Berlin

Berlin, Germany: I must start my report today by referring back to yesterday. Ah, sweet yesterday, where we slept-in, dined at our leisure, relaxed, read and chatted with fellow passengers as we slowly transited a peaceful canal. Today, we woke at 6 o'clock, and prepared to board a tour bus at 7:20. We had signed up for the full-day "Berlin Experience". I think we drove down every street and avenue and stopped at every monument! We are both exhausted, but we did have a great day in Berlin.

Of course, Berlin has had a very politically-distressing history and the entire city is full of reminders of the dividing wall and the Nazi Terror. The entire city is under scaffolding. It has been 15 years now since the city has been rejoined, and obviously great progress has been made, but today it seems all construction is under a deadline for the World Cup soccer championships next summer!

The Brandenburg Gate

Our first stop was to the Brandenburg Gate. It is just on the other side of this gate that John Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner" and Ronald Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbochov, take down this wall!" There were tourists from every known country at the gate today. Just to the left of this photo is the construction site of the American Embassy. It is being rebuilt near its original location. The temporary American Embassy and the British Embassy sit on blocked-off streets with a small troop of guards protecting the buildings.

Next, we went to the Reichstag. There was a huge crowd outside and we wondered what was going on, as it was Sunday. It seems last night a man committed suicide by flying his private plane into the acres-wide lawn in front of the Reichstag! There is a twenty-foot burned circle in the lawn. I was amazed that all other traces of a burned plane (and man) had been completely removed so quickly, with not even a bit of police tape blocking-off the crime scene. People were standing in the ashes, posing for photos! Upon further inquiry it seems the pilot was under suspicion over the strange disappearance of his wife. It is the talk of the town. First for the gossip, but also because it became clear overnight to all Berliners that their city is very accessible to anyone in a private plane - crazy guy or terrorist. Read the BBC story here.

DT in front of the Reichstag (Parliament Building)...


Chancellor Schroeder's office - and house - across the street

Half-way through our day, we were dropped at the Sony Center for lunch. The center is a shopping mall, cinema, IMAX, museums, and many restaurants. Of course we went to a typical German restaurant and had Weiner schnitzel (which is, in fact, Austrian... but, whatever) and a good German beer. All those years of studying German came in quite handy - boy, can I read a menu!

After lunch, we visited the street which held the original Checkpoint Charlie. This gate was maintained by the Americans and was used by West Germans and foreign nationals. Little of the original wall exists today. Our guide regrets that it was all taken down so quickly and feels it would have been good to leave portions of the wall intact as a reminder for future generations.

A copy of Check Point Charlie at the original location


Terry at one of the few-remaining portions of the Berlin Wall

Today we also saw where Hitler killed himself - it is now a dirt parking lot. Appropriate. Across the street from Hitler's death bunker is the Holocaust Memorial, which is actually titled "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe". It was very moving, but some things I just can't bear to photograph, sorry. We also saw the old Gestapo Headquarters, now being destroyed and a memorial park will go up in it's place. The Nazi architecture is so awful.

Our next stop was to the Allied Museum - devoted to the air lift. Since Berlin was totally blocked-off, English, American and French pilots flew-in supplies. A plane landed every 12 minutes for nearly three years, carrying coal, food and supplies for Berliners. There is also a monument to the 80 pilots who died during the air lift (all in accidents). The monument is too ugly for me to waste precious bandwidth to post the photo here. The museum was interesting though because they had ancient food packets packed by American families for German families. Our elderly guide told us how excited they were when they received their first box when he was a boy. No one could read English and they had no idea what was in the packages. Was it food? Was it soap? They hated to open a can without knowing what it held inside, for fear of wasting the precious contents.

The REAL Check Point Charlie building, now relocated to the Allied Museum

Our final stop was to Schloss Charlottenburg, an old castle in Berlin. We were not allowed inside because at this time it is being used as the official "residence" of the President. The President does not live here, but uses it for state functions.

Schloss Charlottenburg


Schloss Charlottenburg

DT and I are happy we went to Berlin, but honestly... it was a bit of a depressing city with awful architecture. We have to come back in 2009 for the World Track & Field Championships. Maybe if our days are spent at the track and visiting non-depressing museums, we will enjoy Berlin a bit more.

We arrived back to the ship (it is nearly three hours to Berlin from our port at Warnemuende) at 8 o'clock to find many tired travelers! Everyone enjoyed their day in Berlin - but most of us had been away 12 hours and were exhausted. The dining rooms were empty tonight and the buffet was packed. No one even had the energy to dress for dinner - we all just wanted something fast so we could get into our beds!

As I type this, we have set sail on our way to Copenhagen. The sea is calm and the sky is clear. The passage to Denmark is so short that tonight the Regatta will actually just float around on a zig-zaggy course to dock at 8 am.