I woke at 0730 and wandered to the nearest supermarket which was inside the station. I got some soya milk (in case my tummy didn’t like dairy in its current state) to go on my muesli. We had a 1000 free walking tour booked from Brandenburg gate. Armed with an all-day Zone AB ticket (EUR7) we set out by underground for the very short ride there.
The American guide George (who had a Kiwi wife from Howick, Auckland) was awesome. He was so American in his style but so knowledgeable and international in his perspective. A very likeable guy!
After telling us about the history of the Brandenburg Gate and how the goddess at the top had changed through the eras, we continued to the Holocaust Memorial for the 6 million Jews killed during WWII.
Next was the bunker in which Hitler killed himself towards the end. It is now a carpark and some grass verge where people take their dogs for a shit. The government don’t want to make a big deal of the place to avoid it becoming some kind of a memorial. And neo-Nazis might glorify the place. There was only a small sign to indicate the significance of the place.
Checkpoint Charlie next was a well-known crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Today it is like Disneyland with souvenir sellers and pay-opportunities for photos. I personally think it isn’t more significant than other crossings for the locals but it’s only famous because it had the American aspect, which meant the more significant conflcts arose her. The climax was when Russian and US nuclear armament were lined up pointing at each other.
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- Brandenburg Gate from the 18th Century is a well-recognised symbol of Berlin.
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- The Holocaust Memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) commemorates the 6 million Jewish lives extinguished.
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- The Holocaust Memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) commemorates the 6 million Jewish lives extinguished.
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- Underneath this carpark lies the bunker in which Hitler killed himself. There’s a small sign nearby but not much is done to highlight the site.
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- Checkpoint Charlie during the Cold War was the best known crossing between East and West Berlin.
After the walking tour, we went to a Museum which told us more about WWII. The Germans are ashamed of their past but they are willing to tell their story so that it doesn’t get repeated by their younger generation or by others in the world. My German friends are never appreciative of Eg. Jewish jokes which my other European friends might crack. I have a lot of respect for Germany and her people when it comes to acknowledging their past.
Not many countries own up to their mistakes in the same fashion. You could say no one else has made mistakes of such monumental proportions but even then, proportionally no one else has acknowledged it to the same degree.
Germany balances free speech with strong anti-Nazi laws. Swastikas, Nazi memorabilia are totally banned. Recently Chinese tourists were fined for doing the Nazi salute. An American was punched for doing likewise by a member of the public before being fined.
Later in the afternoon we visited a section of the Berlin Wall where one could see the various layers of the segregation, eg. barbed wires, wall, ring road, another wall. There was a tower from which we could see it as well.
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- The East German Trabant car lives…
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- Sections of the Berlin wall remain as a memorial.
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- Sections of the Berlin wall remain as a memorial.
We continued by public transport to a place called Classic Remise, a paradise for rare/collectible car lovers. It was an odd mix of car storage, servicing, boutique car dealers, man-cave etc. And they open it to the public for free to admire the cars on site. Apparently they make by hiring out the venue for functions amongst the cars.
We took the bus back to the hotel and had dinner at a nice place under the hotel called Peter Pane.