Berlin

I landed in Berlin and took a bus/subway combination to the Three Little Pigs Hostel. Thank goodness for my previous trip to Melbourne where cousin Nate taught me how to use their rail system because it was a very similar system in Berlin.

I did some solo wandering in the morning and got a good feel for the nearby landmarks and historical points. Then at 11am, I met up with a large group at a Starbucks—of all places—where some dedicated tourists offer free tours (all hoping for tips at the end). My group’s tour guide was a chap from England, a recent college grad who majored in history so had plenty of knowledge to share throughout the tour. I stayed with the group for three hours, then tipped the guide and broke away to do some of my own in-depth research at a few spots.

The sites were incredible and ominous. The main street, WilhemstraBe, was the same street that Hitler paraded down to celebrate his victories and rally support. That street still goes by the same name. I couldn’t believe it! I just had the feeling when, looking at the sign, that someone would have changed the name by now, given the historical significance. Then there was Hitler’s bunker, in the middle of the city, just one block away from the Holocaust Memorial. The bunker is sealed off from public access and still buried away, probably never to be exposed by the government. A good reason for this is the large apartment complex standing guard over the bunker. The people living there are already bugged enough by tourists wandering up to their front doors. In fact, the apartment complex arranged for a sign to be put up with information about the site in order to deter visitors to the door. The government did not put anything up, this was done by private individuals who got sick of waiting for the government to identify the landmark of global significance!

The Galerie Topographie das Terrors is a great resource for anyone studying the rise of Hitler, the war, and then aftermath leading up to the building of the Berlin Wall. It’s also a major tourist attraction as it is located directly behind the last 200m of the all that remains standing of the Berlin Wall (see above photo). Despite the heavy history of the city, the people were quite cheerful and friendly. Not once did I get a bad vibe or feel any bad stares. And in spite of the heavy history, I was able to find some humor as well. In the mad power scramble of the Nazi regime to grab resources, businesses, etc., and to drive out Jews, the Nazi’s nationalized a condom manufacturing company because the owner was Jewish. An odd choice, don’t you think? I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when the Fuhrer was given that progress report: “sir, we have built hundreds of new tanks, enlisted new soldiers, we are working on projects with Volkswagen, and we have just picked up our very own condom company.” “Sound great, uh, what did you say that last one was…?”