A Glance into the Past

A few days after my arrival back in Bonn from Torino, March 25, my sister, Cindy, and her husband, Ted, flew into Germany for a whirlwind vacation. After lots of last-minute planning, we made our way to Berlin just a few hours after they arrived in Bonn. Cindy and I repacked our stuff thinking that it would be easier to share one bag, we grabbed the few kilos of Gummy Candy that I got from the Haribo store and made our way to the train station.

It was a long train ride...but we managed to fill our time by playing Cabbage..er..I mean Cribbage. However, after I learned about Ted's (and everyone else around him) love of Cabbage, I decided that Cribbage played with three people should be called Cabbage. It made for a fun trip. We arrived in Berlin, safe and sound...found our Hostel, tried to get ready for bed in the dark without making any noise and got ready for our next day.

Day 1: Bike Tour through Berlin
I had done a bike tour in Paris and thought that it was a good way to see a City. Both Ted and Cindy like bike riding, so we thought that it would be a good idea. Turns out..it was a great idea despite the fact that it rained most of the tour. Some sights along 4 hour tour:
1. Checkpoint Charlie: With its life-size poster of a US Soldier facing East and on the other side, a Russian Soldier facing West, Checkpoint Charlie was the third border control. It was the most famous as it was the checkpoint that foreigners could pass through. The building is a reconstruction of the checkpoint that once stood. Notice on the left side of the checkpoint is The Museum of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie. A museum that shows off all of the clever escapes that Germans attempted, and succeeded, at getting over, under and through the Wall.

2. The Berlin Wall: The Wall that was literally created over night and separated families for decades. Miles and miles of barbed wire fence which eventually turned into a 13-foot high wall with a 16-foot dtich and 300 Watch tours surrounding it. Over 100 miles long, the East German Government called it a "Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart." Although much of the Wall is gone now, bits and pieces remain. It's kind of funny, around one of the largest sections of the wall still standing, they had to build a "wall" around the Wall to keep people from chipping off pieces of history. What is left of the wall is a trail of bricks along the street. It's funny how some of the bricks demonstrating where the wall once stood run directly into the middle of houses. Another interesting fact: Notice the Black piping along the top of the wall. It was a gift from West Germany to help East Germany build sewer lines. However, as you can see, it wasn't used for it's intended purpose.














This tower is the last remaining guard tower that protected the wall. There is much controversy over the wall as many want to tear it down and then there are others who want to preserve history. It’s amazing how little is left of the WWII and Cold War era. So much has been destroyed as to not remind us what happened here so many years ago.









3. The Brandenburg Gate: A gate that was the entrance to the city of Brandenburg and the last surviving of 14 gates of Berlin’s old City Wall. This is the place where many of the famous televised shots of the joyous day when Berlin tore down the wall and opened its inner-city borders. What is sad is that the gate sat unused for more than 25 years.
4. The Berlin Chancellory: Also known as the Washing Machine

5. Reichstag Building: The German Parliament Building. In 1933 it was nearly burned to the ground. The Nazis made their last stand here, prolonging the war by 2 days. On April 30, 1945 it fell out of the Nazi’s hands and was taken by the allies. It was hardly used from 1933-1999 until it was given a face lift to remove any hit of Hitler, symbolizing the end of a terrible chapter in German History.

6. During our rainy, cold bike tour, we stopped and drank some Hot Tea. During our little break, we were told a story about where we were standing. It was directly above Hitler’s bunker, of course, which can no longer be seen. For all those history buffs, Hitler committed suicide and then one of his assistants set him on fire.

After the bike tour ended, of course it stopped raining. We made our back to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and explored that for a few hours. Absolutely amazing the escapes that people would attempt and succeed at in order to West Germany. I suppose I will never be able to comprehend wanting to escape something so bad that you are willing to do anything and risk a punishment of death to get a better life. I suppose most of us take our freedoms for granted and will never be able to comprehend that desire and fear.

The next morning, we made our way to the Reichstag to summit the glass bubble on top of the building. Of course, right when we got to the Reichstag, it started raining. Go figure. After a rainy view from the top, we headed to the Jewish Museum which for the price was a wonderful display of Jewish History throughout the centuries. Very thought-provoking and interactive.

Next on the agenda was the Topography of Terror museum which was on the site of the Gestapo and SS buildings. Destroyed and turned to rubble, the rubble remains. Basically, this was the site where murder and terror were planned and organized. Very interesting and was a great beginning to the rest of our trip in Poland.