DAY 13

Sunday 24 July 2011

After late breakfast and coffee we headed to the train station to buy passes for two days, a much better idea than trying to navigate any big Euro city and pay a fortune for parking. It was a treat to be escorted by our friend from LA, Mareike, a native East Berliner now back living in Berlin. Our walking tour took us to Checkpoint Charlie, where East dramatically met West during the height of the Cold War. The museum there was fascinating, giving insight through photos, films and short paragraphs into what that period was like for post-war Germans trapped, then literally walled into isolation from the Western world.

There remained the small wooden white guard station from those days, and a very large photo of a soldier (American if you were facing one direction, Russian from the other) to give you some idea of what it was like then (but without the massive fortifications, soldiers and arms that made it clear you didn’t go either direction without permission from both sides). 

We went nearby the guard station to get photos, then Charles noticed that the young man in an American army uniform of that era, holding a big American flag, seemed to have a European accent. He then realized this guy was not official, and was there to pose for photos, for a fee of course. 

Charles turned to him and asked, what nationality are you? “I’m a citizen of the world,” he said. Yes, but what country are you from? “I come from the earth,” he replied. “That’s nice, but you’re wearing an American army uniform. I wore that uniform…” he said, then stopped short of engaging him further, realizing the guy was so clueless that his job involved an offense to everyone who ever risked their life to wear that uniform, that there was no point. (Later we saw more fake GIs near the Brandenberg Gate, flirting and dancing around.) We figured at some point some veteran who actually ducked bullets would probably give this guy a lecture he’d remember, if not a commemorative black eye. We were glad we never had to go through Checkpoint Charlie, as Dian’s parents and siblings did, to visit the relatives we would be staying with in Dresden. It was creepy.

We continued our guided foot tour of Berlin, around to the Brandenberg Gate

                                                                         

and remnants of The Wall

and the Reichstag. 

Mareike showed us the building where the Nazi HQ was (Gestapo, 2^nd floor), and next to it an open area below which was Hitler’s secret bunker, where he committed suicide. Along one side was a long series of columns with a chronological history of the Nazi rise and fall, with dramatic photos and film clips. We all learned some things we didn’t know, but the overall picture was still shocking. You really saw how the German population was manipulated by this madman (note: not trying to relieve those people, of that time, of responsibility), and that events in our country the last 10 years made us realize it could happen anywhere.

Holocaust commemoration monument 

We headed back and ate at a knockout Greek restaurant in Mareike’s neighborhood of Pankow, then concluded the evening with music (Nicole on bass and guitar, Mareike and Dian on guitars, Charles on vidcam, all on vocals). Mareike sang for us some lovely German folk songs. We finished with "Scarborough Fair" and Dian thought of her mom and dad and their family sing-alongs. Mareike said she would be working the next day, so we would be on our own! We still needed to figure out a GPS, tent and camera stuff. LOTS of adventures were ahead! Thanks for blogging along with us.

Injuring her foot after dismounting her trusty steed, Nicole had to be carried part of the way home (... not really, she just wanted a piggy-back ride)