Oh how I love the German chocolates
The real Berlin Wall!
Checkpoint Charlie
Our bike riding crew at the government building
Bike riding!
TV Tower
A classic Sarah devouring a pastry photo
Germany country mug!
Riding through the park
The famous Michael Jackson baby out the balcony hotel
Kev's exact instructions were, build a victory pyramid.
Largest train station in Europe!
Berlin Bear...the city's mascot
I have always had a unique fascination with learning about the events that occurred during the fateful years of 1939-1945, both in The United States and Europe. There have always been lingering questions in my mind about Hitler's rise to power, and of course the universal question of, how could human beings do that to each other.
Berlin was at the center of the World War 2 Nazi regime, and was almost completely leveled during the last years of the war. Almost all of the "historic" buildings are re-creations, and were re-built in the decades after the war.
This makes for an interesting European city, considering that Marseille is older than Rome, and I am used to being in buildings that are practically B.C.
We only had a small amount of time in Berlin, so we chose to enroll ourselves in a bike tour to see the city.
Best.Idea.Ever.
Our bike ride began at the famous Berlin tv tower, which was a monument to the power and rule of Communism and "booming economy" of East Berlin, (which, we later learned on our tour that the East Berliners ran out of money about halfway through and illegally hired Swedish workers to finish it as their currency deflated in value by the second).
Our tour guide was a fellow ex-pat by the name of Kevin, and he was a dream! He was "an artist" (he made it a point to keep telling us that), and was one of the most knowledgeable men we had ever met (until, of course we met Ghert, but that's later, in Amsterdam).
Our tour continued through East Berlin, until we hit the famous and fabulous Checkpoint Charlie...which for all those who are wondering was the East Berlin/West Berlin US Army checkpoint.
Though this too was a re-creation, it was an emotional experience to see the small hut that was once a true piece of world history. I am quite the patriot these days, and seeing two men (who were Germans, haha) dressed in US Army uniforms holding a US flag helped me for a moment be transported to the East Berlin/West Berlin days where you had to have a passport to cross a city.
On a quick factual note, Berlin was divided into small "colony" type areas, each occupied by The French, The British, The US and the Soviet Union...and on a larger scale, so was Germany. To cross into East Germany (or East Berlin) you had to get a special visa and pay a lot of money, it was disastrous.
Kev did a great job of explaining this to us. I'm sure I've been told this several times over the course of my years in school, but to be at Checkpoint Charlie as he was drawing the dividing lines made it so real.
Honorable mention must be made to the darling Australian family we made friends with whilst pedaling around town. It was a mom, dad and brother and sister. The sister/daughter was our age and studying abroad in London...the parents were on holiday visiting her.
They were so sweet! The dad helped Nikki when her chain fell off (oops!), and we sat with them at lunch in the garden. We love Australians!
We continued our tour through the city, and got to see the memorial to the Jews who died in the war, the ground above Hitler's bunker where he hid during the last years of the war (and where he committed suicide), Brandenburg Gate (which is in the same square as the US Embassy and the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby over the balcony...which is oddly enough the same hotel US presidents stay in when they come to Berlin).
It was quite a tour!
When we finally came to the end of the tour, we walked in the shop to pay, and there were several "Fat Tire Bike Tour Berlin" shirts, and one read, "Poor, but Sexy."
That describes us exactly! We asked about it, and Kev filled us in.
The mayor of the capital city has famously coined the term to describe Berlin, as it is a city terribly in debt from the re-build and the whole "divided/half communist until like yesterday" thing.
Naturally, we all bought the shirts and wore them on the train the next day.
When we went to dinner the night of the tour, Sarah and I vowed to enroll in German in the Fall, and move to Berlin permanently when we graduate.
We heart Germany!
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