My Trip to Berlin (June 5th)

Basia and me at the Brandenburg Gate, with the guy dressed as an East German guard.





Some of the remnants of the Berlin Wall can be found at the Topographie des Terror

Berlin Cathedral,with the Alexandeplatz TV Tower Fernsehturm Berlin   in the background. The tower was built by East Germany to showcase the success of communism.But when the sun hit it,it reflected a giant cross, which was nicknamed"The Pope 's Revenge", and thus became a source of embarrassment instead for the East German government.

BERLIN

No, it was not a long trip to Berlin.

In fact, I was not event entirely sure we would be able to visit Berlin at all.

You see, when we were looking for flights, there were several options. Generally speaking, the cheaper flights had layovers in airports, and I figured, "Well, if we're going to have to be in those places, why not get the chance to visit one of them?"

We had a chance for a very cheap flight with a 23 hour layover in Oslo, Norway. The tickets were approximately two hundred dollars cheaper than the next cheapest flights, and I got very excited. So, I asked questions, like would we be able to visit the city while we were there.

Shockingly, the answer was no. I was told that we would have to remain in the airport the entire time.

Forget that!

There were similar flights to other places, including Paris, and including Moscow. Basia was interested in Paris, but I told her we could visit it some other time, when we actually had time.

As for Moscow, I was really, really interested, but Basia was not. She has some bitter memories and impressions about the Russians from the Cold War days (remember, the Poland was a de facto Soviet puppet state, and she was forced to take Russian in school, as was everyone in Poland in those days).

So, those were not options. There were other places, as well. But none of them leaped out at me like Berlin.

Here's the thing about Berlin: I think it is fair to say that there is no other more significant and symbolic city for the past century. Berlin was at the center of it all, more than any other city. It was the capital of a power at it's height very early in the twentieth century, and then that nation lost the war. There was suffering in Germany on a massive scale following the war, and this eventually saw the rise of the most extremist government in history. Berlin was the capital of the most excessive fascist state known to history. At first, Germany seemed to rise and, once again, seemed to be threatening to be the leading global power. But eventually, Germany was defeated, and Berlin, the once proud capital of what seemed like a mighty empire, was reduced to rubble. It dug itself out, slowly, painfully. But the city was divided into sectors, and the hostility between the occupying powers grew. There was the Berlin Airlift. Eventually, a wall was erected, and the city was divided. Here was the "hottest" part of the Cold War for a while. The tensions were palpable. The Berlin Wall remained the most visible (and, frankly, ugly) symbol of the Cold War. then, seemingly overnight, the Berlin Wall fell, it came down, and it was the people of Berlin themselves who tore it down. The world got to see a newer image of Germans, having fun and enjoying themselves atop the Wall. Germany was soon unified and, before too long, Berlin became the capital once again. Now, it is the de facto economic capital of the European Union, as new conflicts arise across the continent, with the whole austerity situation.

Photo courtesy of Recuerdos de Pandora Flickr Page -  El fin de la guerra frente a la Puerta de Brandemburgo (Berlín, 1945)

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

More than any other city, Berlin is a mix of old and new. It bears the scars of wars past.

In the next section, I will go into more specifics on the history of the city. You are free to skip this part if you so choose, and go to the part with pictures further down.

Some More Specifics on History

I always, always wanted to visit Berlin. Something about the city just always fascinated me. As a history major, that is. Think about it: is there any other city in the world that has seen anything like what Berlin has witnessed and been home to, particularly in the last century or so? One hundred years ago, it was the capital of an empire that seemed to be emerging as the world's leading power, and some feared that that power was threatening to dominate the world. A huge war that everyone expected (and let's admit it, everyone on all sides wanted) ensued, and it wound up that Germany lost.

It was an exhausting war that surprised and horrified all nations and all people that were involved and/or saw it. there had been some foggy notion that humankind had actually progressed beyond the brutality of war, and everyone entering the First World War expected a quick and decisive victory. But there was trench warfare and the incapability of mediocre generals, who felt that their troops were expendable. There was mustard gas attacks, and shelling. Technology had improved, and what had once been completely debilitating injuries that would surely have killed a man, were now "repaired", but often with overtly obvious treatment. Many of the severely injured lived, and they returned home. But many returned home with false limbs, even false jaws. Those back at home that had expected quick victories for their side not only paid the price of war literally, as the war dragged on and on, but they saw the high cost of war to these individuals. Never had such injuries been seen before. Add to that the psychological impact, what became known as "shell shock", and what is still known as PTSD, forced people to confront the harsh reality of war.

