So our first day in Berlin turned out to be amazing. After a fantastic bike ride tour through the city from Fat Tire Bike Tours centered at Alexanderplatz, we visited a Berlin radio broadcasting station as well as the Reichstag building for a guided tour of parliament (and easy access up to the glass dome that overlooks the entire city)! From start to finish, the whole day was filled with interesting sights and stories to see and learn about Berlin.
First of all, we stopped at Bebelplatz, the sight of the Nazi book burning in the 1930s. Books written by Einstein were among the thousands burned in the center of this square, and an underground memorial of empty bookshelves now commemorates the tragic event. This week, however, the platz has turned into the center of fashion as the Berlin Fashion Week 2010 has set up a huge white tent covering the entire square furnished for famous designers and models. Luckily, the memorial was still accessible by the public (and it was awesome to get to see all the VIPs everywhere setting up for the event!)
From there our group headed toward Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial, and the Brandenburg Gate. Unbelievable sights, each had its own history and intensity. Checkpoint Charlie, one of three main checkpoints between the West and East during the Cold War, has turned into a giant tourist trap- fun but expensive! There, you can get a stamp on your passport for two Euro, or approximately $2.20. Also, you can take photographs with American guards at the checkpoint who are no longer stoic and resilient, but fun-loving and loud tourist-attractors calling out at the audience to join them in front of the small triangular-roofed white building for professional photographs.
The Holocaust Memorial, however, proved a stark contrast to the touristy-Checkpoint Charlie. A huge block of land near the American Embassy, the memorial is a cobblestone surface with thousands of huge grey concrete slabs painted in anti-graffiti paint that tower over you dauntingly. The memorial, with no explicit definition, is left up to individual interpretation, whether that leads to ideas of a graveyard for the Jewish masses, an empty city where you're constantly looking over your shoulder to see who's close by, or a physical manifestation of the jailed-in feeling created as thousands of Jews were forced like cattle into concentration camps, many of them to their death, the site is incredible as it reminds you of Nazi-ruled Germany and the genocide that Hitler's Third Reich created.
And lastly (on a slightly brighter note), the Brandenburg Gate is an awe-inspiring sight, a once-division between East and West Berlin that used to lie in the middle of the death zone inbetween the dividing walls. Today, we rode bikes under the gate, a feat that would have been impossible 20 years ago. Atop the gate sits a satue of a chariot with four horses led by a woman (now called Victoria after the victorious defeat of Napoleon) that humoursly looks patronizingly down upon the very military-looking, dare I say ugly, building that houses the French embassy. Whoever said the Germans don't have a sense of humor was sadly mistaken.
In general, it's truly hard to imagine Berlin pre-1989. But, after seeing the sights and memorials all around the city, I can tell you it's quite an emotional place filled with hope for the future. As we continue learning about the final events in the Cold War and those that led to the ultimate demise of Communism, we'll be sure to keep you posted here on our blog!
Alex
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