The journey from London to Berlin was much smoother than anticipated, though it’s good to be done with Heathrow for this trip. The first day in Berlin was short due to a late afternoon arrival and time spent getting accustomed to the German public transportation system, which is amazing by the way once you figure it out! There was just enough time on the evening of the first night to explore Alexanderplatz and enjoy a meal at Hofbrau Wirtshaus Berlin. After my first experience at Hofbrauhaus Munchen several years ago with Jeff Fehr, I was hooked! I love German food and drink and the atmosphere is amazing. The roasted pork knuckle did not disappoint!
My first full day in Berlin began the next morning with a tour of the Reichstag dome. Though much of the building was destroyed during World War II, the German government restored it in recent decades and it once again houses the Bundestag, or German Congress. The glass dome was added to the top to provide light and air circulation to the primary chamber and provide tourists a neat way to experience the building and get a look at the city. A spiral walkway takes visitors to the top of the dome for a spectacular view! From there, I caught my first glimpses of the Victory Column, the Holocaust Memorial, and the Brandenburg Gate, which is where I headed next. I was able to get some 360 images of the streetscape of the Brandenburg Gate and even gaze on it from the exact spot where President Reagan gave his famous “Tear down this wall” speech. As a side note, the architecture and design of Berlin is breathtaking. Old World history seems to ooze out of every building and structure! The Prussian iconography and emphasis on military strength are everywhere and give the city an imposing feel.
I next took a 3-hour World War II walking tour which explored key locations around the city that told the story of the Jewish population of Berlin, the social changes and economic effects of World War I, and how these led to the rise of the National Socialists. The journey through the Jewish neighborhood was especially enlightening as we passed the beautiful New Synagogue and learned the history of how it was spared destruction through the actions of a courageous few during the days before and during WWII when most Jewish districts were decimated. The rest of the story unfolded as we took in the courtyard of Humboldt University and observed the site of the famous large book-burning that took place there. A subtle, but powerful “empty library” visual feature is embedded in the ground in that location. We continued to see the story develop at the Reichstag before moving to the Holocaust Memorial, a sobering artistic feature that occupies a prominent space in the heart of Berlin in memory of the millions of lives lost. It is one of the most interesting and unique memorials I’ve ever seen and the meaning that one can find in its thousands of concrete blocks is only limited by your imagination. The last stop of the tour was a gravel parking lot across the street from the memorial that covers the site of Hitler’s Fuhrer Bunker where he huddled in safety during the final days of the war and where he and his wife committed suicide. The contrast of the two sites was remarkable and illustrative of how Germany teaches and remembers the story today.
The afternoon was spent exploring the Cold War era in Berlin and visiting the famous Checkpoint Charlie site. The museum next to it highlights the history of the wall as well as the attempts people made to escape over, under, and through the wall during those years. Not much of the wall still stands today but there are cobbles in the roadways and sidewalks today to mark where the wall once stood. Nearby, at the Topography of Terror, there is a large section of the Berlin Wall still in place as well as an exhibit highlighting the use of terror and intimidation through the period to control the citizenry of Berlin. Hopefully the 360 images that I took here do the site justice!
Last on the list today was the first meeting of the GEEO tour group that I will be traveling with the rest of the way. The group of 15 teachers from around the US will share this experience in Central Europe and collaborate on classroom action plans and ideas for implementing what is learned along the way. As a group we went to dinner together to become acquainted at a great local biergarten our guide knew about called 3 Sisters. It is a traditional German restaurant in a great old building that used to be a hospital operated by nuns and is now a music and art school for local students. What a great way to end the day and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store!
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