Not only were these experiences horrific, but for the Germans in particular, the defeat was an especially bitter pill to swallow. Again, they, like everyone involved in the war, expected to win decisively. When they were defeated, the nation was thrown into disarray. The victorious nations blamed Germany as the sole nation responsible for the horrible war, and this was unfair. American President Woodrow Wilson said that leadership and wisdom was needed so as not simply to blame a scapegoat for the war, but instead to recognize the brutality and futility of the war as something to be avoided in the future. But the victorious powers, particularly Britain and especially France, wanted to humiliate Germany. This almost assured that the anger would boil over into a new conflict in the future.

Berlin was one of the most liberal and free cities during the interwar years. It was a center of culture, as well as the capital of the German nation. When Hitler took over, there was, of course. a crack down. It should be remembered that Hitler took over through strictly legal means, although the Nazis surely bent some rules in order to achieve this. The Reichstag caught fire very shortly after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, and this was used as a pretext by Hitler and the Nazis, who blamed Communists and began the first real crackdown of the Nazi era in Germany. It would not be the last.

It was Berlin that remained the capital of Germany throughout the Hitler years. It seemed to be the capital of a de facto empire, and saw the Nazis reach the height of their power. Not very much later, when the tide of the war turned, it was in Berlin that the last stand of the Nazis took place. There was street to street fighting, and relentless shelling. Some buildings still stood, of course, but these were empty shells of buildings, more than anything else. Berlin lay in ruins, in rubble, as the Soviets took over. Symbols of Nazism, including all of those swastikas, were taken down.

The occupying powers divided the city into four sectors, much like they did with Germany in general. But it was in Berlin that this would become such a powerful symbol of the divisions of the Cold War, which was, of course, the follow up to World War II in the post-war years.

Within a few years, the Soviets blockaded Berlin. The Western Allied powers (Great Britain, the United States, and France) airlifted supplies to West Berlin, giving it a lifeline and allowing it to remain free, and not absorbed into the communist East.

Yet, the city remained divided between East and West, and before long, the Communist East built a now infamous wall overnight, on the 13th of August, 1961. The Berlin Wall came to symbolize the underlying hostilities between the two sides better than perhaps any other single thing in the world. It was a manmade structure that effectively divided the city. It resembled a scar, almost.

For almost three full decades, the Wall stood. It was the most visible symbol of the "Iron Curtain". But some changes in Eastern Europe came early in 1989, although no one could have predicted the swiftness with which the Wall would come down on the night of November 9th.

I remember it well. It all seemed so mysterious and magical. You see, I was educated in the United States, and so, Eastern Europe seemed a foreboding place. It was Communist, and we were aware that prior protests that had broken out in the East had been met with a military crackdown. Hell, it was not Eastern Europe, but as if to prove the point further, the peaceful protests in Tiananman Square had ended with the same: a military crackdown and a massacre. So, despite the "glastnost" and "perestroika" of Gorbachev, it hardly seemed possible that the fall of the wall would come so swiftly, so boldly, and so unexpectedly.

Yet, that is exactly how it happened. It was inspiring, at least to me. I did not pay attention so much to the concerns, or to the political concerns of how well East Germany could mesh with West Germany, and what the economic disparities might mean. I did not even pay much attention to the fears of these "Germans with clear conscience" might mean to minorities inside of Germany, or the well founded fears and reservations people had of the quick pace of unification. To my naive mind at the time, the reunification of Germany was just a positive thing, and I could not wait, watching from the sidelines. It was history, and it seemed positive, like the continent wide revolution of 1989.



Planning the Trip to Berlin

Needless to say, after watching Germans peacefully destroy the Wall of their own account, on their own terms, with their own sledge hammers, I really wanted to see it for myself.

But I never got the chance. I had been to France numerous times, and we did go to France in 1989. But that was the summer, and I would not return to Europe for another nine years. When I did, n 1998 and 2000, I stayed in France. So, no visit to Germany. No chance to see Berlin.

Then, the trip to Poland seemed imminent since last year. I wondered if we would get a chance to see another European country. As it turned out, we would get a chance to be in only one other European country. One flight that was cheap offered a layover of ten hours in Berlin. That would allow the better part of a day to visit the city. Although one day is inadequate to visit a city like Berlin, it nonetheless was better than nothing, and I jumped on it, having long desperately wanted to see Berlin.

Preparing for the trip was a bit challenging. There was so much to see, but a few things in particular were a top priority. The main thing that I wanted to see was the Brandenburg Gate, which is the most famous landmark of Germany. The next thing was the Berlin Wall, or rather, what remained of it. After that, the Reichstag. Number four,Potsdamer Platz. Fifth,  the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a church that was heavily damaged during the last war, and which was preserved as a testament to the stupidity and futility of war. Finally, I wanted to see the Olympic Stadium.

In fact, there were plenty of other things that I wanted to see, as well. But if I got to see even a few of those things, I would have to count myself as pretty lucky. So, I focused on seeing at least the first three, and anything and everything else would be gravy.



