerably as event got closer.
In the evening we went for a nice Vietnamese restaurant which was excellent and most important: cheap. Basic advice is to go inside few steps from main street and you will get excellent food for affordable prices.
We visited some sights on next day.