Berlin Day 4

Berlin Day 4

On the second day of our officially guided tour, we went on a speed walking tour of the major sites around Berlin. Our guide Heidi was very familiar with what she wanted to convey, including the historical background of Germany’s political history, focusing on the impact of the royal families, as over the centuries. Alliances and falling outs were factors into how a united Germany came to be out of all the regional territories, controlled by different bloodlines. Needless to say there were many wars determining the outcome. House of Hohenzolllern

We saw churches built for the Protestant and Catholic faithful, royal palaces, universities and museums, all with their genesis in the royal households. Of course many of these structures were damaged in the aerial bombings of World War 2, and that requires ongoing restoration work. Many of the buildings are surrounded by scaffolding, which does take away a bit of their glamor. A new kind of war, if more a the will of the environmentalists, certainly worthy aspirations, also has a graphic effect on the Brandenburg Gate, with the color orange, which you see random streaks of throughout the city, reflecting the protests. As our guide morphed beyond the impact of the royal households, we were given and overview of the founding of a democratic Germany, like the Weimar Republic, doomed by the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression, which led to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, whose propaganda machine fused with brutality, led to the deaths of over 50 million people. Sad but interesting to see the impact of those who use their power to divide the people, as opposed to leadership that seeks to unite all of us. We stood above the ground where Hitler had his extensive bunker complex, with concrete and rebar 16 feet in thickness, where he and his newly married consort Eva Braun took their own lives, as Germany’s defeat was secured. The space above that bunker is now a parking lot, an interesting suppression for an area so important in history. As if to reaffirm the symbolism of concrete and stone, we walked around the somber slabs of the monument memorializing the mass extermination of the Jewish community under the Nazis. We ended the tour in the Turkish quarter Kreuzberg with a very wonderful lunch of appetizers with flatbread and kabobs. We had open time in the afternoon to wander around a very busy downtown on the eve of Reunification day, which we have arrived at today October 3rd. Oh! We went to a beer garden last night for a few beers with the group and not an IPA to be had, must be an American thing, enjoy the pictures below.