After the TOP tour ended, I had three days in Berlin to explore and take in some more sights. I moved to a hotel across town from where we’d been at Alexander Platz to a place near Potsdamer Platz. After settling in, I set out for the Berlin Wall panorama near Checkpoint Charlie. The exhibit sits directly on top of the old Berlin Wall, evenly divided down the center into East and West Berlin. It’s an amazing artistic work by an artist named Yadegar Asisi that depicts Berlin in the 1980s, separated by the wall, recreated by thousands of photographs combined into one large painting. It was incredible! It’s so large that you climb sets of stairs to an elevated viewing platform to get perspective and to be able to see it all. It really makes it feel like you are there!
The rest of the afternoon and evening, I explored the new part of the city where I was staying, did some shopping, and took in the EuroCup match between Turkey and the Netherlands. I watched at a Biergarten with hundreds of fans from both teams. It was an electric environment! I had planned to watch from the fan mile near the Reichstag, but it was already so full when I got there that people were being turned away. There are so many soccer fans!
The next day, my first stop was the new Deutschland Museum. It’s an interactive and immersive 4-D walk through German history. You walk and explore through 12 scenes representing the pivotal periods in the nation’s history from settlement and Roman occupation to the Reformation and Gutenburg’s printing press, through the World Wars and Cold War, to the modern state. It is quite remarkable and a great way to connect people with history! I loved everything about the experience!
From there, I headed across town to meet my friend Izzy. He was my GEEO tour leader through Central Europe back in 2022 and was in Berlin from his home in Bosnia and Herzegovina to begin another tour. Getting to see Izzy was the reason I added a few extra days to my trip after the TOP experience was over. It was great to catch up and enjoy some tasty Turkish cuisine!
The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring Berlin’s Olympic Park where the 1936 Olympics were held. Due to the EuroCup soccer championships, I couldn’t tour the stadium, but I got to take in the exterior areas and surrounding complex. It looks very much like it did when Jesse Owens immortalized himself in Olympic lore, Louis Zamperini was a teenage sensation as a track athlete, and the Boys in the Boat were leaving their own Olympic mark.
The evening was highlighted by a long walk through the Tiergarten park in downtown Berlin. Larger than Central Park, it’s home to many recreational areas, statues, memorials, and trails. I spent the last hour and a half before sunset taking it all in. So beautiful and peaceful!
My final day in Germany was mostly spent at Tempelhof Airport. I finally got to visit this iconic location that was witness to the 1936 Olympics, World War II, the Berlin Airlift, and the Cold War. Interestingly, it belonged to the Americans longer than it has been in German control. Construction began around 1932 but after 1945 when WWII ended, it was in West Berlin and in American possession. Most of its life it was an American airbase and commercial airport. From 1990 to 2008, after German reunification, it was a commercial airport but due to its location within the city the runways couldn’t be extended for the larger modern planes. After 2008, it was closed. Though still one of the largest buildings in Europe, it now sits empty. The grounds and runways have been dedicated as a public space for all types of outdoor activities and artistic and cultural enterprises. There are plans to redo part of the building for exhibitions and a historical center with a concert hall and event spaces for rent, but the work is ongoing. For now, the structure is as it was when the doors closed in 2008.
After a bit of final shopping and walking through the Holocaust Memorial once more, I crossed town to meet Izzy for dinner. He was with his new tour group but they insisted that I join them. It was a blast getting to talk to another group of enthusiastic teachers from around the US as they were embarking on their big adventure. It was the same tour of Central Europe that I experienced with Izzy two years ago so I knew they were in for a treat. What a great way to spend my 18th and final night in Germany! I am so blessed.
Bill and Jeff's Historical Travel Blog 