Berlin - day 2 (10 Apr)

Itinerary changes, Berlin City Walk and dinner

Given my 'early to bed' effort the night before (8.30pm), I was wide awake and out of bed at 5.30am this morning!!

Just as well, cos Sue's 10 day Greek cruise was cancelled and she needed to organise an alternative. That kept her busy for most of the morning before our three and a half hour Berlin City Walk Tour kicked off at 12pm. I booked a tour for that length to ensure we worked out any final cobwebs from our flight.

We were happy to discover that if I joined HG Rewards, we'd get a 'free' 2 day train pass for the City - so no guessing what I did!! 

We jumped on the train at Berlin Hbf and only went 2 stops before jumping off and going to find our Tour start point. This was achieved with minimal effort and 15 mins to spare. We joined our group of 20 (we were the only Aussies surprisingly) and set off with our Irish/German guide to:

• learn about Berlin during the eras of the Prussians, Imperialists, Nazis and the Cold War
• visit Brandenburg Gate, The Reichstag (the National Parliament of Nazi Germany 1933 - 1945), the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie & the Topography of Terror
• walk along the Berlin Wall (or where the majority once stood) and down Unter den Linden (boulevard running from the Spree River to the Brandenburg Gate).

I will admit, my knowledge of Berlin's history and why it split in to East & West wasn't great, however am pleased to acknowledge this is no longer the case. My 6 standouts/learnings were:

• the history of Berlin started in the 14th century & became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1417 & later of Brandenburg-Prussia & the Kingdom of Prussia.
• Under Frederick II (King of Prussia 1740 - 1786 & known as Frederick the Great) Prussia's territories were enlarged & he made them the foremost military power of Europe. He reformed the judicial system and made it possible for men of lower status to become judges and senior bureaucrats. He also encouraged immigrants of various nationalities & faiths to come to Prussia. However he enacted oppressive measures against Catholics in Silesia & Polish Prussia. He also supported the arts & philosophers he favoured & allowed freedom of the press & literature 
• Hitler's bunker has been sealed and is in front of what is now an apartment complex. Berliner's struggled with the idea of what to do about it, so decided to erect this sign only. In real life, it's smaller than this picture shows:

• Between 1949 & 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans fled to West Germany. This included rising numbers of skilled workers, professionals and intellectuals. This loss threatened to destroy the economic viability of the East German state. In response, East Germany built a barrier to close of East German's access to the West - the Berlin Wall.
• A high ranking 'arrogant' official from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) of East Berlin totally unprepared for a press conference stated 'there is no wall being built'!! Everyone in the press conference said 'what wall, there's been no mention of a wall". He was subsequently retired and the 'cat was definitely out of the bag!!'
• the Berlin Wall splitting East and West was actually more of a circle (think of using a scone cutter to cut the pastry for your first scone from the middle of the dough)
• Checkpoint Charlie is the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin & West Berlin during the Cold War (1947 - 1991), as named by the Western Allies. Here's some pics - middle one shows the East side & hence Russian soldier (the flipside shows a US Soldier). Us standing at the Checkpoint as it looks today:

Image of Checkpoint Charlie

 

When the Wall finally came down on Nov 9 1989, the West were waiting holding beers for the East. They drank together, chatted and after a few hours returned to their homes. 

Brandenburg Gate is an 18th century monument erected on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to Brandenburg (the former capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg). This structure was built from 1788 to 1791 by orders of King Frederick William II, based on designs by the royal architect Carl Gotthard Langhans. Today it is one of the best know landmarks of Germany.

Below is King Frederick II, Brandenburg Gate (front and back):

After much public debate, in June 1999 the Bundestag decided to build the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe - the official name of the memorial. To Berliners it is known as The Holocaust Memorial and is in the immediate vicinity of the Brandenburg Gate. 

It took 2 years of construction and was ceremoniously opened on May 10, 2005. On an undulating field of about 19,000 square metres, The Holocaust Memorial consists of 2711 concrete columns which can be passed through from all sides. It was designed by New York architect Peter Eisenman and he has never explained why their is 2711 concrete columns, nor why he designed the memorial the way he did. Each person has their own experience.

As I walked between the columns of different heights and the labyrinthine corridors, I experienced many moments of disorientation, feeling as if I'd take forever to 'get out' and the endless varying heights of the columns would never end. Beneath the memorial is an Information Centre documenting the crimes of the Nazi era in themed rooms. Here's some pics:

We walked along what was part of the 140km Berlin Wall. The are several areas around Berlin where parts of the wall still exist. Here's some pics:

I'll finish with some random photos I took as we walked along learning about Berlin's history. The 1st 2 photos show pictures of columns and if you look closely the holes in the columns are bullet holes. The final shot is of a Protestant Church (which looks very much like a Catholic Church) 

Fantastic tour containing heaps of information. We caught the train back to our hotel for about an hours rest before we headed out to dinner with the sister of one of Sue's good friends named Julie. She lives in Berlin and along with her Scottish best friend Maureen, we headed off to a Greek restaurant within their neighbourhood (about 25 mins from the city centre). We had a great meal chatting and laughing which was a great way to round off a busy day. 

One of the highlights involved our toasting when the drinks arrived. We all came up with various toasts, but the one that took the night was from Maureen - 'up your kilts'. Sue and I were told we needed to use it when in Scotland & probably would score a few freebies :).

Well, that brings to an end our day and no doubt we will sleep like logs. Tomorrow we are catching the train to Strasbourg and on to our next adventure. Cheers!!