Two Days and One Night in Berlin

I visited Berlin for two days and one night on the first weekend of October.
Since it takes four hours one way by the ICE express train, it is quite a demanding schedule.

Even so, Berlin is a city worth visiting.

This time, I tried to find Große Präsidentenstraße 10, where Mori Ogai had his third and final residence in Berlin.

(By the way, I have already mentioned his first lodging. Please take a look at the following if you like.) ↓

That third lodging was located on the north side of the S-Bahn Hackescher Markt station. This area was in East Berlin during the Cold War.

On the day I visited, a market was being held in front of the station, and it was extremely crowded. I got the impression that the area is quite a busy district.

Although the buildings are completely different from those days, I can get a good sense of the atmosphere of the city. Was it this bustling back then, too?

According to the video, Rintaro Mori lived on the third floor of the building with red decorations to the right of the Sparkasse.

This was the one place I really wanted to check out this time.

After that, I just wandered around to my favorite topos.
For example, Gendarmenmarkt.
This is also in the former East district. The French Cathedral and the German Cathedral stand side by side like twins.

Unfortunately, it is under renovation and you cannot enter the square, but if you go around to the back (west side), you can visit the cathedrals. However, during the East German era, the interiors were destroyed due to anti-religious policies, and the religious character was wiped away, leaving them as mere museums, so they are not worth visiting.

However, this time I tried climbing to the terrace at the top of the French Cathedral in the back of the photo. The area with the round window is the terrace. It is not that high, but climbing up there was a struggle for an old man past seventy. The admission fee is 8 euros, but I was able to enter for 4.5 euros with a senior discount.

That pretty much concludes the first day.

<To be continued> (Maybe ♫)