Berlin

Ryan's account

●On to Berlin, with lots of walking to see sites including the Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, Hitler's Bunker (now a parking lot), the Victory Column, Checkpoint Charlie, and portions of the Berlin Wall. Lots of important WW2 and cold war sites and events happened in Berlin. Before the wall fell, Cheyn had visited the divide and even went over the border as a little girl and we enjoyed hearing about her remembrances of experiencing the area as a child.

●We made chocolate bars at the Ritter Sport Chocolate Store and enjoyed the creations before touring the dome of the Reichstag.

●Berlin's museums were enjoyable and had a few gems. We had to see the ancient Egypt Museum for Sam. We enjoyed an additional nearby Ancient History museum that had the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, a carpet from the Taj ma Hall, and other antiquities pillaged from far off lands. The other museum we went to was an East German themed Museum that had exhibits on life behind the Iron Curtain.

●We went to the Berlin LDS Ward and then did a pilgrimage to Plötzensee Prison to the Nazi Opposition Memorial. When I was a teen my brother had me read about Helmuth Hübener, the youngest person the ever be tried and executed by the "People's Court." Hübener was a true hero and I loved getting to tell my kids about him. The room next to the execution chamber included info of others who resisted including the White Rose and Valkyrie groups.

Holocaust Memorial

According to the design architect, Peter Eisenman, the stalae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason.  There are many interpretations by individuals that account for the dark, drab cemetery feel.  

Hitler's bunker (where he committed suicide) was under the parking lot.  

They didn't want to memorialize him and so there is just a sign. 

Ritter's Sport

Reichstag building

Check Point Charlie

As Ryan said, I came to Berlin in July, 1989 with my family when I was 11 years old.  Danny Brue, from our little branch in Bainbridge, had joined the army and was stationed there.  While we were living in France that summer, my mom and dad loaded us into our little Peugeot and drove to Berlin.  While there I remember the bleakness of the wall with barbed wire on top, the security guards in towers with guns, and Check Point Charlie.  Because Danny was in the U.S. military, he got us through Check Point Charlie into East Berlin.  I remember the pictures and displays of how people tried to escape like hiding in the trunk and seat cushion (as seen in the pictures).  While we were in East Berlin, I remember video cameras on the streets monitoring the people and how everyone was somber and quiet.  The West Berlin money was very valuable and so I bought some ugly white washed jeans for like $2.  When back in the West, we signed our name on the wall.  We saw crosses where people had died trying to escape and were killed.  It is nice to be back 29 years later and see a unified city and country.

Berlin Wall

Topography of Terror

This museum site was the headquarters of the Secret State Police, the SS and Reich Security Main office.  By highlighting the Judicial System during the Nazi reign, it told of the many and people who were sentenced to death for minor misdemeanors like this Sound Technician, who was a sound technician for a broadcasting company who saw others copying a satirical poem about Hitler.  He took some copies and delivered them to colleagues at a nearby pub.  He and the others appeared in front of the court for planning high treason.  

Dinner at the Mall's food court

The kids had McDonalds while we had yummy Indian food. 

Next day

Museum Island:  Pergamon Museum

The Ishtar gate from Babylon

Market Gate of Miletus

Neues Museum

 

  

DDR Museum

Interactive museum of every day life in former East Germany

They had very few options of things to buy.

Preschool or daycare room

The kids love the idea of a typewriter.

Trabbi's were the only cars sold in East Germany where they took cotton waste from the Soviet Union to make fiber glass for the car.  Many waited years to be eligible for a car only for it to break down on them. 

Jewish Synagogue

LDS Church

Victory Column

Plotzensee Prison

Ryan told Luke that this was a reverent place and so he showed reverence while Ryan snapped a picture.

We stopped at a beach on the northern coast of Germany while waiting for the ferry to Denmark.

It was a nice little break for the kids but a surprise for Ryan and me as it was an optionally nude beach.