Wednesday, Sept. 9, Berlin) On our first full day in Berlin, we opted for a four-hour plus “Discover Berlin” walk offered by “Original Berlin Walks”, the most established local tour company. Our thirty-something guide, Torben, had grown up on Long Island, New York, but had lived in Berlin for nine years. He had recently earned a degree in history from the city’s Humboldt University and hoped to land a real job in Berlin where he could employ he knowledge gained through his academic pursuits.
Several of us met our guide near our West Berlin hotel, and then we hopped on a regional train to East Berlin where we picked up a few more members of the group. At our first stop, Torben gave us a quick overview of the history of Berlin (meaning “swamp” in the Slavic language of the time) which developed into a fishing village, and then an important point on trade routes. While we might believe that the country known as Germany must have existed for at least a few hundred, if not a thousand or more years, it is, in fact, younger than the U.S. The separate kingdoms in the Germanic region only became united as a single nation in 1870. And, of course, that country was rendered into pieces after World War II when West and East Germany were formed, with Berlin, initially divided into four sectors (British, French, American, and Russian) sitting wholly within East Germany.
In 1949, less than five years after the end of the war in Europe, the Allied sectors were consolidated into one: West Berlin. Between then and 1961, two million East Germans left home and permanently moved to West Berlin, West Germany, or elsewhere. Then the famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) Berlin Wall was erected, circling Berlin in a hundred mile long path. About a year later, then U.S. President John F. Kennedy came to Berlin and spoke this famous line: “Ich bin eine Berliner.” Our tour guide said that Kennedy’s speech made pedantic German language teachers blanch because the literal translation would be: “I am a jelly doughnut” since “Eine Berliner” is, in fact, such a culinary treat. But the West Berliners cheered JFJ despite his slip of the tongue, clearly understanding his meaning to be: “I am a Berliner!”
Berlin, like many European cities, was heavily bombed from the air or shelled by ground artillery during WW II. But Berliners, like their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, have rebuilt many historic buildings to such a degree of perfection that we Americans (and perhaps locals, as well) cannot tell the newly built “old” buildings from the originals that were destroyed. Prior to WW II, Germans were “into” neo-classical Greek and Roman style architecture and structures, such as the Brandenburg Gate (separating Berlin from Brandenburg to the west) are prime examples of this building genre.
One building that no longer exists, except as subterranean rumble, is the bunker where Hitler, Eva Braun, and the Goebbels family spent their final days. During the Communist rule of East Germany, the bunker was completely flattened and buried. Today, high-rise luxury apartments, often occupied by high-ranking East German officials, surround the site where Hitler ended us life with a cyanide tablet and a bullet to the head.
We saw an unimpressive section of the Berlin Wall near the end of our tour. It was quite near the former Nazi Air Ministry (a building which still stands today) that the East Germans converted into a planning office. One fearless employee, who defected, brought his family in one day to see where he worked. Unbeknownst to the authorities, he locked them into a broom close. When everyone else had left for the day, he rigged a cable from the top of the building into West Berlin, and one by one, he and his family slid to freedom using a harness attached to the cable: Sort of zip-line sliding, East German style.
Our tour ran a little long, we said goodbye to our tour guide and others among the group that we met, then we set off in the search of lunch, finding a delightful little spot, frequented by business or government workers (men and women in suits and ties). Despite or relatively scruffy appearance, we were served good food, and served well.
Our original plan had been to explore other sites in the former East Berlin after the tour, but after walking three miles or more on a very warm (mid-80’s, probably) day, we threw in the towel, and headed for home.
Berlin has two major local train/subway systems. Unfortunately, one remains out of commission, so trains running on the other system can be quite crowded. When we boarded the “U-Bahn” train headed for home, there were still seats to be had. But within a stop or two, it was standing room only, and almost as bad (“sardines pack in a can” wise) as the London “Tube” at rush hour.
There are many restaurants within about four blocks of our hotel. Tonight we only walked a block or so down Fasanenstrasse before being lured into Ristorante Mario for fine Italian cuisine. The heat of the day turned the evening balmy the restaurant had thrown its windows open wide allowing us to dine semi-al fresco.
