The tail end our our trip was to end in the fascinating city of Berlin; a metropolis that had been devastated by Allied bombings, plundered and raped by troops, and left with monstrous shells of buildings smoldering atop blackened ground riddled with bunkers and tunnels. I wondered what exploring this city would be like... were all the historic buildings blasted by artillery and subsequently demolished, leaving nothing behind that was built before the 1950s? Surely anything damaged so long ago would be gone by now.

I felt that finding old buildings might be an issue while driving through the vast Plattenbau metropolis, but in a few minutes we pulled up in front of a 100-year old hospital nestled amongst the clean parks and well-kept homes, very much abandoned. It appeared Berlin had some hidden treasures after all... and so much more as I would learn later on.