The Visit

We arrived at Berlin's Tegel Airport very early, maybe about 7:20am or so. There was a very small line to the customs, but the one I chose wound up, naturally, being actually quite long. It may have taken a while, and I was nervous when the guy I had made some comment to the other, while looking at my passport. But, despite it taking a while, he stamped the passport and let me go. I was in Germany, in Berlin!

I waited for Basia, who had the same guy to get through. Then, we went to look for the temporary luggage storage that I had researched online. There were no lockers available but, for a charge, there was a place that would hold your bags. We found it, and then we asked about how to get downtown. We were told to take one specific line on the bus, towards Alexanderplatz, and we would see the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag along the way.

The day was hot. In the bus, it was even hotter, and it began to get crowded. But I pushed that out of my mind, and watched out the window for first impressions on the city. It was the first bit of Europe I would have seen on ground level since 2000, so I was keen to absorb everything.

It looked like any typical European city at first, and this lasted a while. Nothing to make it truly stand out, although I was just elated to be back in Europe. Small things tend to feel much bigger often times, and I was happy to see small cars, and small apartments in a distinctly European architecture. There were more mopeds, and some of those small European shops. But it really got exciting once we neared the river. Then, I caught a glimpse of the Reichstag!

But we remained on the bus as instructed until we saw the Brandenburg Gate. Turns out, it was very close to the Reichstag. I had seen maps, but it was difficult to gage how far apart they were. This was incredibly close, though!

So, we got out, pretty much right in front of the Brandenburg Gate. At this hour (it was roughly eight in the morning) there were no tourists. We were pretty much the only ones around! There were a couple of people, but that was more or less it. However, there was one man dressed in an East German outfit. He was at a table right in front of the famed landmark, and he offered not only to take pictures with him, but also to stamp postcards and even passports, which I did (both). That is the picture posted on top of this blog.

After this, I asked him where we might see any remnants of the Berlin Wall, and he pointed the opposite way of the Reichstag. As it turned out, he meant Potsdamer Platz. So, we snapped some more pictures of the Brandenburg Gate, and then headed, unwittingly, towards Potsdamer Platz. I looked at the map but, again, not being able to ascertain the distances on the map too well, I did not dare to assume that Potsdamer Platz was so near.

Along the way, we ran into the Holocaust Memorial, which was a surprise. So we paid it a visit. Then, I looked in the direction we were heading, and noticed that some of the buildings looked suspiciously like those in pictures of Potsdamer Platz that I had seen before. My excitement rose!

The Holocaust Memorial

Sure enough, ti was Potsdamer Platz! It was a short walk, and there were pieces of the Berlin Wall there, but they were more like slots of the wall than an actual wall. I remember that this was the part of Berlin that hosted the famous, star-studded Roger Waters "The Wall" concert in 1990!

Potsdamer Platz

After consulting with the map, and having a new appreciation for distances, I began to suspect that Checkpoint Charlie was not that far away. For that matter, neither was the Topographie des Terrors.

Topographie des Terrors

The building in the background is the 

So, we headed down, stopping along the way for a small drink and snack at Basia's request. The refreshments were good, and it was nice to get off our feet a little bit. We were not exhausted yet, but it was going to be a long day, with a lot of walking. Might as well pace ourselves.

Not much longer, we reached Checkpoint Charlie. It, too, had pieces of the Berlin Wall there, although these were much like those at Potsdamer Platz, as well. These were slots, if you will. And these were more or less like canvass for artists that had painted and expressed themselves all over the slots.

As for Checkpoint Charlie itself, it was interesting. The street is filled with little shops with touristy themes. There was also a McDonald's (I don't go to McDonald's in the United States, so I certainly did not want to start while in Europe). It is not a horrible place to visit, and there is that fascination from when it really meant something during the Cold War. But now, it is more of a tourist trap than anything else, and you certainly would never  know that it was one of the most iconic symbols of the Cold War at some point.

Pieces of the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie

Some more blocks of the Wall, with artwork displayed. These are located right by Checkpoint Charlie, and are interesting. But, again, they hardly give the feel of what the Wall must have felt like back in the day, when it actually served its purpose to divide the city very efficiently.

Then, it was on to the Topographie des Terrors, with one of the longest stretches of the Berlin Wall still standing. It is blocked off to guard against people breaking pieces off or anything. There is a section you can visit, in what once was the forbidden "No Man's Land" in the East. The Topographie des Terrors was the site of the dreaded Gestapo headquarters. It is interesting to note, as well, that right across the street from this section of the Berlin Wall is the old Nazi Aviation Ministry. You can recognize it from the pictures that they have posted just outside. This was a morbidly fascinating section of Berlin, I must say.




After that, we headed in the direction of the Berlin Cathedral. The pictures and descriptions that we had seen made it look absolutely beautiful and not to be missed, and it looked like it was in relatively close proximity. So, we headed towards it. Along the way, we found one very beautiful square, the Gendarmenmarkt. It was heavily damaged during the war (as was almost everything in the city, to my understanding), but this was restored beautifully, and if you get the chance, you really should visit this part of the city!

