Day #2 began with a sobering visit to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where tens of thousands were murdered between 1936-45 as a result of hunger, disease, forced labour, medical experiments and mistreatment or systematic extermination operations by the Nazi SS.

Day #2 continued: a quick stop at the memorial centre at Plötzensee Prison, where nearly 3,000 people were executed by the Nazis between 1933-1945. Next door to the somber ‘execution shed’, an exhibition documents the Nazi court system and the fates and life stories of victims.

The Olympiastadion, originally built for the 1936 Summer Olympics. It was here that black US athlete Jesse Owens famously humiliated the racist Nazi regime, winning 4 golds, the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m - "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy" (ESPN)

Rounding off Day #2 with an evening walking tour of the old Jewish district of Berlin, taking in sites such as Otto Weidt’s workshop and the haunting memorial at Große Hamburger Straße, a collection point for over 50,000 Jews deported to extermination camps or ghettos.

Enter Day #3: kicking off the morning with a stop at the controversial Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park. Opened in 1949, it commemorates 7,000 of the 80,000 Red Army soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945.

Exploring Berlin’s underground past with Berliner Unterwelten - first, an eerie tour of the Fichtebunker (1880s gasometer turned WWII air raid shelter turned Cold War refugee camp) followed by the Berlin Story Bunker, a forensically detailed museum exploration of the Third Reich.

The Jewish Museum: architect Daniel Liebskind’s bold, zigzagging titanium-zinc design is not just a museum building, but a powerful artistic representation of German-Jewish history.

Wrapping up our last night in the city with an evening of burgers and bowling 🍔🎳

It all got a bit much for some…

Birthday boy George (🎉) and Harry also showed off their boxing prowess to the group… Tyson Fury reportedly now expressing concern for his career 🥊

And a late night stroll along the ‘East Side Gallery’: at 1.3 miles long, it is the longest continuous section of the Berlin Wall still in existence, and today stands as an open-air art gallery.

First stop of Day #4 - Checkpoint Charlie, the best-known border crossing between East and West during the Cold War. In October 1961, American and Soviet tanks faced each other here in a tense 16 hour stand-off before Khrushchev and Kennedy resolved things behind the scenes.

And more Cold War intrigue at the Stasi Museum, once home to the notorious secret police of the GDR. After a tour of the offices, all preserved in their original condition, boys heard a real survivor’s testimony and were able to ask questions about life in communist East Germany.

Our final stop of the day was a guided tour of the Reichstag building, home to the modern German parliament and site of many key events from our Germany course. A fascinating highlight was the genuine Soviet Red Army graffiti and bullet holes left from the 1945 Battle for Berlin.

Our Reichstag tour also saw us ascend its famous glass dome for amazing nighttime views of the city, and head into the Plenary Chamber where the German Bundestag still sits today.

And fittingly, our 4 day historical sightseeing whirlwind ended here - the sprawling, powerful Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. On a site covering 19,000 square metres, its 2,711 concrete stelae of different heights create an overwhelming sense of scale and significance.

And that’s a wrap for Berlin 2025. The coach is on the road, the pillows are out and we’re all ready for some much-needed rest! Auf Wiedersehen for now Germany 🇩🇪 until next time!

Just short of 12 hours travelling and thanks to our amazing coach drivers, we’re now very much ahead of schedule - getting the 10am ferry crossing instead of the planned 12pm! (French time) ⛴️🎉 ETA to follow but will be earlier than previously published. Updates as we have them.

White cliffs sighted 🇬🇧 TBSHS Berlin trip 2025 is officially back in Blighty! ETA back at school now 13:30.