We spent 5 hours touring the city, seeing everything from naked people in the Tiergarten (sorry, no pictures) to Angela's offices! She unfortunately doesn't work on weekends, cause we didn't see her.
We stopped at a most amazing Jewish Holocaust Memorial.
The artist placed 2711 stones of differing shapes, heights, and orientations in an area close to the Brandenburg gate, close to the Reichstag, all the embassys , etc. It's incredibly valuable land...but Germany makes a statement by dedicating this land to acknowledging and healing from this terrible wound. As we wandered through, I was deeply moved. Other people appeared and disappeared constantly. The ground beneath me rose and fell as the obelisks silently and smoothly stood as if testifying. Sometimes an obeliske was missing from where it should have been. So silent, yet the memorial screamed of atrocities. I felt such sorrow. I felt anger. We. Must. Never. Forget.
This memorial was later in the tour...which was also a history of Berlin from Prussion times, thru WWI, the desparate state of affairs after the Treaty of Versailles, then the very convoluted coming to power of Hitler. The lead up to WWII along with all the horrors of the Third Reich...the war...I have fresh perspective of how horrific this time was. It was strangely satisfying to see the spot, now a simple parking lot, where Hitler took his life while hiding in a bunker with the Russian forces closing in. Then, as if that wasn't enough for people to bare, the building of the East West wall, then the building of the Berlin Wall...
I can hardly believe this history is so recent. I visited a really good presentation of the history of the wall in pictures, featuring a huge panoramic view of one section of the wall. Here's a part of it looking East
And another looking west
See that VW rabbit? I had one of those. It might have been that same year. This put the timing of this wall into terms I could fathom.
This all serves as a backdrop to what we saw of the current government buildings...lots of glass, inferring transparency in government. I'm looking forward to going up the Reichstag dome tomorrow! We also saw the place Hitler first burned books, saw where he held his huge Third Reich speeches, and so much more.
On the brighter side, we also had lunch in a huge beer garden and had some excellent local pilsner! It's SO amazing that Berlin has come from the horid past to become one of the most tolerant, forward thinking cities in Europe! The wall's end was only 28 years ago. Berlin is still being rebuilt! It's 3rd in amount of construction in the world, behind only Dubai and Shanghai! Certainly there are cranes everywhere!
Phew. That's enough for now. We're going out to watch as Berlin winds up for the World Cup, find some Indian food, and find an apokothy/drugstore to ask what to put on this strange rash I have above my ankle.
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