Berlin

We were inspired to book an ICE ("fast") train to Berlin for a weekend visit.  Der Junge's parents who visited us a few weeks ago took an ICE train from Dusseldorf and gave the train great reviews.  So we decided to go while we have the nice weather in summer (Berlin is much farther north and colder in the winter!).  We found a great saver fare that would get us there in 8 hours with only one train change.

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Berlin evokes many powerful images from Germany's recent history, from the WWII era to the Cold War era.  Nearly every American student learns about the famous JFK speech "Ich bin ein Berliner" and Reagan's speech "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." But it is one thing to read about it from the American perspective and another to actually see for yourself, the results of Berlin's tumultuous past with the division of East and West, capitalism vs communism, and the tragedy of the destroyed East Berlin architecture replaced with ugly, nondescript post-war buildings.  Berlin is a vibrant city though that calls itself "poor but sexy." It is a fun city that remembers its past but seems eager to develop into the future.  There are many new and talented artists emerging from Berlin and a growing indie culture.  I for one did not get enough shopping fill while we were there... and Berlin definitely warrants a repeat visit just to check out it's wealth of museums.

So here's to Berlin... starting with a blast from our American past to set the historical tone with which we eagerly approached our first visit...

and a little humor to lighten up...

The Brandenburg Gate- 

One of the most well-known landmarks and symbol of Berlin.

Built in 1788-91, the chariot on top is called The Quadriga, it is drawn by four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. In 1806 Napoleon stole the Quadriga and brought it to Paris as a spoil of war. After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 the statue was restored to Berlin and Victoria's wreath of oak leaves was replaced with a new symbol of Prussian power, the Iron Cross. 

The Brandenburg Gate appears on German euro coins (10, 20, and 50 cent coins). 

(having 8 coins is completely ludicrous by the way...)

 

On June 12, 1987, President Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate to an audience in West Berlin.  Reagan said, addressing General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev,

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! ”

When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, the Gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify Berlin.  On 22 December 1989, the Brandenburg Gate was reopened when Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, walked through to greet Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister.

People atop the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate on November 9, 1989,
photo taken by Sue Ream

On November 9, 2009, Chancellor Angela Merkel, walked through Brandenburg Gate with Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev and Poland's Lech Wałęsa as part of the 20-year celebration of tearing down the Berlin Wall.

So as it turned out, on Friday evening we could not walk through the gate ourselves as we happened to arrive during the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship.  Germany was playing against Greece and it was being televised on a giant screen on the opposite side and spanning the length of the Brandenburg Gate.  Turnout just for watching on the lawn was estimated at 400,000 people!

"none shall pass"

on the other side of the Gate (picture from DW )

So we decided to walk around to the other side of the gate to watch the game a bit with the crowd...

crowds walking to watch the game at the Gate, this is a steady stream of people!

And after a good 30-40 minute walk to the designated entry, we were stopped and informed: "Hunds Verboten," No dogs allowed! 

oh... 

so dejectedly we made our way back towards the city and managed to find a small bar showing the game on their sidewalk.  Definitely not as exciting as the above crowd, but hey its not really our point in coming to Berlin!

kleine TV, wenig Bier...

The next day we planned to take a guided walking tour of Berlin!

ready to walk!

warming up

feeling ready to walk!

And we met the tour group and set off! By the way, I would like to take this opportunity to highly recommend Caroline from Berlin Walks- she is fabulous! We had a fantastic tour!

do any of you have a treat?

Sites along our tour:

Humboldt University:

Humboldt University

Berlin's oldest university, the structure of this research oriented university became a model for Johns Hopkins University.  In a dark chapter, no pun intended, some 20,000 of the University's books were burned during the Nazi book burning campaign against books deemed "un-German."

The National Library:

Across the street from Humboldt University in the Bebelplatz (a square). 

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (National Library)

Bebelplatz is the site of the infamous Nazi book burning ceremony held in the evening of May 10, 1933. Today a memorial by Micha Ullman of a glass plate set into the cobbles, shows a view of empty bookcases to remember the book burning. Students at Humboldt University hold a book sale in the square every year to mark the anniversary.

Checkpoint Charlie:

It was the only border crossing between East and West Berlin that permitted foreigners passage. Residents of East and West Berlin were not allowed to use it. Also known as the American sector of Berlin.

Holocaust Memorial ("The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe") 

Really interesting memorial completed December 15, 2004 and designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It consists of a 19,000 square metres (4.7 acres) site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or "stelae" arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field.

"The enormity and scale of the horror of the Holocaust is such that any attempt to represent it by traditional means is inevitably inadequate ... Our memorial attempts to present a new idea of memory as distinct from nostalgia ... We can only know the past today through a manifestation in the present."-Peter Eisenman, 1998

aerial view (wikipedia)

Berlin Wall Freedom Park:

Lisa Grubb, a New York artist famous for her pop art paintings, 
was invited to paint on a section of the Berlin Wall.

Opened on August 13, 2011, the date of the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, Freedom Park is a free open air exhibition featuring contemporary graffiti artists who have painted original segments of the Berlin wall. The first year, 50 artists were invited to paint on segments of the wall and every year more selected artists will contribute their art to segments of the wall.

Berlin Wall Freedom Park website

Remaining Wall:

Wall as it looked in 1986:

taken in 1986 by Thierry Noir at Bethaniendamm in Berlin-Kreuzberg, graffiti art is on the west side

At this point, we had been walking for over 2 hours and Kiwi had had enough...

Luckily for her, the tour ended shortly thereafter and we made our way back to get some lunch ->

Hackescher Markt:

A very cute area where we stopped for lunch at the end of our walking tour. It's in the Scheunenviertel, or Barn Quarter, one of Berlin’s oldest and most charismatic neighborhoods.

restaurants built into the ground floor of the train station

our lunch spot

beautiful architecture

Then we meandered about the city...

Museum Island:

So despite the fact that we were in a museum hotspot, we did not venture in as we had Kiwi and not a ton of time, plus the weather was fabulous... so we made do with lounging around on the beautiful grounds of the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery)... 

Interesting tidbit from the tour earlier, you can still see that the columns have bullet holes and damage from fire during WWII.  Although the building itself has undergone massive renovation, the columns have not and will not be repaired as a reminder of the war.

The next morning we hopped on the train for home...

Auf Wiedersehen!