Berlin - June 2-4, 2025

June 2-3

While I was enjoying a day in Guernsey, Chris traveled from SFO to Frankfurt and then Berlin arriving on June 3. I left the ship on June 3rd and flew from London to Berlin.  We finally connected at the Intercity Berlin Hauptbahn hotel about 7:30 pm (local time, 9 hours ahead of Pacific coast) where we joined our friends the Christine and Richard Herrmann for a snack, drink and 90 min of catching up. Tomorrow we begin our city touring in earnest.

 June 4

With Richard's help, we purchased our Deutschland tickets that would allow us to travel on any public transportation (except ICE trains) for a month and we used it extensively during our Berlin stay.

During our first full day in Berlin we walked approximately 6 miles, took the S-bahns and only covered Mitte Berlin (one of 6 different Berlin sectors).  

Our exploration started with the iconic Brandenburg Gate area, where Christine and Richard shared powerful personal memories of November 9, 1989 - the night the Berlin Wall fell. She had been at a choir rehearsal that evening and came home to find the momentous news on television. Despite the announcement that the border was open, she and Richard found it "unbelievable" and decided to drive to the Brandenburg Gate around 11 PM.   When they first arrived there were hardly any people there, but within an hour the place was packed. 

She described a particularly memorable moment when an elderly Berlin man in a dark coat was lifted up onto the wall by the crowd. When East German guards turned water hoses on him in the freezing temperatures, he opened a large umbrella and declared in Berlin dialect: "I was here when they built it, and I will not go down!"  The East German guards initially used weak water pressure, leading to jeers of "East product!" from the crowd. When they increased the pressure, the elderly man with his umbrella became a symbol of resistance.
They told us about the "wall packers" - people who spent days chipping away at the wall with hammers, creating the distinctive tick-tick-tick sound that echoed throughout the city. 

(Lines in the street mark the location of the former wall - see photo above)

Christine shared how Richard and their son Thomas went south of the city and collected "a whole big piece of the wall" which she later gave to their children as Christmas presents. She emphasized to the kids: "Listen guys, this is history," taking them regularly to see the ongoing demolition. One particularly poignant memory involved their son Axel, who was about 10 years old, spray-painting their family names on a section of wall with red spray paint. Days later, big machines came and cut out segments of the wall - their graffitied section likely ended up in museums around the world.

We visited the impressive Reichstag building with its famous glass dome designed by Norman Foster. The German Bundestag meets here in a room under the glass dome, people are looking down to the meeting room in the picture below.
The transparent architecture symbolizes that "the people are above the government" - a powerful democratic statement. We observed the contrast between the historical Brandenburg Gate area and the completely rebuilt government quarter, noting how Berlin differs from other capitals by not having a single defined center due to its divided past.
Below is a picture of our reflections in the glass column. 

Christine explained the lead-up to the wall's fall including the growing protests in East Germany, East Germans traveling to other Eastern Bloc countries and seeking refuge at West German embassies.  Hungary began helping East Germans cross into West Germany, effectively creating holes in the Iron Curtain.  The entire communist system was already loosening when the dramatic events of November 9th occurred.

Christine provided us with crucial context about how the wall affected daily life in West Berlin. West Berlin was entirely surrounded by East Germany, making it an island of democracy within communist territory.  Before reunification, moving between East and West required special permits and involved going through heavily monitored checkpoints.

When the wall was first built in 1961, people jumped from windows of buildings right at the border. The East German authorities responded by bricking up these windows, creating a grim appearance.  And there are many tragic stories of people trying to flee - some shot while swimming across rivers, others killed attempting to cross the wall itself.  

We walked by this memorial called "Giving Victims a Face" and dedicated to the dead of the popular uprising of June 17, 1953.  This uprising is linked to the construction of the wall.   In the photo on the right, google nicely translated the text in the original picture.

Christine described the stark contrast visitors experienced.  West Berlin buildings were well-maintained and colorful, while East Berlin appeared dark and neglected under socialism.  The Potsdamer Platz which is now a bustling commercial center, was completely empty during the Cold War - just a meadow where they used to play soccer with colleagues right next to the wall.

We appreciated the family stories that Christine shared including that her mother survived the Soviet advance into Berlin by hiding in a basement with other women, where they even built new walls to protect themselves from soldiers.  And after the war, Christine's family regularly sent care packages to friends and relatives in East Germany, dealing with complicated bureaucratic requirements that limited what could be sent (like only half a pound of coffee).

We visited the "Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered Under Nation Socialism.
  
    
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Throughout our walk, Richard pointed out the Stolpersteine - small brass memorial plaques embedded in sidewalks.  Each stone marks where a specific Jewish family or individual lived before deportation.  

The stones include names, birth dates, deportation dates, and destinations (usually concentration camps).  These "stumbling stones" can be found throughout Berlin and other German cities. The stones force people to literally stumble over history, ensuring the victims are not forgotten.

We walked through the Holocaust memorial aptly named the "Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe".  The varying heights of the concrete blocks (from small to over 4 meters tall) create a maze-like experience and walking through the memorial creates feelings of disorientation and unease.  Christine mentioned there was significant debate about building such a large memorial, but ultimately the decision was made that "it's just what was needed".

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant where Christine told an interesting story about the restaurant.  In 1972,  Christine's family met with East German friends at this restaurant which was close to the Berlin Wall. The East German father would speak only in whispers because he knew restaurants near the border were monitored. 

Walking through the Museum Island area,  we discussed the various museums housing everything from ancient artifacts to the famous Nefertiti bust.  Here we are standing in front of the Altes Museum which was built between 1825 and 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it is considered a major work of German Neoclassical architecture. 

Ampelmann (traffic light man) is the symbol shown on pedestrian signals in Germany.  The Ampelmann was created in 1961 by East German traffic psychologist Karl Peglau as part of a road safety campaign. Unlike the generic stick figures used in West Germany, the East German version featured a man wearing a hat.  It is one of the few features of East Germany that survived the fall of the wall and gained a "cult" status.  Today it is a popular tourist item.  I, of course, came home with two keychains representing the two symbols.

Christine guided us through Hackescher Markt Area which features traditional Berlin architecture features connected courtyards (Höfe) with hidden passages.  This area which was part of the former East Berlin has been transformed and now hosts unique, locally-made clothing, cafes and art.  (see below)

          

We continued wandering and passed through the Spandauer Vorstadt area.  Many of the apartment buildings (many updated from the East Berlin era) had charming courtyards and small parks nearby.

We had a very nice, inexpensive dinner (compared to home) at the Creasian Restaurant in the Hackescher Markt area. It is an Asian Fusion Restaurant featuring dishes from Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Thailand and China.

Our day in Berlin, guided by Christine and Richard's remarkable memories and deep personal connection to the city's history, provided an extraordinary blend of eyewitness testimony, historical education, and contemporary cultural exploration. The approximately 15,000 steps we took covered not just physical distance but decades of complex history, making this a truly comprehensive introduction to one of Europe's most historically significant capitals.

The seamless integration of serious historical reflection with enjoyable contemporary experiences - from mastering train apps to savoring excellent Asian cuisine at remarkably reasonable prices - perfectly captured the essence of modern Berlin: a city that honestly confronts its traumatic past while enthusiastically embracing its democratic future.