Berlin on Foot:

Monday April 27th 2009:

We awoke relatively early, ate breakfast and then headed to the old part of town for our group walking tour of Berlin. Our tour guide was originally from Tusan, AZ, but now lives in Berlin with her husband and son. It was a fun, informative and beautiful four-hour tour of this dynamic city.

We walked around East Berlin, seeing sights such as the TV tower, the old church, the new Synagogue, some remnants of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Nuremberg gate etc. Berlin’s tumultuous past has sculpted and shaped the city, in ways that only war and hardship can. Although much of the city was destroyed by the war, much is also either been rebuilt or changed for the better. I found it to be a beautiful and diverse city, filled with friendly people and monuments of remembrance. What is left of the famous Berlin wall stands near the checkpoint Charlie museum (the American checkpoint in and out of East Berlin) in front of a construction site protected by a metal fence. Our guide told us of amazing escape stories of people trying to get out of soviet rule. Nazi sites such as Hitler’s bunker (which is now a creepy parking lot), large and intimidating administrative buildings stand as a reminder of the dark past and the destructiveness of desperation, war and power. The palace and grandiose Under den Linden, the Jewish memorial, and the old buildings of east Berlin and the modern “Times square” style postdamer platz were some of the highlights and vastly different parts of the city. It was a fatiguing tour, but incredibly informative, interesting and dynamic. The weather was beautiful and it was wonderful to get a general sense of the city and learn about some of its history.

After the walking tour, we were slightly fatigued but still anxious to see more of the city. We took a moment to rest our legs, and then headed to the Jewish museum. This museum was interesting, but very large and slightly overwhelming. If you know anyone who has any sort of interest in Jewish history, culture, and exile than this is their museum. You walk into a large modern style building with three different axes, the axis of terror, exile, and history. Each hallway is quite simple-white painted walls with darker painted windows displaying personal objects or documents. At the end of the axis of the holocaust is a tall angular unheated room, lit only by the sunlight that leaks through the cracks in the ceiling. This room is supposed to give you the feeling of isolation and disconnection from the world, and it effectively did. The end of the hallway of the axis of exile opened up into a sort of garden. This “garden” was made up of tall cement pillars with plants on top, and very uneven footing, intended to give visitors a feeling of disorientation and uneasiness, like many of those who were exiled from their home land. The axis of history lead to an entire new building with interactive exhibits showing the history of the Jewish people from ancient times to modernity.

We hadn’t seen absolutely everything there was to see, but after making our way through most of the history portion, our energy levels were falling and my stomach was very empty. After some cohering, our group left and a few of us visited the newly discovered Bio-Grocery Store. It was full of organic and gluten free food. I picked up a few items and even a gluten free beer for .90 cents! After the grocery store, we decided to head to the vegetarian café and have a lovely hearty, and inexpensive meal. Twas delicious. We headed back to the hostel to drop a few things off, and immediately headed out again to see a few of Berlin’s sights by night. We walked along the river and headed to the parliament building. Our tour guide told us that it would be far less crowded either early in the morning or late at night. After WWII this building was rebuilt like the original, except for the modern glass dome on top. Through this dome one could see meetings taking place and a beautiful view of the city. This was meant not only as a juxtaposition of historical and modern styles, but also as Germany’s new “transparent” government. We enjoyed the view, each others company, then physical fatigue set in after such an eventful day, that we walked back to the hostel and slept deeply.