Berlin - Day 5

We caught the train north to Oranienburg, about an hour away. From there we walked for about 20 minutes to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and went in for a tour with an audio guide. This camp was used by the Germans before and during the war, with mainly Russian and Jewish prisoners, and by the Soviets after, with mainly German prisoners.

The weather today was quite dreich, some rain at times, which seemed quite appropriate. The camp had a huge amount of information and things to see, we could have spent much more time there.

Some of the watch towers were still there.

There was a trench specifically constructed for shooting people in.

Also the remains of the gas chambers and crematorium.

There was a very long infirmary hut where horrific treatments and experiments were carried out.

Back in Oranienburg we had lunch, a durum kebab, then caught the train to Berlin. We followed the typical Berliner practice of having a beer on the journey.

We walked to the KaDeWe department store, the largest in mainland Europe.

It had a particularly impressive food hall.

We went back to the apartment for a rest.

Later we caught the U-Bahn to Kreuzberg where we went to the Max Und Moritz traditional German restaurant. Scott had Berliner Eisbein (salted and lightly pickled pork knuckle with sauerkraut, boiled potatoes, pea puree and a mustard garnish) and Shirley had Hoppel Poppel (typical German breakfast omelette with potato, onion, bacon and smoked pork).