We got to the Berlin Cathedral, beginning to seriously feel the fatigue and the wear from the jet lag, as well as the general lack of sleep on both our parts. But the Berlin Cathedral is truly beautiful, inside and out. We went inside for a small fee, and took some pictures that truly don't do justice to just how beautiful the interior was. At some point, there was a guy who started to play the large organ, which sounded really sweet! You can see some pictures below:

Berlin Cathedral

After our visit to the Cathedral, we started to head back. The map made it fairly obvious where we were, and so we strolled along the river just in front of the Berlin Cathedral, towards the famous avenue that was traditionally like the Champs-Elysees for Berlin, the Unter den Linden. We came across Humboldt University and the statue of Frederick the Great. We were tired and getting hungry, so we stopped at a sidewalk cafe and had some late lunch/early dinner. I ordered the most German sounding meal, the Wienerschnitzel, but it was so-so. It was essentially just an over-sized, breaded chicken breast, or at least that was what it seemed like. Not bad, but not super memorable, either. What Basia ordered was also German, and quite a bit better. She could not finish it, so I helped her out in that category. We felt a bit better, and ready to wrap up our brief trip in Berlin. 

Unter den Linden

We went the rest of the war down the Unter den Linden, and once again found ourselves at the Brandenburg Gate. Both of us were satisfied with the trip, having seen far more than either of us had really expected to see! I felt like I was floating on a cloud, a bit. But there was one more thing that was absolutely a necessity to see, and that was the Reichstag. 

The Brandenburg Gate

The Reichstag is surprisingly close to the Brandenburg Gate! At least, it was a surprise to me! But I guess it makes sense, considering that these were two very iconic symbols of Germany, and of Berlin especially. We walked to the Reichstag, and although the dome did not come out too well on the picutres below, it is an impressive site. The Reichstag is translated roughly to "the Diet", and is, of course, where the parliament of the newly united Germany assembles. It was constructed to house the parliament of the German Empire and opened in 1894. Famously, it was burned down in 1933, and this incident was used by Hitler and the Nazis to conveniently assume more powers following this supposed act of terrorism, which was blamed on the Communists. The Reichstag sustained a tremndous amount of damage after the war, but was rebuilt somewhat in the sixties. Yet, it remained in relative disuse, since East Germany had it's own parliament, and West Germany's capital was Bonn. But now, it has been restored to more or less it's full glory, and should not be missed. We did not get to go inside, unfortunately, but as I understand it, there is some Russian graffiti left over inside from the days immediately following the Soviet takeover of the city. It is a beautiful building in and of itself, situated by the river and the Tiergarten Park. Not to be missed!

The Reichstag

Memorial for victims of the Berlin Wall along the Tiergarten, right across the street from the Reichstag

The hour was growing late, and we still had a flight to catch, of course. We had not seen the Kaiser Wilhelm Church, nor the Olympic Stadium. But we had seen far more than I expected to see, given the limitations of a single day's visit, and not even a full one, at that. So, I was thrilled, and we headed back to Tegel Airport in a happy frame of mind, excited about the remainder of the trip in Poland!

Final Thoughts

We only really had several hours to visit Berlin. We teased with the thought of doing a bus tour, which certainly might not be a bad way to go, if you can make the arrangements. But failing that, if you go on foot, you might be surprised by how compact this main part of Berlin is. Much of what we wanted to see was very centrally located, and within relatively easy walking distance. Potsdamer Platz, for example, is about a five to ten minute walk from the Brandenburg Gate, which itself is only a two minute walk from the Reichstag. Checkpoint Charlie is maybe a ten or fifteen minute walk from the Potsdamer Platz, and the Topographie des Terrors is situated more or less in between them. The Berlin Cathedral was a bit farther, but even then, it is not much more than a twenty to thrity minute walk, if even that (we stopped a couple of times, so it was hard to keep track). And strolling down the Unter den Linden is a must. 

All in all, we had the chance to visit it because we had a ten hour layover, and I was extremely satisfied with how much we did and saw on that one day. Berlin is a friendly city for a one day visit. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty that I would love to see, if I get the chance to go there again soon! The longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing, for example, is the East Side Gallery, along the Spree River. I would love to see that. I would love to visit the Tiergarten much more than we did. I would love to actually go inside some of the places we saw, such as the Reichstag, or the Gendarmenmarkt! Hell, I might even want to go up that huge tower and take it all in.

That said, though, it was an amazing day! Berlin is a city that was high on my list of places to visit, and I feel great about all that we did get to see and do! 

So, if you have some hours to spare during a layover in the airport, and are entertaining the thought of visiting the city, go ahead and do it! You won't be disappointed!