Berlin- The fourth day (around Kreuzberg and Unter den Linden) - The 24th of April 2011

Leaving the "Urban Art" behind, as it is called nowadays, we headed towards the Checkpoint Charlie, the former border control post, whose name is associated with the  radio alphabet used by the American Military and which was where the Wall itself ran along Zimmerstrasse with the Soviet sector to the north and the American to the south.

Checkpoint Charlie

We ended up again around the Gendarmenmarkt area in an attempt to find the Mohren-Kolonnaden dating back to 1787,which having initially been incorporated in a bridge were then adapted to stylish buildings following the demolition of the initial arcades.

The Deutscher Dome and the Mohrenkolonnaden

Our somewhat accidental walk took us unexpectedely to the 1747 St. Edwigs-Kathedrale, whose main purpose was to provide religious services to the catholic Silesians. The Pantheon in Rome stood as model for this domed Cathedral with a colonnaded portico, and although its interior is almost minimalist in terms of decoration, there is some beauty about it which is difficult to explain.

St. Edwigs Cathedral

Two imposing statues stood almost close to each other,  Frederick the Great on horseback surveying the city from 13,5 metres above the ground and Wilhelm von Humboldt in front of the University which bears his name, because of having been founded by him in 1810.

Reiterdenkmal Friedrichs des Grossen (Left). Wilhelm von Humboldt (Right).

We continued walking towards the Museum island (with five Museums, housing 3000 years of cultural history and since 1999 recognised as  a UNESCO World Heritage site) where we photographed the Deutsches Historisches Museum and its extension (designed by the well known architect of the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, Ieoh Ming Pei), the Bode Museum and the Pergamon Museum façades.

To thoroughly visit them will  obviously take more than an afternoon, so we'll have to (unfortunately) think about doing that some other time. 

The  three Museums

We walked along the Spree and headed then to the northern part of the city, as we felt we might still have time to visit the new Synagogue and a few more interesting buildings around the area ...