TV Tower Breakfast and the New Castle

One of Tünde's favourite things is the Berlin TV tower.  It's near Alexanderplatz, one of my favourite areas in Berlin, and it was built from 1965 to 1969 by the East German government.  You can't miss the tower.  It is 368 metres (1207 feet) tall making it the tallest structure in Germany and the third-tallest in the EU.

This morning we went for breakfast.  Reservations are required and it was a bit pricey but it's not something that you would do all of the time.  

We had a table at the window and as the restaurant revolved we got to enjoy breakfast as we looked out across the entire city.

It was pretty cool.  Though again, not something that I would do again soon.  The munchkin loved it and that was the point.

Later we visited the new Berlin Palace.  The Berliner Scholß, also called the Humboldt Forum, is the new, old palace.  Construction of the original palace began in 1443 and was completed in 1894.  It used to be one of the city's biggest buildings.  Allied bombings in 1945 damaged the palace.  In 1950, the East Germany government demolished what was left of the palace and in its place, in 1976, built the Palest der Republik, the Palace of the Republic, which was the DDR's central government building.

After German reunification, the Palace of the Republic was torn down in 2009.  Mostly due to the 5000 tonnes of asbestos within the building.  Germans were torn over what to do with the land.  Some wanted the original palace back while others wanted to see a rebuilt Palest der Republik, some wanted a park, etc.  Eventually it was decided that the original palace would make a return and reconstruction began in 2013.  The construction was completed in 2020 but with Covid I believe that the grand opening was delayed.  

Here's what the old Palest der Republik looked like.  I found a short video on YouTube that talked about its grand opening back in the 1970's.

©Footage Berlin - RBB Media

Here's a 43 minute documentary I found on YouTube that talks about the bringing the the new, old castle back.

©DW News