The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was heavily bombed towards the end of war. What's left, is a…read moreliving memorial to the violence and destruction that the allies wrought upon this city. This church was a casualty but also a focal point for Berliners to rebuild. Sadly, when it comes to churches, everyone has their own opinion... which is why today, the ruins stand as a testimony to the destruction of the Second World War. But! The citizens did build a beautiful Kirche next to the ruins. The discussions are ongoing, on the next phase of the rebuild. Some eighty-five years after the end of the fighting. See the many, many photos of both the New, and old Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. The new octagon sanctuary is magnificent! May I suggest you plan your visit around enjoying its beauty, splendor and peaceful solitude. You'll thank me later.

This is a review of the buildings and their setting alone; I'm not reviewing the church as a…read moreworshiping, political, or theological body. If you visit Berlin, you must visit the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The old church was built in the 1890s and largely destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943 during World War II. Like St. Nicholas Church in Hamburg, the ruins of the old church have been preserved as both a memorial and a statement against war and its devastating effects on society. Locally, it's referred to as The Hollow Tooth. The ruins are striking from a distance--especially the damaged spire--but they have removed the other parts of the church at very right angles so that when you're standing right next it, it doesn't feel like the result of bombing but, rather, construction. The new church's horrid bell tower and main building itself being right next to the old church (on either side) doesn't help either. Inside the old church, there are informational panels about the history and destruction of the church. There are also three important artifacts: a damaged statue and two crosses. The statue is of Jesus, and it used to be on the main altar of the church before it was destroyed. The first cross is made of nails that came directly from the roof of Coventry Cathedral in England, which was damaged by German bombing in 1940; there's so much symbology, both secular and religious, in the fact that the German damage to a British church became a gift of peace to a German church damaged by British bombs. The second cross is an icon donated by the Russian Orthodox Church, also highly theologically charged, as Soviet forces obliterated large eastern portions of the city (and raped scores of German women) during the Battle of Berlin, which ended the war in Europe but also led to the partition of the city between east and west and further untold suffering of its civilian population; in my mind, this cross is less an expression of pure solidarity among nations and more solidarity among different sects of Christianity, as the Soviet Union was officially an atheist country that was virulently and violently anti-religious, and it actively repressed the Russian Orthodox Church and all other churches. (One of my great uncles [probably technically a cousin] was a Jesuit priest who survived being sent to the labor camps in Siberia.) From the outside, the new church is only interesting because of its scale. A totally random visitor might ask Why did they build such a huge boxy glass thing right next to this old ruin, and what's inside? When I first went inside, though, it was one of the most striking transitions I've ever experienced, and I've been to many churches. The stained-glass windows comprise these tiny square panes, which you can see from the outside but which look like plain glass blocks rather than beautiful liturgical art. And maybe that's the point; Jesus didn't come as a conquering king but as the child of a poor family. What looks ugly and plain from the outside is breathtaking inside. It's a good reminder for all of us, especially those of educated in Jesuit institutions, to find God in all things, no matter how off-putting or insignificant-seeming. The floor tile is also beautiful and really well done. Almost everything about the interior of the new church is interesting at first and even better when you've spent some time looking at it. The old and new churches have a prominent location on the Kurfürstendamm, a huge street with lots of shops in Breitscheidplatz, south of the world-famous zoo. When the city was still divided, this was Berlin's city center, but within all of reunited Berlin, it's part of the Zoo Quarter, which is in the western part of the city. It still feels important, but I can imagine that especially at the height of the Cold War the damaged church spire was a constant reminder of what could happen again at any moment. As it's easy to imagine, damaged buildings require a great deal of maintenance so that they don't collapse completely. In another sign of former enemies reconciling, one of the champions of raising money to maintain the old church's structural integrity was Charles Jeffrey Gray, a former British bomber pilot who flew bombing raids over Berlin during World War II.

The Berlin Victory Column was built in the 1860s-1870s to commemorate Prussian victories over…read moreDenmark, Austria, and France. It consists of a granite base, sandstone columns, and a bronze sculpture of Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. Today it is also associated with a "Love Parade." This monument is located in the center of a roundabout, so it is easy to view from your vehicle without getting out. However, you may also walk around the exterior or even pay money to ascend the interior. The current admission fee is €4.50 per adult. From the viewing platform, you may see a nearby park and other surrounding areas. The Berlin Victory Column is a beautiful monument that is worth spending even just a few minutes of time to admire.

