Unter den Linden and the Brandenburg Gate

The Neue Wache is on Unter den Linden, a grand boulevard in every sense of the word. Indeed, I think one could come to Berlin and spend a week just on the Unter den Linden. The street was marvelous to walk down.

From Berlin

Off this street we visited the Berlin Story bookstore, the German History Museum, and the Brandenburg Gate. The street also is the home of Humboldt University, a place where Patrick is considering spending part of his junior year. There were so many places we missed. We will have to go back. The only negative about the street is that it is tourist central.

Walking through the Brandenburg Gate was like walking through 200+ years of history.

From Berlin

Commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace, just 15 years after its completion Napoleon comes marching in and takes the statue off the top. (He collected Quadriga.) A few years later Viktoria and her chariot is on top of the gate again, returned by General Ernst von Pfuel. This time her wreath of oak leaves is replaced with the German cross. After WWII the east and west Berlin governments restored the gate in a united effort. But when the wall was built in 1961 the gate fell into the no man's land between the two halves of the city. When the wall came down in 1989, the gate became a focal point of the celebration and later a symbol of the reunified city. The gate is completely restored, but I would have returned it to its original state with the oak leaves.