At 5pm we met our tour guide Jana and our fellow tour members in the breakfast room of the hotel. Jana gave us a rundown of what to expect from the tour while we sampled from the goodies she had laid out on the tables. We played a very effective version of the name game, where we all repeated all names together. This not only took the pressure off of the person whose turn it was, but it reinforced the names extremely well. This even worked for Greg, who is terrible with names. We picked our buddies, a person who we were not travelling with who we would be responsible for for the entire trip, then set out for a transportation orientation and a walk around our Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood. Our first group dinner was at Restauration 1900. We had a great prime rib dinner, then called it a night.
I wore a Fitbit for part of the trip. For days that I had it on, I will report our statistics to give you an idea of how much walking we did. On this day, with a lot of walking, we logged 26,723 steps, nearly 11 miles, and 23 flights. Note that all of the cities on this itinerary have great public transportation. During our free time, we often walked because we enjoy walking, but we could have taken public transportation.
Monday morning after our buddy check, we set off to meet our local guide for our first walking tour. We got to see the main train station, the Haupbahnhof on the way. Wow--too bad there is nothing like this in Missouri! After being introduced to Torben, we walked to the Reichstag Building with its glass dome (allowing the people to keep an eye on their government). Reservations are required to tour the Reichstag, and we opted not to do that on this trip. Other tour members said it was well worth it, so it is definitely on our list for next time. Set on fire in 1933, damaged by Allied bombs, and further destroyed during the Battle of Berlin, the building was not fully restored until after the reunification of Germany. Behind the Reichstag is a rather odd memorial to politicians who were killed because of their opposition to Hitler. It is a row of slate slabs, each representing a person, with name, party affiliation, date and place of death stamped on the edges.
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We walked the area around the Brandeburg Gate, and Torben told us about the construction of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. We stopped for a coffee break and Greg and I went into Dunkin Donuts for a latte. This is where we learned just how seriously Europeans take the World Cup. You can even support your team with your donuts--see picture for proof! During the second half of our walk, we stopped at the site of Hitler's bunker (now nothing more than a sign next to a parking lot), passed a crowded Checkpoint Charlie, saw some wonderful communist wall art, a memorial to East German workers killed during a 1953 protest, and the German Finance Ministry, which was the former Luftwaffe headquarters, and one of the few Nazi buildings to survive the war intact. We took a load off while admiring the Berlin Opera House, and Torben told us about Nazi book burning frenzies in the large square that is now known as Bebelplatz. A memorial is set into the square--you peer down through a square of glass onto empty white bookshelves. A plaque quotes the German author Heinrich Heine: where they burn books, they will also burn people.
Tour Day 2: Monday, June 20
After saying "Auf Wiedersehen" to Torben, we had a group lunch at the Turkish restaurant, Hasir. Platter after platter of delicious food was served family style. We enjoyed getting to know our fellow tour members better over great Turkish cuisine. After finishing off our baklava, Jana turned us loose for a free afternoon.
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Greg and I had plans to go to the Tiergarten, the huge park in the middle of the city. Torben warned us about two things in the Tiergarten: 1) Wild boar; 2) Naked people. He wasn't lying, at least about the naked people--we spotted some sunbathers with their white buttocks exposed to the sky during our walk. Luckily we did NOT see any wild boar. We made our way to the Siegessaule, or Victory Column, and paid 3 euro each to climb to the top. It was strenuous, but you can rest at the viewing platform on the way up, and the 270 steps to the top are worth the views. The column was built in the late 1800's to celebrate Prussian military might. It originally stood near the Reichstag, but Hitler had it relocated to the Tiergarten. After making our way back down the narrow spiral staircases, we strolled through the garden enjoying the statuary, flowers, and ghosts of whispered conversations from years gone by (when the walls have ears, go to the park).
Our next destination was the German Resistance Memorial Center, which is located south of the Tiergarten in the former headquarters of the Army (Wermacht) High Command. Once again we took the long way (not on purpose), but finally arrived at the commemorative courtyard. This is the spot where Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and accomplices were executed on July 20, 1944 after attempting to kill Hitler by detonating a bomb in Hitler's headquarters, the "Wolf's Lair." In the movie "Valkyrie," Colonel Stauffenberg was played by Tom Cruise. This place was solemn and melancholy, and I couldn't help but wondering "what if."
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Playing the Name Game and Choosing a Buddy
Morning Walking Tour
Afternoon in the Tiergarten
Evening in Alexanderplatz
Our last stop was Alexanderplatz. This was a busy, loud, crazy, touristy square. We gawked at the TV tower, which did not do much for me, and the World Clock, which also did not do much for me. I think Greg was slightly more impressed. We saw everthing from a kilted bag pipe player to a one man hot dog stand. Quirky, but having seen it, I feel no need to return. This was my least favorite area of Berlin. We headed back to Prenzlauer Berg and decided to try fo find (for the second time) the Nalu Diner, which I had read about in one of our guidebooks. Neither of us was terribly hungry, but a burger didn't sound bad. We walked and walked, nearly gave up, but finally found it. There was a "Sorry we're closed" sign in the window. We couldn't help but laugh. In my defense, the guidebook said they were open until 10pm on Mondays. We walked and walked back to the little ice cream shop near our hotel, and that is what we had for dinner. We were on vacation, after all.
Daily Fitbit totals: 33,466 steps; 13.48 miles; 43 flights.
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The Berlin Victory Column in the Tiergarten. According to Wikipedia, Berliners call the statue on top "Golden Lizzie."
270 steps await you on your climb to the top of the Victory Column.
Balcony where you can stop for a rest on the way to the top of the Victory Column. Views are lovely from here, too.
A modest little statue memorializing Otto von Bismarck, as seen from the balcony of the Victory Column.
View of Berlin from top of the Victory Column.
A shady path winds through the Tiergarten. Imagine riders on horseback talking in hushed tones, clandestine meetings and whispered conversations of those afraid to speak freely in their own homes.
Statue of Louise, queen of Prussia from 1797-1810. She deserves a statue for giving birth to 9 children, if nothing else.
I could have easily spent hours in this beautiful park.
It was in this courtyard that Colonel Stauffenberg and other officers were executed by the Nazis on July 20, 1944 following a failed coup/assassination attempt.