No credit card, but it only costs $4.50 Euros per person. It's worth the visit!…read more The Golden Angel. Depending upon where you are in Berlin, you can access it from four different points. From where I was staying, I walked up to it from behind. It's basically smack dab in the middle of a traffic circle, so pedestrians access it from an underground tunnel that gets you to the Siegessaule. From a distance, it looks like a monument. It's not until I saw people walking around in it that I realized I could go inside. Once I walked through the doorway, I saw the ticket booth. Once you walk through the ground floor museum of monuments in different countries, the signs lead you to the stairs that take you to the beautiful mosaic artwork. However, when I saw the spiral staircase that leads right up to the Golden Angel, and saw tourists walking towards me, I booked it up that spiral staircase! No elevator. Oh boy, it was quite the workout. So worth it though. The top of the staircase leads you outdoors, right below the Golden Angel. Spectacular views all around. I don't recommend it if you are afraid of heights. I walked all around, but held onto the side of the building the entire time. When I was done enjoying the view from the top, I walked down to view the mosaic artwork. Beautiful. Luckily the walk down is never as bad as the walk up. If you are in Berlin, I highly recommend the full experience of walking all the way to the top.

Nowhere near as famous as Brandenburger Tor, but it worth checking out, to see where Tiergarten…read moreends and meets the river.

One of The free but awesome places in this extremely commercialized area. Love The exotic Birds and…read moreThe huge Berlin bear Statue . Good Place for a relaxed lunch break Or a sunday breakfast in one of The small Restaurants.

As plazas go in Berlin, this one has a lot of good and a fair bit of bad…read more The good is the size of the space and the traffic that wanders through, The bad is the serious lack of soul and warmth, and a church from the modernist era that really does not do justice to the ruin it accompanies. The Plaza: A place where many paths cross, transit brings the masses and shopping and street kiosks do everything possible to provide the shopper with places to spend money. The Europa Center anchors the East side, providing a time capsule of 1980s cheesy architecture, a funky fountain and a generally lackluster facade taken up with (mostly) signs for the businesses that inhabit that space. The Kaiser Church ruin: One really wishes there was more space around the tower so that it stood silent testament to the horrors of war, and the end result of an overwrought militarism. But no, there are these two carbuncles attached to it. One is locally called the 'pillbox' and in any other place would be pretty cool. Actually, if he pillbox was alone, it would be acceptable... but no... it has a companion. A tower called locally called "the lipstick tube", and it has about that much character, It blocks a side of the broken tower, and thats a pity. And inside its base is a really tacky shop selling imported crap. Yeah, great way to honor the purpose of the church and the ruin. Fail. Entry into the ruin and church are free, as they should be. The west side is mostly forgettable, as are the buildings on the north and south. This place combines amazing traffic with lackluster architecture to succeed in spite of itself. Its a place with people - lots of them - but go on a Sunday, when its almost empty, and see just how bland and uninspired that space really is.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a memorial that opened in 2005 and remembers the six…read moremillion Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It consists of the Field of Stelae designed by Peter Eisenman and the underground Information Centre. Admission is free. I did not go into the underground information center, but as part of a self-arranged group tour, I did walk among some of the 2,710 concrete slabs. My tour guide explained that the concrete slabs were hollow in the center and that the precipitation and cold weather was causing cracks in some slabs. I appreciated walking through and viewing the thousands of concrete slabs, which were artistically staggered, and remembering the Jewish victims.

Yelp asks "How would I rate my experience here and how many Stars would I give it?" After a couple…read moreof thousand reviews, I find we were completely speechless here. Later in our Viking trip, we visited both Birkenau and Auschwitz. Those visits and here, are bookends to horrors of hate and the decent into humanities worst period of cannibalisms. I phrase it like that, because the people of that period, consumed and devoured the living nightmare of hate, as if it was to purge the world of group(s) of people they just didn't like, didn't understand and wanted to eradicate. So this place is a memorial of their memory, but also a reminder of what happens, when we allow Hate to devour our humanity and our souls. Five Stars and hopefully, never again! But I/we know better.... Seattle, Christopher Straße Tag...