Heather was an American - from Philadelphia, PA who had a masters in German history from Brown University - extremely impressive! She had amazing knowledge and stories about Berlin history. First, we went to Charlottenberg palace on the east side of Berlin. This was a former home to kaisers in the past and was completely destroyed by bombing in WWII, but rebuilt soon after.
Back on the bus after some quick photos, we drove over to the Kaiser Wilhem church. The "old church" was unfortunately covered in scaffolding,but the inside was beautiful with blue mosaic tile scenes on the ceiling. In the 1950s, an architect decided to build a "new" portion of the church because they weren't going to completely restore the old church. They are leaving the old portion in its bombed out state to remind everyone of the hazards of war. The new portion isn't the most aesthetically pleasing element - the Berliners call it the egg crate. Inside though, we found blue stained glass which created a very calm ambience inside. At night, the blue stained glass blocks are turned outward which creates a beautiful blue glow of the church.
After that whirlwind tour, we headed over to the Reichstag which is the house of the German Parliament. Like most buildings in Berlin, it sustained damage, but has been restored. It now has a glass dome and citizens can look directly down on the Parliament which is to symbolize complete transparency in the government. We then walked down to the Brandenburg gate (how could you miss that in Berlin?). We got our obligatory pics there.
The plaza in front of the Brandenburg gate is known as Parisplatz. The buildings around the square had to be less than 5 stories high and have a simple architecture not to detract from the Brandenburg gate. The statue on top of the Brandenburg gate is called "Victory." The French were quite flattered when the square was named after them, but the Berliners all know it is a joke. The statue allows them to say "Victory over Paris." The Hotel Adlon is also in the square - made famous by Michael Jackson dangling his baby from the balcony. Also, the US embassy is on the square. It is amazing how close you can get to the embassy.
Next, we headed to the Holocaust memorial. It is a collection of 2,711 concrete blocks - all having different dimensions. The cost was $27million euros. All of the blocks have anti-graffiti paint, which was donated by the company. There was an uproar because the anti-graffiti paint company's parent company manufactured the sarin gas used in the concentration camps. In reparation for their participation, the company has donated the anti-graffiti paint and will continue the upkeep on the monument for free.
People have different interpretations of the monument - some thinking of it as a graveyard, some thinking the blocks represent that all those killed are unique, among other interpretations.
We had lunch at a cafe next to the Holocaust memorial - German food of course. I had a currywarst - basically a battered bratwurst with curry and German ketchup - it was yummy. Margo had a giant German beer - she was very happy about that :).
After lunch, we headed to see the actual Berlin Wall. Over time, the Berlin Wall came to encompass three layers - the outer wall, the middle "no man's land" where soldiers would patrol and kill any who entered, and the inner wall. We visited a stretch of the outer wall which was the view the Western Berliners had. It was roughly 150 yds (less than a city block) with the graffiti and barbed wire still preserved. It was quite surreal to visit a historical structure I have learned so much about - from the West/East Berlin reenactment we did in Mrs. Giesen's fourth grade class to the National History Day project I did my sophomore year in high school. The wall is parallel to the ruins of the Gestapo headquarters and the museum of the Topography of Terror. Unfortunately on our whistle stop tour we didn't have enough time to fully appreciate the museum - definitely a place to revisit when I come back.
Continuing on the Berlin Wall theme, we headed to checkpoint Charlie where many people passed from West to East Berlin, and many daring escapes happened. The traffic was quite busy, but I still managed to snap a photo. The museum is also a place to add to my Berlin list when I return.
We headed to the Bebelplatz which is the site of the Jewish author book burning - just over 70 years ago. A plaque commemorates the event and a unique memorial which is a glass window where white empty bookcases with space for more than the 20,000 books burned serve as a "voided monument."
To conclude the day, we headed over the museum island and saw the beautiful Berlin Cathedral which was left abandoned on the East Berlin side for decades, and only recently restored in the 1990s and now is fully operational as a Lutheran church.
We got back on the bus about 4:45pm and headed back to the port. We ran into a crazy amount of traffic given that this was a long holiday weekend in Germany, and everyone was headed out of time. We made it back by the skin of our teeth as the ship was due to depart at 9:30pm, we squeezed in 15 minutes before they were leaving. BUT, the people on the Norwegian Star tours were even later and got back about 10:15 because the train broke down. So we weren't late!
A fantastic day in Berlin!!I can't wait to go back! Auf weidersen.
Pics:
1. Charlottenberg palace
2. The Reichstag
3. Brandenburg gate
4. In the Holocaust memorial
5. Holocaust memorial
6. Berlin Wall - outer portion
7. Berlin Wall with what looks like an American flag
8. Checkpoint Charley sign
9. Checkpoint Charley
10. Berlin Cathedral
No comments:
Post a Comment