Day 9 - Berlin, Germany- Interesting City, Interesting History

Joan's View

Great start to my day! During the German Mass at St. Joseph's, the priest spoke slowly and clearly so I leaned over to tell Tony that I think this reading was the one where Jesus says, "Who do you say that I am?" and I got it! I wanted to tell the priest thanks for speaking clearly, but he exited to the side of church.

We then did a 2 hour Third Reich and Cold War walking tour, but first made a stop at a bakery. 😁

We walked an hour to get to the tour meeting place by the Brandenburg Gate. Tony got some delicious ice cream (no picture) while we waited for the tour to start. The Brandenburg Gate was destroyed in the war so this is the rebuilt one.

There are over one hundred memorials in Berlin. Our tour took us first to the memorial to honor the gypsies, the Roma and Sinti people, that were killed by the Nazis. It's estimated about 500,000 of the gypsies were killed by the Nazis. All of the concentration camp prisoners had a triangle that denoted their class and the gypsies wore black or brown triangles denoting their lowest status. There is a triangle in the middle of the memorial which represents the triangle that they wore. The names of the concentration camps are on some of the stones.

Another stop was the memorial for the 96 members of SPD that voted against Hitler's enabling act giving him complete power . They were are murdered. Each stone has the person's name, date they were murdered, how and where. He definitely wanted to eliminate anyone that opposed him.







Next stop was the monument built by the Russians to honor those Russians that died liberating Berlin. Thing is, the locals call it, "The tomb of the unknown rapist" since so many women, estimated around 100,000, in Berlin were attacked at that time while their husbands were away fighting. The tour guide mentioned the book, "A Women in Berlin" and I had just told Tony about the movie while we were riding into Berlin.

The famous clip showing the Berlin Wall coming down was on Nov. 9, 2089. Cara was only 2 weeks old. It was really only a few years ago. 

Next stop was the sidewalk to commemorate the spot where Ronald Reagan gave his famous address, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." which I remember well. There was also a statue made of Reagan that was supposed to be near that site, but the city council decided against it, so the statue is on top of the American Embassy kind of like a "Where's Waldo" to see if you can find him.

The East Germans had one practice that is still around today, and has become kind of famous - Ampelmann. There are supposedly cartoons, and even whole stores dedicated to Ampelmann. The Germans love him because he is much more friendly than the stick man in our lights.

 

This path of two paver bricks marks the location of the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Berlin that was put up practically overnight and shocked the world.

This is a huge memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. There are 2,711 concrete (not cement for all you non engineers) blocks of all sizes spread out on a wavy base. They are treated so that graffiti won't stick to them.

This is the location of Hitler's bunker. It was completely removed because the Germans do not want him to be honored in any way. The tour guide said that she sometimes removes candles left by his followers to this day.

Our tour guide, Maria, was an extra in hundreds of movies. She met quite a few stars when she was acting, but moved to Berlin and focused on history because the acting thing brought in very little money. According to Maria, Berlin is one of the hottest places to shoot a movie because it is more affordable than London. Movie trucks on location:

Then we get to the remaining section of the wall:

We visited Checkpoint Charlie, the entrance to the Allied side of Berlin, but it was simply an intersection with some memorabilia. This picture in our Airbnb seems to depict it so much better

These are Trabis, the cars built in East Germany that was the only kind that an East German was allowed to drive. It had the engine of a lawn mower (two cycle engine, you had to mix oil and gas) and you had to be on a wait list for 10 years to get one. Now, they have tours that you can drive in groups around Berlin in a Trabi.

We were hungry so we stopped for some weiners. Tony's beer is behind the plant.

On the 2 mile walk back we stopped for a pizza (& beer) and found this cool playground with a built in trampoline. 

Tomorrow we ride again. It'll be another interesting experience riding out of Berlin. Let's see if Tony's arms are in shape for this one.

Tony's Extras

It was a very interesting day. I wasn't expecting much from Berlin, but we easily could have spent two more days there and still not have seen everything. I went in with low expectations and left wanting more. It still amazes me how a group of people could be so cruel to other human beings. We must never allow something like that to happen again.