3rd Day in Berlin

Yesterday morning, we got a late start, and it was a rainy morning. So, we ended up taking a sight-seeing bus around town for a couple of hours. It was great for a rainy day. We got to see a lot of the places we may not have been able to see otherwise, and we were able to get a little bit of background information from the tour guide who spoke both in German and English.

We drove by the Reichstag, the parliament building. This symbol of Democracy was badly burned in 1933. Hitler blamed it on the Communist, and so people became even more faithful to him and angry at the Communist. Many now believe however that Hitler himself set fire to the building so as to gain that control and loyalty that he wanted.

I also learned that the Berlin Dome, which I hope to visit today, is one of the largest Protestant Domes. It is only about 100 years old, which I know to we, Americans, seems ancient, but over here, it seems like an infant.

I also learned that Berlin is the largest Turkish city outside of Turkey. I never understood exactly how that came to be, but interesting, nevertheless.

Next, we found our way on the Metro to the Natural History Museum and enjoyed viewing lots of animals found here in Germany and all over the world. We got to see the largest dinosaur skeleton that has ever been put together. I must say, that for such a large creature, it had an unusually small head. A not so pleasant site however, was the overly-sized insects, including fleas, mosquitoes and ants the size of dogs. Don’t worry, they were just models built to study, but still, they were quite frightening! The museum was fairly interactive and great for an easy stroll, I fully recommend it!

To learn more about the amazing history of this city, we next ventured to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. For those history buffs out there, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. For the rest of you, I will do my best to explain what I learned. Checkpoint Charlie was one of the gates on the Berlin wall, one between the American and Soviet sectors. After WWII, Germany was split up between several countries that had conquered Germany, including the US. Well, the Eastern side of Berlin was ruled by the Soviet Union at the time and apparently many people were not happy with the country and kept leaving. So, to keep people in, the East Berlin government decided to seal the wall to keep people in. The museum told stories of the hundreds of people who snuck across (or under) the wall as well as many who lost their lives trying.

The wall also separated families, so many of the stories we read were heart-wrenching stories about mother’s trying to reunite with their children or families. The museum was very sad, but thankfully with a happy ending. The wall, as you all know, was brought down, and the gates were opened for free passage from one side of Berlin to the other. Those images and stories were uplifting. Huge smiles on everyone’s faces, hugs and greetings from strangers.

I still don’t really understand all of the details of how, why and when, but that is what I learned yesterday. If you have more knowledge on this subject though, please share, I would love to know more!

After the museum, we went to a great little restaurant, actually run by a Sicilian, so we were able to hear many Italian phrases! We enjoyed watching the Italy soccer game, where of course we joined the crowed and cheered for Italy who ended up tying Romania. Then we watched the France verses Netherlands soccer game. We didn’t really care who won, but the crowd seemed to be supporting the Netherlands, so we joined that side as well and watched them win 4-1. I was thrilled to have the traditional German/Austrian meal of Weinerschnitzel (which I’m sure I misspelled). It is very then veal covered in some sort of breading. Delicious!

It is cloudy again today, but (knock-on wood), not raining right now, so we will be going to the zoo later! By the way, we have been calling this city, Burrr-lin. It has been very cold, which I know sounds nice to most of you. Yesterday the weather said a high of 68, but I believe that was only if it was sunny, not raining and no wind, which we never encountered! Oh well, I guess we’ll enjoy it while we can!