Berlin, Germany

The port city for Berlin on this trip is Rostock. Assembly time was 6:45 AM following which we 

Berlin's symbol is the bear

boarded a private train for the 3 hour trip to Berlin. A snack box was distributed which contained an apple, a cookie and an interesting item referred to as “ a pretzel with butter inside.” Indeed, the description was true. It was a fat, soft pretzel injected with a substance resembling butter as if it were one of those filled pastry things which has been squirted with some fruit substance. Interesting.

The train stopped once as we discharged those passengers bound for a tour of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The rest of us continued on to the Ostbahnhoff in Berlin in eastern Berlin. Our tour was met by our guide, Annikka. She was very knowledgeable and had a wonderful, bouncy personality. She did a excellent job of explaining the boundaries and political implications of the previous East and West Germany and East and West Berlin. 

Part of the Berlin Wall

We boarded our bus and continued on to several photo stops, first at the “Wall” where several artists were invited to paint murals after the division between the two Berlins was eliminated. There are several sections of the wall still in existence, one where, as Annikka described it, people come who are “wall pickers.” The wall resembles Swiss cheese in this place for people have chipped out chunks as souvenirs. The wall was built actually as two walls with a considerable “no man’s land” between where refugees could be easily spotted and shot. That land is now available for 

No man's land went all the way
 to the white building

building if it can be determined who owns the land. 

This problem is handled by a governmental department with a title nearly as long as Germany is wide. Ownership must be sifted through several periods. There may have been a German gentile who owned the land originally. The land may have been confiscated by the Nazis for some purpose. If owned by a Jew then it was confiscated because of its owner’s religion or heritage. East German land then was owned by the state until the reunification. Now the original owner must be identified, if possible, and the land sold to whomsoever would build upon it. Not an easy task.

A point where the Wall once stood.

Checkpoint Charlie was another photo stop. I finally understood the story behind this. Checkpoint Alpha was at the border of East and West Germany. Checkpoint Bravo was the entry point between East Germany and West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie was the passage between West and East Berlin. 

Location of Checkpoint Charlie

This place is quite a tourist “trap” now.  The original booth is not present. A replica is there for photo purposes. There are souvenir booths and a marker in the pavement designating the location of the wall.

The Brandenburg Gate

A stop at the Brandenburg Gate was obligatory. This iconic structure was once located between the two walls dividing the city. This is World Cup time and Germany had won the night before our visit. The park on one side of the gate was transformed into a giant viewing place with gargantuan screens, bleachers, and numerous food stands where hundreds of thousands had gathered the night before to view the game. 

On of the more interesting vehicles spotted was a “beer bike.” 

A beer bike

This is a small wagon-type structure with bar stools surrounding a beer tap. Each stool is provided with pedals so the customers can drink and pedal their way to wherever they wish to go.  I could not determine which of the participants is the driver. I assume someone is. It is probably one of those things of which it is a good thing to avoid whenever possible.

The Allied Museum has been created to memorialize the Berlin Airlift. The actual Checkpoint Charlie booth is there, along with 

A watch tower, a portion of the Wall,
and an engine of a plane involved in the Berlin Airlift.

one of the aircraft. There is a portion of a tunnel which ran under the Russian sector at one time and was used by American spies to tap the Russian phone lines and gather intelligence to used against the Soviets. When discovered some of the Soviets admired the Americans for their ingenuity!

The bus dropped us on the Kurfurstendam for an hour of free time for shopping. Many of our fellow passengers sprinted for the Apple Store and its free internet to catch up on electronic communication. Most of the terminals have had free internet. Other popular spots have been MacDonalds and Starbucks. I don’t know of many who are willing to pay the exorbitant price the ship charges for connectivity.

We made another photo stop at the parliament building. This was one of the monumental buildings 

The German Parliament building

never used by Hitler so it was felt it was appropriate for the new Germany to make use of it. It was damaged during the war so the glass dome is a new addition. Alongside this building are the offices of the members of parliament in a contemporary ribbon of buildings, which is, indeed, how Berliners refer to it, the Ribbon of Parliament. As Annikka explained each member has a secretary who has an undersecretary, who has an undersecretary, etc. 

Parliamentary office building

The bus then took us to a train station in the northern part of Berlin where we re-boarded our train to return to the ship. It was really a very enlightening tour and a worthwhile part of the whole journey.

Just as the train pulled up next to the ship, the heavens opened and the rain came down in torrents. I think a saw a bit of hail as well. We were assigned to carriage C so we had to walk the length of the train past carriage K and then back up the other side in order to get to the gangway. By the time the crowd reached the gangway there was a traffic jam so we had to stand in the rain. I had an umbrella but was still soaked up to my waistline. I did have on my intrepid hiking boots so, incredibly enough, my feet were dry. We all looked very much like drowned rats or wet cats or…(provide your own description).

The Memorial for Holocaust Victims