Jetlag in Berlin

I had to go to Berlin for work this week.  I was pretty jetlagged upon arrival on Monday and was struggling through meetings.  When they were finished, I walked to the Hilton and checked in.  After checking in, I went for a short walk around the city.  First, I headed to Checkpoint Charlie that was just a block or two from the hotel.

The former crossing point of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin is now a major tourist site.  Today, it's just a booth in the road, with museums, tour guides, and fast food restaurants.  With bright neon signs for MacDonalds and KFC, it was hard to picture this as the gateway to Communist East Germany.

After a couple pictures, I headed back towards the hotel and took a short walk around the Gendarmenmarkt, a beautiful square directly in front of the hotel.

There were three buildings here - the German Cathedral, or Deutscher Dom, was directly across from the Hilton.  It had been destroyed during WWII, but was rebuilt shortly after re-unification.

Across the square was the French Cathedral or Französischer Dom, which like the German one had been damaged in WWII, but subsequently repaired.

In between the two churches was the Konzerthaus or Concert Hall.

There were some interesting statues leading up to the Konzerthaus.

I milled around the area and got a few pictures and then headed back to the Hilton to try and sleep off the jetlag.