First Stop Berlin

Until I flew over Berlin on my way to Norway last summer I thought of it as a desolate wasteland. As a child I first saw pictures of rubble, defeated people and scary communists. Then came TV news reports of a massive wall and people risking their lives to get over, through, or around it. Finally when I learned about the Nazis, well, it seemed for sure it must be hell on earth. Now I think that for sure there were decades that Berlin went through hell, but now it seems to be a pretty nice place. Contradictory, complicated, and confounding all at once, it left me wanting more. All told, I only got about a day and a half here, which isn't even a glimmer of this city of 3.4 million.What I saw was lush and green, Tulips blooming and birds singing. Locals out walking their dogs and riding bikes everywhere.


Black tulips in front of the American embassy.



I don't think I ever saw a dog that looked to be a "mutt". Everyone seemed to have purebred dogs, corgis, whippets in a matched pair, airdales, great pyrennes, ridgebacks, and the most enormous German shepherds I have ever seen!




I know many of you depend on me for the latest fashion trends so here goes. The under 35 set is wearing these really long, often clingy shirts over tights with converse athletic shoes and maybe a short jacket and the obligatory scarf to cut the chill on the top half of the torso. No word on how they keep the lower half protected from drafts. Men still seem to be interested in colored pants and may be branching out from red.


On a more serious note, of course we went to see the Berlin Wall, or what little remains of it. Below street level was an interpretive display that tried to explain how it all happen starting with the factors that lead to the rise in power of the Nazis and ending with the reunification of Berlin in 1990. Trying to understand how this all happened has made me see some eerie parallels between the fears and dogmatic beliefs that lead people to extremism, both then and now.


The wall itself was not as tall and thinner than I had expected.


It looks like it was put up quickly. Apparently it was 28 miles long.


The most famous gate in the wall was called Checkpoint Charlie. The original was all destroyed, however, it has been reconstructed as a tourist attraction on the original sight. See below. For two Euro you can get your photo with them.


We visited the Brandenburg gate



the Reichstag building where Hitler ran the Nazi Party


the Berlin cathedral


and the surrounding park called the Lustgarden. It used to be illegal to walk on the grass!

Here's the cowboy busker in the park. He put on quite a show for a few coins!


We went to street festivals and saw some locals sing and dance,


saw curry sausages, but did not try them - (unfortunately not hungry at the moment -Definitely the most popular fast food around town, though.)


viewed the Trabant exhibit


saw people riding the "captive " hot air balloon up and down,


hung out in the beer garden,


and watched the cool carousel go round and round!

Berlin was great and the visit was too short!