In a lot of ways Berlin feels like NYC. I had to keep reminding myself I was across the ocean in Germany. We stayed at the Circus, which would have been in the East before the reunification. Circus reminded me of a grown up hostel- would definitely stay there again. Great location with ample “community” spaces in hotel, public transportation and nearby restaurants. We mostly walked everywhere…except for when we took a taxi.
I am fascinated with the stories of the wall….how it was built separating streets, neighbors. I did not realize when the war ended Berlin was split into 4 zones: Russian, France, English and US. East Berlin was a separate city already. It wasn’t like Russia did a power play and quickly built a wall to steal part of Berlin. Before the wall, citizens could move between the zones. But Russia was concerned that so many people were leaving East Germany for the West…
Part of the Wall is memorialized with the iron stakes. You can also see the outline of the buildings that were right next to and the tunnels that were built under the wall.
When the wall was first built there was at least one street where East owned the apartments -but the west owned the sidewalk right in front. The wall was built right next to the apartment. People jumped out of windows to flee East. West Berlin firefighters held a tarp for people to jump into. Russia first boarded up those houses and then tore them down. They built a second wall further in so there was a “dead” zone between the two- if something was in the dead zone like a church or cemetery it was like “oh well, sux to be you”
Generally I notice Germans are very rule-following….like the police officer lecturing me about carrying ID with me, or putting recycling/trash in the right place. The attitude is more “why wouldn’t you follow the rules?” not “why should I follow the rules?’ Tons of bikes and bike lanes to support them…and the bikes also ride in their lanes…Susanne says there is a “Berlin” 'attitude… so not sure if this observation is Germany or Berlin….
Food is good and varied- lots of ethnic restaurants. The curry sausage is my biggest food surprise so far. I did not actually try it.....The pastries in Berlin were my favorite on my trip. Pictured below is the best place to get currywurst.
The holocaust seems so much more real and recent. A nonprofit group has put gold medallions into the sidewalk in front of places where Hitler’s police took people. These gold medallions are EVERYWHERE! We went to a museum of a brush maker who employed deaf and blinds people to try to save them from concentration camps. The owner bribed Hitlers military(gestapo?) to keep his workers - he even hid people in secret rooms of his business.
We visited Reichstag and walked the ramp up the dome. The hvac system turns over air by the opening in the middle of the dome but salvages its heat to heat the building- somehow rain doesn’t get in. German engineering even impresses me:> This building is where the (Bundestag)German government meets. It was in the dead zone before the wall came down. Also, it was damaged during WWII. This is one of the buildings that has come back to life since reunification.
We walked to the Brandenburg gate. This is where president Reagan stood when he said “Mr. Gorbachev, please tear down this wall.“ The wall is down but Germany maintains a brick line in roads to show where it was.
Other Berlin Sighting included Hotel Adlon, where Michael Jackson infamously hung his son over the second-floor balcony. We also saw the location of Hitlers bunker where he and Eva Braun committed suicide. Their bodies were burned, and the house was filled with dirt. The Germans mark the spot but don’t want to make a big deal out of it- careful not to glorify it.
The Memorial to Murdered Politicians- Politicians who had voted against Hitler
The Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe, built in 2005, was filled with concrete rectangular boxes that looked like caskets. It was large - covered a city block The museum had photos. The boss of the concentration camp would keep a photo album. The Gestapo kept good records of their murders…who they picked up, where they went, when they were murdered. It was done with such efficiency….so planned. This efficiency makes it even more horrible IMO.
Most underground trains stopped at east Germany except for a few that went through East Germany to get to someplace on the other side. It cost money to be allowed to cut through East Germany. We visited the last stop. Access was on Unter den Linden- the main boulevard we walked down after going under the Brandenburg Gate.
The stop lights from east Germany remained….Ampelmann .
The Spree River was also split in the East. The split line was not straight. Like our suburbs not having straight boundary lines.
A collection of museums in Berlin near the Spree River are called Museum Island. We went to the Pergamon and Neues and National Art Gallery.Pergamon had the Pergamon Altar digital display. It was a huge room with the scene painted on the walls with lights and sound.
We visited AlexanderPlatz, a square with some stores., near the tv tower.
We visited the tv tower where we could see the city of Berlin from above. The East built the tv tower and was very proud of it. It is so tall, the joke was if the tv tower fell over East Germans could take an elevator to West Berlin.
We did another walking tour of an area that included a synagogue. It was the oldest in Berlin. It was built among residential buildings so when the Nazis set fire to all the synagogues, the fire department worried if they didn’t put this one out it would spread to the other buildings. They let the other synagogues burn…..
It was interesting how the plain facades of the building were decorated with balcony- added after the building were built. Look how this balcony curves.
Covid was very much still around. We were careful. We masked inside and ate most of our meals outside, which was easy in Berlin. Happily, we all stayed healthy. It made me smile, when I returned from the bathroom and saw my friends sitting right outside the entrance to a covid test clinic
We went to the symphony. The building was beautiful. We sat behind the orchestra so had a great view of the percussion and basses. On the way home Susanné was studying the bus routes and murmuring that we would have to change buses to get back to our hotel. Mala, Lu and I said practically in unison “or we could take a taxi”. We tried to convince her that with all of our bus fares a taxi would be cheaper- but Susanné quickly calculated we would be paying double. But the enticement of getting back early enough to get an ice cream was enough of a bribe that we took the taxi. (I had the best ice cream of my life-coconut milk and mango at Woop Woop).
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